Presbyterian Outlook's Page Turners - Your 2025 reading habits 📚

Your 2025 reading habits — and something for 2026 Dear Outlook Readers,   As you read this, I hope you are still basking in that post-Christmas glow, with plenty of time to relax and read. We’ve covered a lot of books this year, especially in our December 2025 issue — check it out.    In a recent article, my thoughtful colleague Rose Schrott Taylor sheds light on the books you, our readers, have engaged with the most this year. What surprised me about your 2025 picks is the broad range and variety of your favorites. You chose practical books like The Strategically Small Church (look for a full-length review in January’s Outlook), timely devotionals such as For Such a Time as This, bestsellers like Becoming the Pastor’s Wife and several investigations into the intersection of faith and politics. When you click a link on our website or in Page Turners, and make a purchase from bookshop.org, you not only support independent booksellers, you also offer insight into your interests and priorities. So, thank you!   Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!   Amy Pagliarella Book Review Editor PS: My colleagues have outdone themselves this year with the Outlook’s Lenten Devotion, Discipleship in a Divided Age. Explore how to live faithfully amid division and uncertainty through Matthew’s Gospel. BOOKS OF THE MONTH The Gospel of Salome Kaethe Schwehn Wildhouse Fiction, 330 pages Published October 15, 2025   It’s impossible to read the Bible and not wonder about the stories the gospel writers omit. Children in my Sunday School classes ask, “Why don’t we know more about Jesus as a kid?” while women in Bible studies insist, “These women at Jesus’ tomb … surely the (male) disciples knew them. Why don’t we know more of their stories, or at least agree on their names!?”    The Gospel of Salome is a fictional response to this desire to know more, and it’s made more compelling because, in Kaethe Schwehn’s capable hands, Salome becomes a fully realized character, worthy of more than a brief mention as one who brought spices to Jesus’ tomb. Her story lives on two levels — first, as that of a female physician, a curiosity in the year 38 CE. Second, she is a female relative existing on the margins of Jesus’ society, able to tell his story in an intimate way. Schwehn’s ability to richly imagine unfamiliar worlds swiftly draws us in, and we are invested in Salome’s story from page one. Schwehn alternates between Salome’s painful childhood 50+ years earlier and her equally challenging work caring for an increasingly isolated Jewish population in Alexandria. Recognizing that she is in the early stages of cognitive decline, Salome feels an urgency to tell the story of Yeshua (Jesus), as only she experienced it, as she invites John Mark, an early follower, to bear witness.   The Gospel of Salome is an ancient narrative with timely resonance – the anti-Jewish sentiment, understanding of women’s roles, and conflicts across ethnic and national groups all strike a contemporary chord. And those simply seeking to get lost in a good story, Kaethe Schwehn has you covered. QUOTE OF THE MONTH "(Mary said) I must find Salome the physician. She said so after one of my bouts of questioning. It was late at night, and I asked who was there when Yeshua died, not at the moment of the crucifixion, but who took Yeshua’s body down, who put him in the grave the next morning … Peter the First said it was the women. He wasn’t sure which women exactly. If anyone asked, he said I could use the names of any of the women in the settlement. We were all part of the story now, he said." The Gospel of Salome Kaethe Schwehn  Wildhouse Fiction, 330 pages Published October 15, 2025 Book Giveaway!    Congratulations to last month’s winner, Debbie Johnson. Thanks to our friends at Westminster John Knox, she received a copy of Growing in God’s Love: A Family Devotional. This month, one fortunate reader will receive a copy of The Gospel of Salome, written by Kaethe Schwehn, generously donated by our friends at Wildhouse Fiction. If you're reading this note, then you're all set! Know someone else who should be reading Page Turners? Send them this link and they'll get entered for a chance to win, too. The contest closes on January 19. OTHER READS 2025 book recommendations: New fiction and poetry Explore 2025 book releases in fiction and poetry, including Wally Lamb’s latest novel and uplifting collections from David Gate and Victoria Hutchins. — Amy Pagliarella New books on justice: Racial healing, climate action and courageous faith What does faithful resistance look like today? Amy Pagliarella’s latest roundup highlights powerful books on race, climate, courage and liberation. — Amy Pagliarella Faith for turbulent times: Four new books on Scripture and spiritual formation Seeking grounding in turbulent times? These new releases on Isaiah, resilience and Presbyterian identity offer wisdom, comfort and challenge. Books for church leaders These books equip church leaders for ministry in a changing world. — Amy Pagliarella Evangelism in an Age of Despair: Hope Beyond the Failed Promise of Happiness Aaron Pratt Shepherd praises Andrew Root’s "Evangelism in an Age of Despair" as a timely, theologically rich call for the church to reclaim evangelism. Lost, Hidden, Small: Finding the Way of Jesus Where We Never Think to Look Discover the grace found in smallness. "Lost, Hidden, Small" invites us to follow Jesus not through striving, but through trust, surrender and delight, writes Amy Pagliarella.

Discipleship in a divided age A Lenten devotional by Outlook Editor/Publisher Teri McDowell Ott.  Explore how to live faithfully amid division and uncertainty through Matthew’s Gospel. Pre-order now!