Macmillan ordered to pay $17m for corruption in South Sudan

Macmillan Publishers has been ordered to pay $17m and banned from World Bank tenders for at least three years for paying officials to win an education deal in South Sudan

Science fiction can only hint at God

Francis Spufford: It's perfectly possible to write science fiction that describes belief in tangible ways; but the result is a demotion of God

Death and the Dolce Vita by Stephen Gundle – review

Ian Thomson is fascinated by a book that reveals the real-life scandal behind Federico Fellini's La Dolca Vita

The God of science fiction is big, but not serious

Gwyneth Jones: As a genre, SF is as light on evidence as science itself, but at its best it offers a powerful evocation of what the concept means

Iran’s supreme leader attacks ‘harmful’ books

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks out against books with 'political hidden motives', prompting criticism from former culture minister

Why Reinhold Niebuhr matters now

Sam Haselby: The American pastor's blend of Calvinist spirituality and social awareness has regained popularity in these uncertain times

Science fiction reflects the extremes of human belief

Liz Williams: It is in the extreme that we learn about the consequences – both positive and negative – of faith in our own day

Talk point: Histories of Africa

Which African history books would you recommend?

The theology of Harry Potter

Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio: The diverse students on my course comparing Christian thought with Harry Potter left me hopeful about religious coexistence

In praise of … protest poetry

Editorial: Al-Barghouti is one of the poets whose work is being celebrated in Poet in the City, a festival of the literature of the Arab spring

Ann Oakley: ‘Barbara Wootton was too visionary’

Ann Oakley is the feminist author best known for The Men's Room. Now she's turned her attention to Barbara Wootton, a forgotten pioneer and suffragette who went on to reject feminism