This piece was adapted from CT’s books newsletter. Subscribe here.
Amar D. Peterman, Becoming Neighbors (Eerdmans, 2026)
The driving idea of Amar D. Peterman’s book is that, for too long, Christians have been rude dinner guests, and that needs to change.
Using the metaphor of a shared table where folks come potluck-style with their various offerings, Peterman argues that Christians often miss out. Either they’re boycotting the table out of fear they will be compromising their beliefs, insisting on hosting every time, or monopolizing the conversation rather than listening. Worse, some bring poison to the potluck!
Becoming Neighbors: The Common Good Made Local invites Christians to say yes to joining our proverbial neighbors at a shared table where “you never know what’s going to arrive” but everyone’s contributions are welcome. The goal, after all, is that everyone is filled, or gets to a state of flourishing. Toward this end, Christians have many worthwhile dishes to offer.
Though Christians hold that true flourishing is impossible without Christ, Peterman’s concern is that we should be able to treat our neighbors with lovingkindness, even when others do not embrace our faith. Peterman ties his thesis to the many significant moments in Jesus’ ministry that took place around a table and to the challenge Christ offers in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The idea of reframing a relationship with the public square into neighborly love is expressed beautifully at many points.
At times, Peterman overly relies on hypotheticals and generalizations. The journalist in me longed for the crispness of specifics (Which politicians are abusing our faith’s precepts, which pastors are pounding pulpits, which churches are making LGBTQ people feel unwelcome?). Leaving out such examples is only likely to either confirm people’s prior assumptions or alienate skeptics.
The book also contains questionable theological descriptions. For example, Peterson uses nonmale pronouns for God. In one instance, the Holy Spirit is referred to as “she.” Another example—grammatically bewildering more than anything else—is when Peterman substitutes “Godself” rather than he/him pronouns (“Why does God humble Godself to the form of creation?”). This is an inconsistent tic, though, since Peterman also uses male pronouns to describe God. On balance, these weaknesses make me hesitant to recommend it unreservedly.
Azadeh Moaveni, Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS (Random House, 2019)
With the Middle East once again in the headlines, I’ve found myself thinking of journalist and academic Azadeh Moaveni’s book Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS, which was a pick several years ago for my book club that prompted one of its liveliest discussions.
The book attempts to unpack what would compel women to emigrate from all over the world to join the Islamic State, following the lives of 13 Muslim women who were recruited or compelled to join Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s caliphate. Moaveni doesn’t justify terrorists or excuse those who were culpable in the caliphate’s atrocities, but she aims to challenge stereotypical media narratives of bloodthirsty ISIS brides.
One of the most valuable contributions of Moaveni’s portrayal is how she takes the role of religion seriously, particularly the appeal to religion in propaganda campaigns that led some young women astray. One example is teenager Nour, from Tunisia. After she became more interested in religion and decided to wear a headscarf, her high school suspended her, and she headed down the road to radicalization.
The latter part of the book explores the dystopian life under ISIS, from whippings for running afoul of dress codes to how quickly wives found themselves widowed due to the high casualty rate of their fighter-husbands.
One of the book’s tenets is that Western culture and Islamophobia helped lead to ISIS recruitments. While there’s no doubt that the cultural and societal alienation some of these women experienced contributed to their joining ISIS, I found Moaveni’s description of other explanations in the lives of these women more helpful in understanding the phenomenon.
Bob Spitz, Reagan: An American Journey (Penguin Press, 2018)
Bob Spitz’s portrayal of Ronald Reagan does what a good biography should, especially for those of us who are particularly nosy—that is, it traces the whole package of the profiled, from familial background (an alcoholic father and devout mother) and religious influences (Catholic and Disciples of Christ) to romance and marriage (in Reagan’s case, marriages) and underlying personal motivations (overweening ambition).
The boy known as “Dutch” always had a taste and flair for stardom: He acted in school plays, played football, and became a local hero by rescuing over 70 people while lifeguarding a swimming hole close to his hometown of Dixon, Illinois.
He’d grow into a Hollywood star, but his acting chops weren’t up to snuff post–World War II, when Hollywood films called for more nuance and grit. However, he found other roles through which to play a part, such as his involvement in the Screen Actors Guild. A pivot to television, and then to being a spokesman for CBS’s General Electric Theater, gave his speechifying talents greater berth and gave him a taste for politics.
The book spends over half of its nearly 800 pages on Reagan’s pre-presidency life, and that is where Spitz’s work absolutely shines. His coverage of Reagan’s political career, however, from his treatment of Reagan’s time as governor to his time in the Oval Office, falls comparatively flat. Important contemporary political figures like Margaret Thatcher or Soviet leaders receive scant mention, and some signature policies were underwhelmingly covered.
Those looking for a good, if not exhaustive, overview of Reagan’s years in office will find that Spitz covers both the successes and failures of the 40th president. And as I do not expect biographers, particularly of politicians, to be hagiographers, I judged that Spitz struck that balance well.
Harvest Prude is national political correspondent at Christianity Today.
