Donate or Join | Boston Review

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Religion

Philosophy & Religion

Can We Deduce Our Way to Salvation?

A new book suggests that modern readers can still follow the path of reason that Spinoza traced to true well-being, but they might not want to.

Carlos Fraenkel

Global Justice

Mourning in Tehran

On Ashura, Shi’a Muslims grieve the Prophet’s grandson. But with Iran crippled by COVID-19 and U.S. sanctions, it was also an occasion this year to mourn the country’s deaths from disease and despair.

Nargol Aran

Philosophy & Religion

The Angel of History

Pestilence and plague have often prompted waves of apocalyptic thinking, calling into question the steady march of progress in human history.

John Merrick

Philosophy & Religion

Repertoires of Rage

Anger’s history—along with the very fact that it has one—can shed light on the hypertrophied emotional climate of today.

David Konstan

Philosophy & Religion

Dying in Jerusalem

Unlike most places in the world where people get buried where they lived, for over two millennia people have traveled from far and wide to die in Jerusalem. But now the city is running out of graves, and against the backdrop of the Israel–Palestine conflict, burial is often a political matter.

Etan Nechin

Arts in Society

Painting the New York Times

Nicky Nodjoumi is one of Iran’s greatest artists, but his politics have kept him in exile since 1980.

Nicky Nodjoumi, Daniel Penny

Class & Inequality

The War Against the Poor Knows No Borders

The Trump administration’s sanctions against Iran and cuts to SNAP benefits are two sides of the same war that the rich are waging against the global poor.

Liz Theoharis

Gender & Sexuality

Secularism’s Saints

Two recent books about Mormon women highlight the success of the church in redefining itself as a modern liberal religion. But to become that, the Latter-day Saints dramatically reworked both their theology and history.

Peter Coviello

Class & Inequality, Philosophy & Religion

Bad Romance

Capitalism hasn’t disenchanted the world, a new book argues. Like a bad lover, it beguiles us into spiritual desolation—and only the most utopian politics will break its spell.

James G. Chappel

Philosophy & Religion

Can Christian Democracy Save Us?

The political philosophy embraced by Germany’s leading party helped reunite Europe after World War II. Can it guide us safely away from today’s populism—or did it cause it?

Udi Greenberg

Philosophy & Religion

The Gospel of Oil

Oil’s grip on U.S. society is as much religious as economic, a new history shows.

Kim Phillips-Fein

Philosophy & Religion

The Pacifist Roots of an American Nazi

Ingrid Rimland was a pioneering voice of the neo-Nazi Internet. She was also raised Mennonite, a peaceful religion with a long history of celebrating white “ethnic” identity.

Ben Goossen

Pages

       

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

Copyright © 1993-2021 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.