First published 2018
What keeps religion alive in our modern world? Elaine Pagels tackles this question by examining her own experience alongside scholarly research. The inquiry becomes urgent when tragedy strikes her family. Her young son dies, and her husband follows a year later. These devastating losses force Pagels to confront how religious traditions shape human understanding and relationships. She weaves together personal narrative with academic investigation, drawing from neurology, anthropology, and history. Pagels explores how faith traditions influence our views on sexuality and politics, affecting believers and nonbelievers alike. She examines the ways people navigate life's hardest moments through spiritual frameworks. The book combines rigorous scholarship with intimate reflection, showing how religious aspects persist in contemporary culture through both beneficial and harmful expressions.
Genres: history, anthropology, religion, non-fiction, biography-memoir, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-narrative, scholarly-investigation
235 pages · Hardcover · Ecco
Content warnings: death