The 24/7 news cycle can feel relentless. As technology continues to advance, we increasingly live in a time of information overload and constant multitasking. Especially at the end of a long year, it’s a good time to take a step back, reflect, and make the time to process the hectic world around us – and good books are still the best way to do that. This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, we will highlight some of the exceptional religion-themed books released over the past year.

Award-winning author Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is scholar-in-residence at the National Council of Jewish Women. She’s published seven books, and the latest, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, came out earlier this year. Leaning on Jewish wisdom and encompassing universal values, it’s a powerful and practical call to action. Rabbi Danya will join Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, host of State of Belief, to share her ambitious vision for what it really takes to move beyond paralyzing harms.

The future of the world is inseparable from the future of its fastest-growing faith. In Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future, author Haroon Moghul (author of How To Be A Muslim, among other books) goes beyond imagining that future, but calling on readers to step up to the work of shaping it. Haroon is an author, public speaker, and occasional Friday preacher, who works to build a vibrant role for faith in shaping a better future.

It’s always a privilege to find shared values and common teachings across diverse faith traditions. And while the tenets of the Sikh religion might be less familiar to many non-Sikhs, The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life reveals a lot of those values through a survey of Sikh beliefs as well as the personal experiences of the author, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, executive director of the Aspen Institute for Religion and Society.

Paul also gets each guest to recommend three books they found particularly valuable, and shares some titles selected by himself and the Interfaith Alliance staff.