Fall TV’s new shows, including Of Kings and Prophets, American Horror Story: Hotel and the mega-hit Empire, rely on Old Testament motifs

A frigid winter, a sick dog, and an iPhone app called Pocket God prompt thoughts of John Calvin and an escape to the Caribbean. But can paradise make reality any less miserable?

Americans say that the Bible is central to them—a divine instruction manual for life on earth. How is it, then, a new book asks, that they know so little of it?