Christianity Today articles from February 2009

Christianity Today archives from February 2009

Bibliophiles we.(INSIDE CT)
February 1, 2009... WE LOVE BOOKS. For those for whom a picture is worth a thousand words--or a very short book--note the picture of John Wilson s office. Wilson, a CHRISTIANITY TODAY editor at large (and the editor of BOOKS & CULTURE), is clearly the Master,...

A costly shift: Richard Cizik, longtime lobbyist for evangelicals, resigns after 'shifting' on gay unions.(EVANGELICALS)
February 1, 2009... Politically conservative evangelicals skeptical about global warming welcomed Richard Cizik's December 10 resignation as vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). But those in the creation care...

Fault line of faith: six pastors killed, 40 churches razed in Jos's most recent violence.(PERSECUTION)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... NIGERIA Murderous rioting reportedly sparked by Muslim attacks on Christians and their property in late November destroyed 40 churches and left six pastors and at least 500 others dead, according to Nigerian church leaders. What began as...

Prosperity gospel on skid row: difficulties of high-profile pastors may reorient movement--or reinforce it.(CHARISMATICS)
February 1, 2009... Some of the high-flying icons of the prosperity gospel--the belief that God rewards signs of faith with wealth, health, and happiness--have run into financial turbulence. Not all of their troubles can be blamed on the nation's economic...

Sherwood Eliot Wirt.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Sherwood Eliot Wirt, Christian journalist and author, on November 8 in Seattle. "Woody" Wirt, 97, was a longtime associate of Billy Graham's and founding editor of Decision magazine.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., best known among evangelicals for his ecumenical work with Evangelicals and Catholics Together, on December 12 in the Bronx, New York. He was 90.

Henry Brandt.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Henry Brandt, the psychologist who pioneered modern biblical counseling, on November 24 in Singer Island, Florida. Brandt, 92, authored numerous books, including The Heart of the Problem.

Robert A. Schuller.(Resigned)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Robert A. Schuller, senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. His father, Robert H. Schuller, removed him from the church's Hour of Power television program in October due to "a lack of shared vision."

Frank Pollard.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Frank Pollard, prominent Southern Baptist pastor and former seminary president, on November 30 in San Francisco. Pollard, 74, was named one of seven "outstanding Protestant preachers in America" by Time magazine in 1979.

Jim Bolin.(Resigned)(restoration process due to inappropriate sexual behavior)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Jim Bolin, founding pastor of the 7,000-member Trinity Chapel in suburban Atlanta, for "inappropriate sexual behavior." Church officials said Bolin, 56, would go through a two-year "restoration process" through the Church of God.

George Docherty.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... George Docherty, Presbyterian minister credited with first proposing the addition of the phrase "under the Pledge of Allegiance, on November 27 in Alexandria Virginia. He was 97. His 1954 sermon heard by President Eisenhower led to Congress's...

Stocks squeeze seminaries: financial crisis may claim more evangelical schools in 2009.(HIGHER EDUCATION)
February 1, 2009... One evangelical seminary fell victim to the American economy's recession in 2008, while others teetered on the brink of collapse or faced serious cutbacks. Salt Lake Theological Seminary, the only Christian graduate school of theology in...

Quotation marks.(Quotation)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... "How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?" Penn Jillette, atheist comedian, magician, and filmmaker, recounting someone...

Smuggling debate: ministries disagree on how best to provide Bibles to Chinese Christians.(MISSIONS)
February 1, 2009... CHINA Public disagreement ignited last fall when the CEO of the Bible Society in New South Wales, Australia, said that sneaking Bibles into China was both unnecessary and dangerous to Christians living there. Daniel Willis said the new...

Go figure.(HeadLines )(Evangelicals )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... 49% Evangelicals who agree with the statement, "My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life." 37% Evangelicals who said this a year ago. 64% White evangelicals in the survey who said Judaism can lead to eternal life....

A healing rift: conservative Anglicans launch new North American province.(MAINLINE)
February 1, 2009... In a history-making gesture, conservative Anglicans, deeply alienated by their U.S. and Canadian denominations, joined forces across theological divides to launch the first competing geographic province ever proposed to the Anglican Communion....

May have found where David battled Goliath.(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Archaeologists claimed they may have found where David battled Goliath, A massive second gate was discovered at the Elah Fortress excavation in November, leading some experts to identify the Israeli site as the ancient Judean city of Sha'arayim,...

Thomas Nelson cut 10 percent of its workforce.(Thomas Nelson Inc. layoff workers)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson cut 10 percent of its workforce in December after low October sales: The 54 layoffs followed 60 layoffs in April, when the company trimmed its titles by half.

Sentenced by Gambia to a year in prison with hard labor.(David and Fiona Fulton's sedition charges )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Scottish missionaries David and Fiona Fulton were sentenced by Gambia to a year in prison with hard labor after pleading guilty to sedition charges December 29. David had worked as an army chaplain in the West African Muslim nation for 12 years....

