Van Buren, Paul. According to the Scriptures: The Origins of the Gospel and the Church's Old Testament. Eerdmans, 1998. This remarkable inquiry into Christian origins provides a biblical and theological basis to reappraise the formation of the gospel proclamation and its relation to the Hebrew Scrip-tures. A lively and daring exploration of uncharted territory by one of the foremost theologians of the Jewish-Christian en-counter. Van Buren enlivens this book with so many fresh insights that the sting of his recent death is at least partially eased.

Sells, Michael. The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Geno-cide in Bosnia. University of California Press, 1996. Sells plumbs the ideological depths of the genocide in Bosnia and reveals the disturbing religious underpinnings of the Croatian and Serbian campaigns against the Bosnian Muslims. Passion-ately told, carefully researched, and cogently argued, Sells illuminates an essential dimension of the conflict that has been largely missed by the popular press.

Crace, Jim. Quarantine. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1997. Whitbread Novel of the Year and Booker Prize Finalist. This exquisitely crafted novel revolves around a motley assem-blage of characters, including Jesus, who venture into the baked wilderness of the Judean desert in search of the lost fragments of their broken selves. They discover surprises that will surprise the reader.

Goodman, Allegra. Kaaterskill Falls. The Dial Press, 1998. Set in Upstate New York, Goodman draws readers into the world of an Orthodox Jewish community where a family struggles to balance the conflicting demands of the present with the searing claims of the past. Goodman's artistry is winning considerable acclaim and made this novel a top con-tender for the National Book Award.