Christianity Today articles from July 2009

Christianity Today archives from July 2009

Back to Cuba.(INSIDE CT)
July 1, 2009... ELEVEN YEARS is too long a time between visits. CHRISTIANITY TODAY last focused on Cuba in January 1998, when seasoned CT contributor John W. Kennedy reported "Cuba's Next Revolution" (http://christianity today.com/go/cuba98). Last winter,...

Renewed focus and vision.(PUBLISHER'S NOTE)(Christianity Today International)
July 1, 2009... WHEN I ASSUMED the role of president and publisher of Christianity Today International over two years ago, little did I--or anyone--anticipate the perfect storm that is now reshaping the media landscape. Diminishing ad dollars, sagging...

[Cartoon].(READERS WRITE)(Cartoon)
July 1, 2009... WELL, THERE'S OUR BROCHURE AND IF YOU CAN MAKE IT, WORSHIP SERVICE IS SUNDAY AT 11:00. I'LL BE PRAYING FOR YOU [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN HIS OWN WAY, TODD DOES HIS PART TO SAVE THE WHALES

Correction.(READERS WRITE)(Correction notice)
July 1, 2009... CORRECTION: May's Passages said Mary Hulst, chaplain of Calvin College, was the first woman ordained in the Christian Reformed Church. Hulst was ordained one month after Ruth Hofman, at First Toronto CRC.

Family ties: facing lawsuits and an FBI probe, Angel Food's story bears warnings about family-run mega-ministries.(NONPROFITS)
July 1, 2009... Joe Wingo failed to foresee the cloud he would hang over his family and his nonprofit, Angel Food Ministries in Monroe, Georgia, when he brought his wife and two sons in to help run it. He wanted them to share God's work. It was a good--and...

Radicals rejected: Orissa Christians breathe easier after election defeat of Hindu extremists.(INTERNATIONAL POLITICS)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... INDIA Christians in India heaved sighs of relief after the surprise rout of a Hindu nationalist party in May national and state assembly elections in Orissa, the scene of anti-Christian violence that killed hundreds and displaced tens of...

Martyrs killed by conspiracy: investigation links Malatya murders to cabal of generals, politicians.(PERSECUTION)
July 1, 2009... TURKEY In April 2007, five young men tortured and killed two Turkish converts and a German Christian at a Christian publishing house in the southeastern city of Malatya. When the resulting trial began in January 2008, the court and the Turkish...

Ralph D. Winter.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... Ralph D. Winter, missiologist and former missionary to Guatemala, on May 20 in Pasadena, California, from cancer. The 84-year-old founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission and William Carey International University directed evangelical...

James Hudson Taylor III.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... James Hudson Taylor III, on March 20 in Hong Kong. Taylor, the great-grandson of China Inland Mission founder Hudson Taylor, was the founding president of China Evangelical Seminary in Taipei, directed the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (now OMF...

Abilene Christian University.(Retiring)(Royce Money's retirement in 2010)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... Royce Money, as Abilene Christian University president, in May 2010. Money, who has been at the Texas university since 1991, will continue as the school's chancellor.

Wheaton College.(Retiring)
July 1, 2009... Duane Litfin, as Wheaton College's seventh president, in mid-2010. He has been president since 1993.

Rolf K. McPherson.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rolf K. McPherson, former president of Foursquare Church, on May 21 in suburban Los Angeles at 96. McPherson, son of church founder Aimee Semple McPherson, led the Pentecostal denomination from his mother's death in...

Less edgy conferences: Youth Specialties refocuses training events after pushback.(YOUTH MINISTRY)(Conference news)
July 1, 2009... Even organizations known for pushing the envelope can push only so far. Youth Specialties, a for-profit company owned by Zondervan, plans what its president Mark Oestreicher described as "dramatic shifts" at its three National Youth Workers...

Quotation marks.(Quotation)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... "I suppose the left will not be entirely happy with the President's choice, and the right, not entirely unhappy." Stephen L. Carter, Yale Law School professor and former CT columnist, on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, his former...

