Christianity Today articles from April 2009

Christianity Today archives from April 2009

Wonder-filled travel.(INSIDE CT)(Editorial)
April 1, 2009... I once visited the so-called garden tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem. Of course, we have no idea where exactly Jesus was buried. So this place, while no doubt in the larger neighborhood of the original tomb, is a re-creation of what it might have been...

Tiptoeing through TULIP: layoff allegations reveal Calvinism tensions at Baptist seminary.(HIGHER EDUCATION)
April 1, 2009... Commotion arose in February over reports that Calvinists teaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas, might be in danger of losing their jobs. Pastor Wade Burleson of Enid, Oklahoma, raised the alarm in...

Shari'ah spreads: Islamic taws creep into half of island nation's provinces.(RELIGIOUS FREEDOM)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... INDONESIA As candidates hit the campaign trail in preparation for July's presidential election, Indonesian rights groups have voiced strong opposition to an increasing number of Shari'ah-inspired laws they say discriminate against religious...

Taking heat: while some take action, most evangelicals in the global South remain lukewarm on climate change.(ENVIRONMENT)(World Evangelical Alliance )
April 1, 2009... U.S. evangelicals' slow warming to creation care raises the question: how concerned are evangelicals in countries considered ground zeros for climate change disasters? World Evangelical Alliance (WEA)-affiliated umbrella organizations in...

Worship behind the razor wire: a growing number of prison churches offer community for convicts.(CHURCH LIFE)
April 1, 2009... Two dozen men in orange and blue prison suits came forward, singing a spiritual as they received Communion from two ordained ministers. "Hallelujah, we're going to see the King," they sang in warm baritone voices. Theirs was joyful worship at...

Hua Zaichen.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Hua Zaichen, a Chinese Christian activist known for helping persecuted Christians, on February 9 in Beijing shortly after his wife, Shuang Shuying, 79, was released from prison. He was 91.

Oral Roberts University.(Elected)(Mark Rutland as president )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mark Rutland, as president of Oral Roberts University. Rutland, former president of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, will fill the void left by Richard Roberts, who resigned in November 2007 amid charges of...

Book Brouhaha: Encyclopedia of Christian history withdrawn; editor alleges censorship.(PUBLISHING)(Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization )
April 1, 2009... It's uncertain when, or if, the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization will reach bookstore shelves, but the delayed release of the four-volume work fueled debate about possible suppression of Christian academics by secular publishers. ...

Quotation marks.(Quotation)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... "Nobody changes from Muslim to Christian--you are a Muslim.... If I had a knife now, I would kill you." Abdelaa Hashem, an Egyptian judge, to Martha Samuel Makkar, according to her lawyer. Convert Makkar had been charged with forging...

A Mending in Moscow? Evangelicals hope new Orthodox patriarch will improve ecumenical relations.(EASTERN ORTHODOX)
April 1, 2009... RUSSIA Protestants and Catholics in Russia are hoping the change in Orthodox leadership this winter will bring a thaw in ecumenical relationships in 2009. In January, the Russian Orthodox Church enthroned its first new patriarch since Soviet...

Go figure.(HeadLines)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... 1 in 10 U.S. prison inmates who convert to Islam during their incarceration. 1 in 5 "Prison Muslims" who continue to practice Islam after their release. 13% U.S. evangelical Protestants who earn more than $100,000 annually. 21%...

Death tax resurrected.(POLITICS)
April 1, 2009... Fiscal conservatives working at churches face a dilemma: the estate tax violates their flee-market principles, but its reinstatement may be a boon to their employers. The law, as it stands, is creating confusion. Congress is encouraging...

Raided by the FBI and the IRS.(Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service's raid of Angel Food Ministries )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Angel Food Ministries was raided by the FBI and the IRS on February 11 in the wake of revelations that it paid and loaned more than $3 million to founders Joe and Linda Wingo and their family over a two-year period. The Georgia nonprofit, which...

More than $165,000 embezzled by forging checks.(Dallas Theological Seminary sued Rodney Bryant)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Dallas Theological Seminary in January sued Rodney Bryant, its former chief financial officer, in an attempt to recover more than $165,000 embezzled by forging checks. Bryant, who left the seminary in October 2008, denied wrongdoing.

Self-reported numerous ethics infractions.(NCAA )(Abilene Christian University penalized for ethics infractions in football )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The NCAA penalized Abilene Christian University in February and vacated 10 football victories after the Texas college self-reported numerious ethics infractions in football and track since 2005. Other Texas colleges said such infractions, which...

