Interdisciplinary Book Reviews

A Story of Violence, Denial, and the Fragility of Democracy From time to time, Americans have been against immigration. Polling data revealed that close to two-thirds of respondents favored keeping refugees out of the country. The president had publicly identified as an Evangelical Christian. Yet, the administration, described as an arrogant regime  that only respected strength, continued to oppress minorities. The plans included stripping them of their citizenship.  The administration’s tough stance is reflected by the head of one of the detention camps who said, “Tolerance is weakness.” Not surprisingly, people were killed by government agents. These murders were justified as “the emergency defense of the state.” *** Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts is a compelling and accessible account of two Americans who witnessed Hitler’s ascent to the head of the powerful Nazi regime—a regime that would soon plunge the world into its last global catastrophe of mass destruction. T...

Identity, Trauma, and Cultural Change in Sarah McCammon’s The Exvangelicals Sarah McCammon’s The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church is more than a memoir. It is a cultural document, a psychological case study, and a map of a movement that has no headquarters, no creeds, and no formal membership — only a shared ache. McCammon traces how a generation raised on purity culture, end times fear, and political absolutism has begun to unravel the worldview they inherited. Exvangelicals are identified not by what they are but by what they were. Read alongside Daryl R. Van Tongeren’s Done: How to Flourish After Leaving Religion (2024), the picture becomes even richer. McCammon shows what is happening culturally and relationally; Van Tongeren explains why it feels the way it does psychologically. Together, they illuminate the inner and outer landscapes of leaving a totalizing religious system. A Childhood Formed by Fear, Love, and Certainty McCammon’s early...

How Mercier and Sperber reframe reasoning as justification and argumentation in human interaction. Overview Mercier and Sperber’s The Enigma of Reason challenges one of the most entrenched assumptions in cognitive science: that reason evolved primarily to improve individual knowledge and decision-making. Instead, they argue that reason is best understood as a social adaptation, designed to justify our actions and persuade others. This reframing positions reason not as a solitary truth-seeking faculty, but as a tool for navigating the complexities of human cooperation and communication. Previous works such as Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), building on his collaboration with Amos Tversky, summarized decades of research revealing flaws in reasoning. Much of human decision-making relies on mental shortcuts or heuristics, characteristic of System 1 thinking, which depend in part on intuitions shaped by regularities in nature. Kahneman emphasized the slow and effortful work of Sy...

  Done: How to Flourish After Leaving Religion By Daryl R. Van Tongeren Book Summary Daryl R. Van Tongeren’s Done: How to Flourish After Leaving Religion (2024) explores the psychological, social, and existential challenges faced by individuals who no longer identify with a religious tradition. Written for those in the midst of religious deconstruction, deidentification, or reconstruction, the book blends empirical research, personal narrative, and practical guidance to illuminate the complexities of leaving faith behind. Introduction: The Great Disillusionment Van Tongeren begins by situating the book within the broader cultural trend of declining religious affiliation, citing Pew Research Center data on the rise of “religious nones.” He frames this departure as a “great disillusionment,” acknowledging the grief, loss, and longing that often accompany the process. The book is designed to help readers navigate three possible destinations: 1. Deconstruction: questioning and disman...

    Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape       by Susan Brownmiller   Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton Abstract  Susan Brownmiller’s Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape (2013), originally published in 1975, reframed rape as a political act of power and control rather than an isolated crime of passion. Drawing on history, law, warfare, slavery, racial politics, prisons, and cultural and victim narratives, Brownmiller argued that rape functions as a conscious tool of domination. This review summarizes her central arguments, highlights the book’s historical and cultural significance, and provides a historical framework against which we can measure progress or the lack thereof (Sutton, 2025, October 1). Keywords: rape, feminism, sexual violence, power, gender, survivor advocacy   CITE THIS REVIEW Sutton, G. W. (2025, October 1). Rape as Power: Revisiting Susan Brownmiller’s Against Our Will in Historical and Cultural Context....

How Should We Think About Homosexuality?  By Mark A. Yarhouse Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton CITE THIS REVIEW:  Sutton, G. W. (2025, September 25). Framing Sexuality Through Lenses: A Review of Mark Yarhouse’s How Should We Think About Homosexuality? Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews. https://suttonreviews.suttong.com/2025/09/framing-sexuality-through-lenses-review.html ABSTRACT This review examines Mark A. Yarhouse’s How Should We Think About Homosexuality? (2022), a contribution to the Questions for Restless Minds series. Yarhouse presents a tripartite framework—the integrity, disability, and diversity lenses—through which Christians might engage questions of sexuality. Yarhouse succeeds in offering accessible categories and pastoral exhortations toward humility and compassion, yet there are also limitations. The framework risks reinforcing heteronormative assumptions, pathologizing lesbian and gay (LG) identities, and abstracting sexuality into theologic...