I once heard someone say, “It’s unfortunate that Lauren Winner can never seem to find something uninteresting to say.” That just about sums it up. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and current professor at Duke Divinity School, tells the story of her long stretch of doubt. Lauren says her experience wasn’t noble enough to be considered a dark night of the soul. She simply (and surprisingly) found her faith stretched thin. If you wrestle with doubt, Winner will be a good friend.

Chances are that most of us are unfamiliar with the Orthodox faith. It’s unfortunate that history, geography, political machinations and theological skirmishes have kept such a vast chasm between many of us in the West and our brothers and sisters to the East. The Orthodox tradition, with its lyrical theology that is both sublime and rooted, offers much that would nurture us in our own context. My suspicion is that in the days ahead, as we continue to wrestle with how Christian faith takes shape in our new world, we will find more and more in common with our Orthodox friends. Evdokimov’s overview of Orthodox beliefs provides a good introduction.

Polkinghorne is one of my favorite Christian voices. Who else could you read who is a world-renowned physicist and a prolific theologian and has been knighted by the Queen? In classic Polkinghorne fashion, this thin volume explores why the Scripture (even with all the problems and questions Scripture raises) is the ultimate source of beauty and truth.

Winn Collier (www.winncollier.com) is pastor of All Souls, a congregation with Baptist ties in Charlottesville, Va.

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