Layoffs of 10 percent of its workforce.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association announced layoffs of 10 percent of its workforce, or 55 employees, in February to streamline its evangelism efforts. Most of the cuts will come in non-evangelism areas such as groundskeeping and food...

Tony Dungy: the Indianapolis Colts head coach retired from the NFL in January. In response, Tyndale House rushed into print the 2007 Super Bowl champion's second book, Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance.(Q+A)(Interview)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Today's headlines suggest we are seeing the fruit of a widespread failure in character formation. Why? It stems from the breakdown in the family structure. We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up...

Darwin divides: Christian college professors split on Texas science standards.(SCIENCE)(Charles Darwin)
April 1, 2009... A Texas-sized battle over scrapping a longtime requirement that Lone Star State students be taught weaknesses in the theory of evolution has split politicians, parents, and professors who teach biology at the state's Christian universities. ...

Self-examination time: lent reminds us that the main problem with us is not them.(WHERE WE STAND: CT's Views on Key Issues)
April 1, 2009... IN HIS PREFACE to The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis denies that his insights into the art of temptation were "the ripe fruit of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology." No, he said, quoting Coverdale's translation of Psalm 36, "'My...

He talked to us on the road: the surprising rewards of Christian travel.(Cover story)(Essay)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "ALL PILGRIMAGES should be done away with, Martin Luther wrote in 1520. "For there is no good in them, no commandment, but countless causes of sin and of contempt of God's commandments. These pilgrimages are the reason...

Serving a two-handed God: how we love our neighbor depends on what we think divine power looks like.(Book Excerpt)(Excerpt)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HOLY WEEK presents us with a number of theological problems. One of them has to do with the nature of God's power. On the one hand, we remember the "impotent" God of Good Friday. He's the one who dies on a cross and...

The giant story: Rob Bell on why he talks about the good news the way he does.(The CT Interview)(Interview)
April 1, 2009... ROB BELL'S LATEST BOOK, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Zondervan, with Don Golden), is his most substantive yet. It's nothing less than a holistic, biblical theology of salvation--written, paradoxically, in Bell's typical sentence-fragment...

In the valley of the Shadow of suicide: a mother catches glimmers of hope after losing a son.(Meditation)(Essay)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN HE WAS 13 MONTHS OLD, my son Gabriel had his first life-threatening asthma attack. As my room and I put finishing touches on dresses and party favors for my upcoming wedding, Gabe grew listless, and his breathing...

The controversialist: between his prolific writing, prominence in classical Christian education, and recent foray into public apologetics, Doug Wilson is becoming a mainstream evangelical. Maybe.(Profile)
April 1, 2009... OF ALL THE SPOKESMEN for godlessness to emerge during 2007, the "year of the atheist," Christopher Hitchens is perhaps the most prominent. He is a prolific journalist and television pundit, selected by voters in Prospect magazine's 2008 poll as...

Hunger has a profile: working at my local food pantry helped me personalize the statistics.(Outreach)(Essay)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FIRST OUT OF THE DONATION BAG were the chocolate Santa Clauses, long after the Christmas season was over. Next was a can of Campbell's soup, three years past its expiration date. An assortment of foil-wrapped hotel...

Praying 'forgive us our sins'.(REFLECTIONS: Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind)(Quotation)
April 1, 2009... PRAYING for forgiveness is a vivid reminder that God frees us from debilitating guilt and forgets our past. No sin is written with indelible ink. ALBERT HAASE, Living the Lord's Prayer WE SEEK replenishment of "our" debts--the debts of all...

Civil religion's sharper teeth: all believers welcome, so long as they aren't religious.(THROWING INKWELLS)
April 1, 2009... SHORTLY AFTER he was asked to deliver a prayer at President Barack Obama's inaugural festivities, Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson proudly announced it wouldn't be a Christian one. He had been "horrified" at how "specifically and aggressively...

The real prosperity gospel: God's ways may be hidden, but his purpose for us is not.(RE-FORMED)(Essay)
April 1, 2009... Has the so-called prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants--and hence, victims--of the current financial crisis? DAVID VAN BIEMA, "Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess," Time magazine,...

The beauty of fasting: it's a tangible, bodily thing.(Fasting)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Here's the thing about fasting: You don't eat. The discipline is as humble and as ponderous as that, which is why, I suspect, we are oddly moved to do it. Scot McKnight's one-word title--Fasting (Thomas Nelson)...

