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I would recommend Vows to anyone who wants to better understand the tensions that shaped the Roman Catholic Church of the past century, and the recent clergy sex scandals in particular. Recovery groups say that we are as sick as our secrets. Perhaps Vows, in the sharing of many secrets, has the potential to bring about healing.

Jenny Schroedel, a monthly columnist for Boundless webzine, lives and writes in Chicago.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

Peter Manseau is an editor at the religion website Killing the Buddha.

Manseau wrote about losing faith for The New York Times Magazine.

Terry Gross interviewed Manseau about the book on NPR's Fresh Air.

The Boston Globe had an extended review.

SimonSays.com has more information about the book, including an excerpt, interview, and discussion guide.

Books & Culture Corner and Books & Culture's Book of the Week, from Christianity Today sister publication Books & Culture: A Christian Review (want a free trial issue?), appears regularly on Tuesdays at Christianity Today. Earlier editions include:

Coming to a Bookstore Near You | Marsden and Hart, Noll and Stout, and more (Jan. 10, 2006)

Ring Out the Old Year | Some highly subjective awards for 2005. (Jan. 4, 2006)

Not Just Looking | Books for the eye. (Dec. 27, 2005)

The Top Ten Books of 2005 | A charming bedside miscellany, a new novel by P. D. James, and much more. (Dec. 20, 2005)

How to Survive a Bookalanche | Some more keepers from 2005. (Dec. 13, 2005)

'Tis the Season for Books (And Lists of Books) | Part one of our 2005 roundup. (Dec. 6, 2005)

Taizé in the Fall | A parable of community. (Nov. 29, 2005)

'Have Mercy on Me, O God' | A report from AAR/SBL. (Nov. 22, 2005)

The Shrine Next Door | A superb study of Chinese popular religion helps to set the context for the appeal of Christianity in China today. (Nov. 8, 2005)

Dissecting Divorce | A new book by Elizabeth Marquardt offers a child's-eye-view of divorce. (Oct. 25, 2005)

Heavenly Real Estate | A geography of art in New York at the midpoint of the 20th century. (Oct. 18, 2005)

Narnia Etc. | A chronicle of reading. (Oct. 11, 2005)

How Wide the Divide? | A proposal for compromise between "value evangelicals" and "legal secularists" on church-state issues. (Sept. 13, 2005)

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January (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50