After Tiller: pro-life advocates wonder whether doctor's murder will reshape debate.(LIFE ETHICS)(George Tiller's murder)
July 1, 2009... Within hours of the murder of prominent Kansas abortionist George Tiller, every major pro-life organization in the country had issued condemnations of the shooting and calls for the assailant's prosecution. "The evil of this action is in no...

Too unorthodox for Episcopalians: Zen-practicing priest is the first bishop-elect to be rejected since the 1930s.(MAINLINE)
July 1, 2009... Barring a last-minute change of heart by opponents, it appears certain that Episcopal Church leaders have voted against consecrating a bishop-elect who rejects traditional Christian teachings about sin, salvation, and Christ's atoning death at...

Go figure.(HeadLines)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... -9 The percentage-point change in Republican Party identification since 2001 (from 38% to 29%) among those who seldom or never attend church. 0 The percentage-point change in Republican identification of those who attend church weekly...

What to do about polygamy: African churches seek a better response than in years past.(CHURCH LIFE)
July 1, 2009... SOUTH AFRICA Jacob Zuma's recent election as South Africa's fourth president since the end of apartheid was a foregone conclusion. The question that captivated observers has been which of the Zulu traditionalist's several wives would be first...

Received a $100 million donation.(donation from J. Ronald Terwilliger to Habitat for Humanity )(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... In mid-May Habitat for Humanity received a $100 million donation, the largest an individual has given to the Atlanta nonprofit. J. Ronald Terwilliger, the donor and board chair, said the money will help to build affordable housing for 60,000...

Laid off 16 employees.(Asbury Theological Seminary )(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... Asbury Theological Seminary laid off 16 employees in April. The Kentucky school is also not offering student scholarships in the next fiscal year due to a significant drop in its endowment value.

Changed its name to ChildFund International.(Christian Children's Fund )(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... The Christian Children's Fund changed its name to ChildFund International. Although the organization was founded by a Presbyterian minister in 1938 (as the China's Children Fund), it has not had Christian education as part of its program since...

Ordered the destruction of its 300,000 pigs.(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... In a claimed effort to defend against the H1N1 flu strain (swine flu), Egypt ordered the destruction of its 300,000 pigs in April. The slaughter, which the World Health Organization criticized as unnecessary, financially hurt thousands of pig...

Announced layoffs of 31 of its employees and the closing or sale of four publications.
July 1, 2009... Christianity Today International in May announced layoffs of 31 of its employees and the closing or sale of four publications: TODAY'S CHRISTIAN WOMAN, CAMPUS LIFE COLLEGE GUIDE, GLIMPSES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY, and CHURCH OFFICE TODAY.

Robert A. Schuller: after parting ways with his father's Crystal Cathedral, Robert A. Schuller left preaching to start a television career. The son of Hour of Power founder Robert H. Schuller Sr. recently acquired American-Life TV with GodTube founder Chris Wyatt.(Q+A)(Interview)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Why did you resign from the Crystal Cathedral? They decided to no longer air my messages on The Hour of Power. They felt they could have greater impact if they had lots of different preachers. The Hour of Power owns...

Recession hits refugees: nationwide job shortage pushes limits of resettlement system.(PARACHURCH)
July 1, 2009... The recession is putting a damper on thousands of refugees' dreams of being resettled in the United States by Christian organizations this year. More than half of the 80,000 refugees who can be admitted to the U.S. under 2009 limits have...

Not one sparrow: we can be 'speciesists' and show compassion for animals.(WHERE WE STAND)
July 1, 2009... IN A RECENT POST on Her.meneutics, the CHRISTIANITY TODAY women's blog, Saddleback Church's Kay Warren shared the story of being emotionally duped, then angered, by a heart-tugging television ad about suffering animals. As someone who has seen...