Beyond passivity: a condensed excerpt from Fasting.(Excerpt)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... One student, after listening to a lecture I gave on Jesus and the poor, came to me with her eyes suddenly wide open: "Never in my life, even though I grew up in a church, did I realize how materialistic I have become and how it hurts others. I...

Believing Again.(BOOKMARKS)(Believing Again: Doubt and Faith in a Secular Age)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... BELIEVING AGAIN: Doubt and Faith in a Secular Age ROGER LUNDIN ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Believing again" after what? Roger Lundin's wide-ranging book starts from the familiar premise of a "disenchanted modernity." Whether or not...

Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.(BOOKMARKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... GIANTS: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln JOHN STAUFFER ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Shake a tree and a bunch of books about Lincoln will fall on your head. Amid this surfeit, a few volumes are especially...

A community Called Taize.(BOOKMARKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... A COMMUNITY CALLED TAIZE: A Story of Prayer, Worship and Reconciliation JASON BRIAN SANTOS *** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jason Brian Santos has written what reads like a book-length blog that might be called, "Everything You Always...

Storming young-earth creationism: but is Genesis I the only text at issue?(The Bible, Rocks and Time )(Book review)
April 1, 2009... In The Bible, Rocks and Time (IVP Academic) ***, geologists and Reformed Christians Davis Young and Ralph Stearley try to convince young-earth creationists (YECS) to abandon their position. First, they argue that the Creation account in Genesis...

My top 5 books on marriage.(Recommended readings)
April 1, 2009... JUST HOW MARRIED DO YOU WANT TO BE? Practicing Oneness in Marriage JIM AND SARAH SUMNER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Sumners explain how oneness, produced by putting Christ and then your spouse before yourself, is the heart of marriage....

Blogging the Bible: a Harvard-educated reformed Jew grapples with the Old Testament.(David Plotz )(Interview)
April 1, 2009... Slate editor David Plotz was desperately bored at his cousin's bat mitzvah three years ago. Not expecting much, he opened a copy of the Torah and landed on the story of how Dinah's brothers avenged her rape. "I was like, 'This is in Genesis?'...

Miller time again: on their first album in 8 years, Buddy & Julie are brilliant.(Written in Chalk )(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Buddy and Julie Miller begin their new album-Written in Chalk (New West) ****--with a song pining for the past, for days when "if we ate, we had to grow it" and "all we could afford was laughter." It's a fitting...

4 more good ones.(THE LIST)(This Is My America, Early Morning Hours, Audience of One, andKingdom of Noise)(Sound recording review)
April 1, 2009... VARIOUS ARTISTS THIS IS MY AMERICA (Hutton Music) *** This ambitious three-disc project, featuring 56 songwriters and performers, spans the entire history of the U.S. in 38 songs interspersed with narratives. Beginning with...

Untangling Holy history: PBS documentary examines Jerusalem's storied past.(Television program review)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jerusalem: Center of the World (PBS, Wednesday, April 1, 9/8c) *** isn't a pilgrimage on film, but it's not a bad place to start. Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, narrates the...

Saul in the big city.(Kings)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The biblical story of David and Saul is getting a modern-day makeover. Kings (not yet reviewed), which premiered March 15 on NBC, is about a king named Benjamin Silas who rules the nation of Gilboa from a New York City-like locale called Shiloh....

House.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... HOUSE ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS | RATED R | APRIL 7 *** [cd] Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, authors of the much-maligned "Christian supernatural thriller" genre, teamed up a couple years ago for a novel called House that, in the hands of the...

Not Easily Broken.(ON SCREEN)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2009... NOT EASILY BROKEN SCREEN GEMS | RATED PG-13 | APRIL 7 *** [cd] While Taraji P. Henson was earning an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she was also playing the female lead in this film, based...

The Tale of Despereaux.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX UNIVERSAL | RATED G | APRIL 7 *** [cd] Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Award-winning book, an enchanting story about a mouse with the heart of a hero, deserves a place alongside such classics as A. A. Milne's Winnie the...

Faith Like Potatoes.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... FAITH LIKE POTATOES SONY PICTURES | RATED PG | APRIL 7 NOT YET REVIEWED [cd] This film is based on the true story of Angus Buchan, a Zambian farmer who flees to South Africa to escape political unrest, only to find the going even more...

Doctrine bears repeating: Evangelicals need to brush up on basic Christian teachings.(THE BACK PAGE)
April 1, 2009... WE HAVE NOW sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." Written in 1939, George Orwell's words might well be addressed to the leaders of today's biblically illiterate church. The most obvious...