A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy - as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life. Faith & Humor caused a sensation when it was published in Russia. As Kucherskaya writes in her introduction, "At one convent, the book was burned at the stake. Meanwhile, at a Seminary in...