"Patients require that one-on-one encounter, the Samaritan function of being a physician," says writer and Stanford Medical School professor Abraham Verghese. "I'm convinced that when the physician examines the patient, this is an incredibly important ritual."

Marilynne Robinson's Calvinist Protestantism imbues her with a fierce political liberalism grounded in Scripture and informs the respect with which she describes small movements of character and conversation.

Marilynne Robinson's Calvinist Protestantism imbues her with a fierce political liberalism grounded in Scripture and informs the respect with which she describes small movements of character and conversation.

The prolific and best-selling author Jodi Picoult writes "ethical thrillers" about contentious issues such as the death penalty, organ donation, euthanasia, sexual abuse, date rape, teen suicide, and school shootings.

A group of women in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded a book club to learn from each other's Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.