The best new books I’ve read in the last month are
- (5+) The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future by Ryan P. Burge (Oxford University Press, 2025)
- (5.0) Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working by Dan Heath (Avid Reader Press, 2025)
- (4.5) The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues) by Dan McClellan (St. Martin’s Essentials, 2025)
- (4.5) Remissioning Church: A Field Guide for Bringing a Congregation Back to Life by Josh Hayden (IVP, 2025)
- (4.5) Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unraveling by Alan J. Roxburgh and Roy Searle (Cascade Books, 2025)
- (4.0) The Gift of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive in a World of Joiners by Rami Kaminski (Little Brown Spark, 2025)
- (4.0) The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture About a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth by Meggan Watterson (Random House, 2025)
- (3.5) When the Church Harms God’s People: Becoming Faith Communities that Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded by Diane Langberg (Brazos Press, 2024)
Welcome Back
Three authors on this month’s list are returning to So What Faith:
- Ryan Burge’s prolific shortform writing has been featured on So What Faith on many occasions, including My Religious Traditions Are Missing 8 Million People! (2023) and Mainline Decline: 1990 to 2020 (2022). He is an American Baptist pastor and professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center at Washington University in St. Louis, best known for his analysis of American religion. Additionally, Burge has been featured here as a book author:
- 2022: 20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America was rated 5+ then later named one of the top books of the year
- 2021: The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going was rated 4.5
- Dan Heath previously appeared in 2020 upon the publication of his then new book Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before they Happen, which I rated 4.5
- Alan J. Roxburgh was named one of the best of the best as a top author across the more than 1,100 books reviewed or rated on So What Faith (2025). He is the author of two books that were named to top books of the year lists
The American Religious Landscape
What is really going on with religion in America? The best place to start exploring this question is Ryan P. Burge’s The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future. Whether you’re new to the topic, a religious leader navigating recent shifts, or simply curious about the role of religion in America’s future, this book offers a clear, data-driven perspective that deepens understanding and equips you with practical insights for everyday conversation.
This volume begins with the best chapter length exploration of how American religion has changed over the country’s first 250 years and ends with a chapter length consideration of the likely future of religion in America. The former is necessary to understand how recent trends fit within the larger historical reality while the later is the idea conversation starter (e.g., Trend #3: Mainline Protestantism will largely disappear, p.254).
In between the insightful overview and provocative futuring, readers will find a dozen chapters exploring the story of how specific religious groups have evolved over time in America, including Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, Black Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Latter-Day Saints, and Nothing in Particular.
Note: The American Religious Landscape is just the third book to be rated 5+ by So What Faith in 2025. The first, Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America by Christian Smith, was recognized in May. The second, Miracles and Wonder by Elaine Pagels, was named in July.