{"product_id":"the-things-we-worship-now-the-sacred-hunger-beneath-modern-life-9798195952174","title":"The Things We Worship Now: The Sacred Hunger Beneath Modern Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Maren Alth\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Inspirational\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eModern people did not stop worshipping.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey changed altars.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe phone beside the bed.\u003cbr\u003eThe body measured before breakfast.\u003cbr\u003eThe job that asks for a soul.\u003cbr\u003eThe mirror that judges without mercy.\u003cbr\u003eThe feed that decides who is visible.\u003cbr\u003eThe bank account that promises safety.\u003cbr\u003eThe politics that divides the clean from the condemned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNone of these things are evil. Most are useful. Some are necessary. Many offer connection, health, work, protection, recognition, beauty, or belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut something happens when useful things are asked to answer sacred questions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cb\u003eThe Things We Worship Now\u003c\/b\u003e, Maren Alth examines the hidden devotional life of the modern world. With precision, force, and humane insight, she explores how work, wellness, screens, status, politics, money, beauty, ritual, and awe have become places where people bring their longing for meaning, judgment, mercy, safety, purification, and transcendence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a sermon.\u003cbr\u003eIt is not an argument for or against religion.\u003cbr\u003eIt is not nostalgia for a simpler past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a serious work of cultural nonfiction about the sacred hunger beneath modern life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlth argues that worship is not only belief. It is repeated attention, sacrifice, obedience, longing, ritual, and hope. A person can stop believing and still remain devotional. The question is not whether we worship, but what receives the powers of our attention, fear, loyalty, and love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWork can give purpose, but cannot bless the soul it uses.\u003cbr\u003eWellness can care for the body, but cannot redeem it from being human.\u003cbr\u003eMoney can reduce danger, but cannot abolish vulnerability.\u003cbr\u003eBeauty can make the world look back, but cannot promise mercy.\u003cbr\u003eThe phone can light the room, but cannot answer the loneliness inside it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClear, unsettling, and deeply recognizable, \u003cb\u003eThe Things We Worship Now\u003c\/b\u003e asks one of the defining questions of a secular age crowded with new altars: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat is worthy of a human life's devotion?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Independently Published","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47892969947287,"sku":"9798195952174","price":1588.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9798195952174.webp?v=1781190544","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-things-we-worship-now-the-sacred-hunger-beneath-modern-life-9798195952174","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}