Cuba for Christ: ahora! The Communist island's improbable revival is 15 years old and growing stronger.(Cover story)
July 1, 2009... TAKE A FRIDAY NIGHT WALK through Havana's Parque G to see up close how much Cuba needs Christ. By day, the downtown park offers a pleasant stroll along a wide, tree-lined boulevard down to the gulf coastline. By night, Parque G becomes a murky...

Is the gay marriage debate over? What the battle for traditional marriage means for Americans--and evangelicals.(Culture)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ONE COULD BECOME wistful about the time in history when marriage was a settled affair, when everyone agreed on what it was, when no nation on the planet would have entertained the idea of legalizing same-sex marriage....

Evangelicals on the Newburyport Trail: George Whitefield's tomb is attracting a brisk flow of visitors. Just don't make a big deal about it.(Spirituality)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANYONE LOOKING for the burial site of George Whitefield, the bigger-than-life 18th-century evangelist who paved the way for American revivalists from Billy Sunday to Billy Graham, needs to have...

Does global Christianity equal American Christianity? Historian Mark Noll talks about how U.S. missionaries have--and have not--shaped the faith in other nations.(The CT Interview)(Interview)
July 1, 2009... NO ONE DOUBTS that American Christianity has had a profound effect on the shape of world Christianity. It's figuring out the exact nature of that influence that still requires investigation and fresh thinking. University of Notre Dame historian...

To kill or to love--that was the question: rethinking the image of God helped me to decide.(Discipleship)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I ENTERED MY FIRST SEMESTER of teaching confident in my ability and smug about my qualifications. After four years of study in biblical languages and English literature, I figured I knew my material. But I failed to...

Where Jerusalem and Mecca meet: one Baptist college's social (and evangelistic) experiment in having Muslim students on campus.(Higher Education)(Houston Baptist University )
July 1, 2009... COLLEGE FRESHMAN Nida Hassan, 18, walks between buildings to a campus lawn where students routinely fall prone across mats, praying toward Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the most sacred site of Islam. But this isn't Public State U. It's Houston Baptist...

When the war never ends: many vets are ambushed by post-traumatic stress disorder. But some churches are coming to their defense.(Outreach)
July 1, 2009... NATE SELF'S military record was impeccable. A West Point graduate, he led an elite Army Ranger outfit and established himself as a war hero in March 2002 for his leadership during a 15-hour ambush fire fight in Afghanistan. The battle resulted...

Hard times.(REFLECTIONS: Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind)(Quotation)
July 1, 2009... IF I PRAY with the intent to listen as well as talk, I can enter into a... stage, that of meditation and reflection. Okay, my life savings has virtually disappeared. What can I learn from this seeming catastrophe? PHILIP YANCEY, in...

'Honor Thy Father' for grownups: or, how not to be a deadbeat son or daughter.(THROWING INKWELLS)
July 1, 2009... WHY IS IT THAT we heap scorn on "deadbeat" parents who fail to take care of underage children, but excuse adult children who don't take care of their feeble parents? Perhaps it's because caring for children--no matter how many diapers and...

The clash of stereotypes: a recent survey reveals what Muslims detest most about the West.(UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM)
July 1, 2009... POLITICAL SCIENTIST Samuel Huntington depicted a clash of civilizations between the West and the House of Islam in his controversial book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, which received new life after 9/11. Huntington...

Divine devolution.(The Evolution of God )(Book review)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ROBERT WRIGHT THINKS GOD IS OKAY, AS LONG AS HE BEHAVES LIKE A SECULAR HUMANIST, By Dinesh D'Souza >> There are three kinds of people: those who believe in God, those who don't, and those who believe in belief....

Jericho's Fall.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2009... JERICHO'S FALL STEPHEN L. CARTER ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Carter's fourth novel is bracketed by an epigraph from the Book of Joshua and an author's note with this wonderfully deadpan sentence: "The problem of mental illness among...