Received a $1.5 million check.(donation for LifeBridge Christian Center)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... LifeBridge Christian Center in Longview, Texas, received a $1.5 million check from a local businessman December 2, paying off the remaining mortgage for the 300-member congregation's first church building. The check came two years after pastor...

An unexpected $2.6 million gift.(church received estate from deceased farmer)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... A small church in western Pennsylvania received an unexpected $2.6 million gift in December, when it was revealed that member John Ferguson, a local farmer who lived in a mobile home, had left his entire estate to the 80-member Hopewell United...

Charles Colson: the founder of Prison Fellowship received a Presidential Citizens Medal from George W. Bush on December 10. It is the second-highest honor given to civilians. While Jeb Bush restored Colson's civil rights in 2000, Colson has no! received a pardon for his role in the Watergate scandal.(Q+A)(Interview)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What does the medal mean to you? Two things: The first is that redemption is possible, because it was 35 years ago this year that I left the White House in disgrace and now have come back to receive a very lovely...

Atheists' outreach: debating God on public transit draws Christian response.(EVANGELISM)
February 1, 2009... Commuters in Washington, D.C., and London encountered a public debate of sorts between atheists and Christians during a December ad battle on city buses. "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," read D.C. ads sponsored by the...

Gas-powered gospels.(Christian activists appeal to North Korea )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Gas-Powered Gospels: Christian activists in South Korea sent hundreds of thousands of gospel tracts over North Korea's closed border in November using helium-filled balloons. Equipped with a time-release...

Let's talk--seriously: the case for traditional marriage won't go away that easily.(WHERE WE STAND: CT's Views on Key Issues)
February 1, 2009... NEWSWEEK'S DECEMBER 6 COVER STORY on "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage" understandably raised the ire of religious conservatives. The so-called case was not much of one, however, and seriously misrepresented the views of conservatives. We've...

Who do you think you are? The global church needs to ground youth in their true, deepest identity.(WHERE WE STAND: CT's Views on Key Issues)
February 1, 2009... ABOUT A YEAR AGO, Kenya exploded in post-election riots that resulted in a thousand deaths. Many of the killers were unemployed young people who were "hanging out and feeling people were looking down on them," says Muhia Karianjahi, the...

Sci-fi's brave new world: how the genre draws us to its own views of redemption.(Cover story)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN RECENT YEARS, movie and television audiences have been treated to stories both captivating and curious. We've watched extra-dimensional aliens instruct pre-Columbian Native Americans in the basics of civilization....

The 2009 Christianity Today book awards.(Awards list)
February 1, 2009... Our judging process began with 436 titles submitted by 67 publishers, CT editors selected finalists in each category, and then our expert judges--one per category--sorted out the cream of the crop from 2008. Here are the 10 winners and 11...

Meager harvest: The Green Bible promises to grow our understanding of creation care. Unfortunately, its results don't satisfy.(Books)(Book review)
February 1, 2009... ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS is a cliche whose connotations of divine judgment we no longer notice. But the term is apt for what is happening to the earth today. Habitats are disappearing and species going extinct at unprecedented rates. Artificial...

The ultimate Kibitzer: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein wants Jews to trust evangelicals, and evangelicals to love Israel.(Profile)
February 1, 2009... ON A COLD FRIDAY evening on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a crowd of 200 gathers to hear Rabbi Yechiel Z. Eckstein speak on the topic, "The Christian Right: Jews' Best Friends or Greatest Adversaries?" Haskel Lookstein, rabbi at Congregation...

Searching for radical faith: I traveled from Portland to Delhi, and this is what I found.(Discipleship)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I'M AN EXTREMIST by nature: a big-wave surfer and habitual entrepreneur who wrote a book a couple of years ago about adventurous faith. I started writing about radicalism because I thought I was part of the movement....

Making movies to change the world: 2008 was the year of socially conscious documentaries.(Film)
February 1, 2009... WHEN HOLLYWOOD'S stars hit the red carpet for the Academy Awards on February 22, glitz and glamour--and blockbuster movies-will get the most airtime. And the whole world will be watching. Well, not all of it. A group of women in Sudan, far...

Bush's faith-based legacy: key policies at home and overseas will help victims of poverty and disease for years come.(Politics)(George W. Bush)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN EARLY 2001, George W. Bush, as the 43rd President of the United States, had his first encounter with top world leaders such as Tony Blair, then British prime minister. The political climate was chilly in the White...

Praying 'Thy Kingdom Come ...'.(REFLECTIONS: Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind)(Quotation)
February 1, 2009... "THY WILL BE DONE"--but in fact we are thinking: "Our will be done," and thus this third petition of the Lord's Prayer is first of all a kind of judgment on us, a judgment of our faith. ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN, Our Father LORD, may your grace...

Memo to worship bands: five sound reasons to lower the volume.(SPEAKING OUT)
February 1, 2009... CAN YOU HEAR ME? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day--I hope. Why does everything...

