Rebecca Bratten Weiss's new book The Books That Made Us: Deconstructing the Modern Christian Classics is forthcoming from Orbis Books in 2025.
Rebecca is an award-winning journalist and digital editor at U.S. Catholic Magazine. She has published extensively on religion, culture, and politics, and is a regular contributor at the National Catholic Reporter. Her byline has appeared in The Tablet, Image Journal, Plough, Commonweal, The Christian Century, and America Magazine, among others. Her writing can also be found on Patheos and on the Messy Jesus Business blog. She freelances as a reporter in the Appalachian Ohio community where she resides and also offers freelance editing services for authors of books, essays, and creative work.
Rebecca's poetry and creative pieces have appeared in Channel, Poetry South, New Ohio Review, Presence, Two Hawks Quarterly, Shooter, Westerly, Sandy River Review, and Convivium Journal. She also has three poetry chapbook collections: The Gods We Have Eaten (2023), Talking to Snakes (2020), and Mud Woman, a collaboration with Joanna Penn Cooper (2018).
Along with Jessica Mesman, Rebecca edited and contributed to the collection Sick Pilgrims: An anthology of Catholic Spiritual Autobiography (2022). She also contributed to the collection The Human Soul: Essays in Honor of Nalin Ranasinghe (2021).
Rebecca holds degrees in philosophy and English literature, and taught university courses in both fields for over ten years. Through Convivium School and Muse Writing Collective she has led online courses and tutorials in literature and creative writing. She is co-host of U.S. Catholic's popular Glad You Asked podcast and has appeared as a guest on the Straight White American Jesus podcast.
Affordable tuition, student loan forgiveness are crucial for a just society
March 24, 2021
Many of us were disappointed recently, by reports that President Joe Biden was unwilling to support canceling student loan debt up to $50,000. Student loan debt is not merely a problem for the culture and economy in the United States; it is a genuine crisis....Read more at the National Catholic Reporter
Barron's 'beige Catholicism' erases years of racial, social justice activism
March 10, 2021
Bishop Robert Barron's recent piece detailing the "evangelical path" of his organization Word on Fire has provoked heated debate over his use of the term "beige Catholicism" to refer to the faith of liberal or progressive Catholics. It's not the first time he's used the term....Read more at the National Catholic Reporter