Religion In The National Agenda: What We Mean by Religious, Spiritual, Secular.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2009... RELIGION IN THE NATIONAL AGENDA: What We Mean by Religious, Spiritual, Secular C. JOHN SOMMERVILLE ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sommerville (How the News Makes Us Dumb) is a principled contrarian, as opposed to the showoffs, and his...

Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2009... NAMING INFINITY: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity LOREN GRAHAM AND JEAN-MICHEL KANTOR ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fifty years ago, C. P. Snow gave a soon-to-be famous lecture on the "Two Cultures" of...

Wings for the single person: when the 'true love waits' pledge card has worn off.(Singled Out)(Book review)
July 1, 2009... Ah, not to be cut off," wrote the poet Rainer Maria Rilke in words that communicate the longing to know your place in the whole--or words that scratch the fear that there really is no place for you at all. Single adults over the age of 30...

My top 5 books on Calvin.
July 1, 2009... INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION JOHN CALVIN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's no better entry point into Calvin's teaching than this richly edifying work by the marl himself, It is a summary of the Christian faith written for pastors...

A more civilized Christian right: why the conservative movement is a model of democratic values.(Jon Shields)(Interview)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many political observers have bemoaned the effect of the Christian Right on democratic virtues. Jon Shields, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, has found that the moaning is mostly...

Blood and desperation: Aaron Strumpel returns human struggle to the Psalms.(Elephants)(Sound recording review)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Musical settings of the Psalms have existed for as long as, well, the Psalms themselves. After all, they were the ancient Israelites' hymnbook. But in the hands of many contemporary musicians, the Psalms have been...

4 more good ones.(THE LIST)(Oh Happy Day: An All Star; The Long Fall Back to Earth; Let the Road Pave Itself; Back to Tennessee)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... VARIOUS ARTISTS OH HAPPY DAY: An All-Star Music Celebration (EMI Gospel/Vector) *** Incorporating jazz, rhythm and blues, down-home singin', and a little rock, gospel music has thrived since pre-Civil War days. Capturing this diverse...

Voiceless women: the stoning of Soraya M. exposes a dark side of Islam.(The Stoning of Soraya M. )(Movie review)
July 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In recent years, Christians have grown more aware of social injustice around the world--poverty, AIDS, human trafficking, and so on. One issue that hasn't received as much attention is the oppression of women in Islamic...

Public Enemies.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... PUBLIC ENEMIES UNIVERSAL | RATED R | JULY 1 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice--Michael Mann's movies study tough guys under pressure. Here, Christian Bale plays FBI chief Melvin Purvis, who is on a...

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... HARRY POTTED & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE WARNER BROS. | RATED PG | JULY 15 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] In the sixth film in the popular franchise, the battle between good and evil--between righteousness and the downright demonic--ramps...

Adam.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... ADAM FOX SEARCHLIGHT | RATED PG-13 | JULY 29 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] God created us in his image, and doesn't want us to be alone. Where does that leave people with Asperger's syndrome, who lack critical social skills? Writer-director...

Building A Difference.(Television program review)(Brief article)
July 1, 2009... BUILDING A DIFFERENCE TBN | TUESDAYS, NOON/IIC *** [tv] Prayer, praise, Christian band cameos, and biblical themes often surface on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so it seems strange to have a "Christian" version of the show. Yet...

Knowing the end of the world.(Brief article)(Video recording review)
July 1, 2009... Jesus was clear that the only one who knew when the world would end was the Father himself (Matt. 24:36). Knowing (rated PG-13) ***, a sci-fi thriller coming to DVD July 7, adds a few others to that list. It starts with Lucinda Embry, a...

A whole good world outside: opening our blinds to the prevailing wonder of creation.(THE BACK PAGE)(Essay)
July 1, 2009... I ONCE HEARD pastor-scholar Eugene Peterson reminisce about an eccentric woman named Sister Lychen. Almost every week, in the church of Peterson's childhood--which encouraged words of prophecy--this frail old woman would stand up and say...