California's temper tantrum: how the gay rights movement lost more than Proposition 8.(THROWING INKWELLS)
February 1, 2009... A MANAGER at a Los Angeles Mexican restaurant was targeted for her $100 contribution in support of traditional marriage. Protesters hounded her out of her job, and did the same to a Sacramento theater director and the director of the Los Angeles...

Reverence for the mystery: God does not have to answer to us for his ways.(RE-FORMED)(Quotation)
February 1, 2009... In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that...

Learning from secular nations.(Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment )(Book review)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN 'GODLESS' SCANDINAVIA, PEOPLE ARE CONTENT IS THAT ENOUGH? by Lisa Graham McMinn Scandinavians are content, caring people who don't worry too much about what happens after they die. And they aren't a tad bit religious...

I Heard God Talking To Me.(BOOKMARKS)(I Heard God Talking To Me: William Edmondson and His Stone Carvings)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2009... I HEARD GOD TALKING TO ME: William Edmondson and His Stone Carvings ELIZABETH SPIRES (FARRAR, STRAUSS, AND GIROUX) ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Born in 1874 (probably) on a plantation in Tennessee, the child of freed slaves, William...

The Final Martyrs.(BOOKMARKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2009... THE FINAL MARTYRS SHUSAKU ENDO TRANSLATED BY VAN C. GESSEL (NEW DIRECTIONS) ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In The Lost History of Christianity, Philip Jenkins writes about places where the church died--and about its stubborn...

Paranoia: The 21st Century Fear.(BOOKMARKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2009... PARANOIA: The 21st Century Fear DANIEL FREEMAN AND JASON FREEMAN (OXFORD) * [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This book by an eminent clinical psychologist and a freelance writer includes some timely observations on what the late Michael...

Novel teachers: learning real-life lessons from imaginary ministers.(Preachers and Misfits, Prophets and Thieves: The Minister in Southern Fiction)(Book review)
February 1, 2009... Keeping company with the characters explored in Preachers and Misfits, Prophets and Thieves: The Minister in Southern Fiction (Westminster John Knox) **** is like living with children who disclose your quirks and virtues by parroting them back...

My top 5: fiction for the soul.(Brief article)(Recommended readings)
February 1, 2009... THE WAY OF A PILGRIM ANONYMOUS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The protagonist discovers the Jesus Prayer on his quest across 19th-century Russia to learn to pray continually. He shows us a way of praying that saturates our lives without taking...

Get Lost: acclaimed show asks big questions.(Lost)(Television program review)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One creator of the television series Lost (ABC, Wednesdays, 8/7c) ***** says the most important scene of last year's stunning fourth season wasn't the pivotal moment when some survivors of downed Oceanic Flight 815...

True Beauty.(ON SCREEN)(Television program review)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... TRUE BEAUTY ABC | MONDAYS, 10/9C NOT YET REVIEWED [tv] Six gorgeous women and four handsome men compete for the top prize in this new reality show. They assume the judges are only evaluating their good looks. But unbeknownst to the...

Confessions of a Shopaholic.(ON SCREEN)(Plot summary)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC TOUCHSTONE | RATED PG | FEBRUARY 13 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] When Sophie Kinsella's book, a humorous critique of consumerism gone wild, was published in 2001, it became a big hit. This timely film adaptation...

Religulous.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... RELIGULOUS LIONSGATE | RATED R | FEBRUARY 17 ** [camera] Satirist Bill Maher, whose disdain for all religions comes through loud and clear here, apparently went to the Michael Moore school of filmmaking--i.e., don't bother to document...

The Order of Myths.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... THE ORDER OF MYTHS PBS | NOT RATED | FEBRUARY 24 ***** [tv] Very few movies get a 100 percent "fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes.com, but this provocative documentary--airing on PBS'S Independent Lens--did. America's oldest Mardi Gras,...

W. goes easy on Dubya.(W. movie review)(Movie review)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Though no stranger to presidential biopics, director Oliver Stone (JFK, Nixon) had never tackled the topic of a sitting U.S. President until W. (Lionsgate, PG-13) ****, releasing to DVD on February 10. The first--and most surprising--thing...

Staples's center: at 69, the soul and gospel queen is still electrifying.(Mavis Staples' Live: Hope at the Hideout )(Sound recording review)
February 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mavis Staples is one of the most iconic figures in contemporary music. As a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the lead vocalist for the phenomenally successful gospel/ soul group the Staple Singers, a friend of...

4 more good ones.(THE LIST)(sound recordings)(Sound recording review)
February 1, 2009... COMPASSIONART CREATING FREEDOM FROM POVERTY (EMI CMG) **** Featuring 19 top Christian artists, this ambitious project includes 14 original songs about justice and mercy for the least of these. The well-executed tunes vary from...

Political exile: a strategy for social conservatives in a socially liberal era.(THE BACK PAGE)
February 1, 2009... FOR THE FIRST TIME in three decades, socially conservative Christians find themselves in a dramatically changed political environment: outside in the cold, so to speak. No more easy access to the Oval Office or powerful friends in Congress. ...