Christianity Today articles from June 2009

Christianity Today archives from June 2009

Summer reading.(INSIDE CT)
June 1, 2009... YOU WOULD THINK that after spending hours and hours with words, the last thing the editors at CHRISTIANITY TODAY would want to do is go home and read books. Or spend their summers catching up on their reading lists. Well, you'd be wrong. To...

[Cartoon].(Cartoon)
June 1, 2009... WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE SPENT QUALITY TIME BY OURSELVES. JUST TEXTING EACH OTHER? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Correction.(READERS WRITE)(Correction notice)
June 1, 2009... Correction: We identified the photographer for our April 2009 profile of Doug Wilson, "The Controversialist," as Doug LaMoreaux. The photographer was Mark LaMoreaux.

Stopping discrimination: proposed EU law may force out faith-based social services.(POLITICS)
June 1, 2009... EUROPE Under an anti-discrimination directive passed by the European Union Parliament in April, Christian churches, schools, and social services in Europe cannot limit their membership to those who share their beliefs. The directive, which the...

A victory in Vietnam: officials permit massive outdoor Easter gathering for house churches.(RELIGIOUS FREEDOM)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... VIETNAM In what religious freedom advocates regard as a breakthrough, Vietnamese authorities granted rare permission to unregistered house churches to hold a large, public Easter-related service April 21 in Ho Chi Minh City. More than 15,000...

Wedding blues: pastors hold to church teachings as more states legalize same-sex marriage.(SAME-SEX MARRIAGE)
June 1, 2009... Few expected the Midwestern state of Iowa to lead a gay rights advance. But the state's Supreme Court ruling on April 3 that its ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional kicked off a busy month of legislation. Four days after Iowa,...

Regent University.(Retiring)(Pat Robertson will retire in 2010)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Pat Robertson, as president of Regent University, in July 2010. Robertson, 79, founded the Virginia Beach school in 1978 with 77 students. It now has 4,500. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Moody Bible Institute.(Selected)
June 1, 2009... Paul Nyquist, as president of Chicago's Moody Bible Institute. Nyquist, 55, is president of Avant Ministries, a Kansas mission agency.

David "Pop" Winans.(Died)
June 1, 2009... David "Pop" Winans, patriarch of the famed gospel-singing Winans family, April 8 in Nashville. He was 74.

World Vision International.(Appointed)
June 1, 2009... Kevin Jenkins, as president and CEO of World Vision International. Jenkins is currently managing director of TriWest Capital Partners investment firm.

World Vision.(Leaving)(Atul Tandon)
June 1, 2009... Atul Tandon, as World Vision's senior vice president for donor engagement, to lead the International Network of United Way. Tandon is credited with tripling the size of World Vision's revenue during his nine-year tenure.

Crystal Cathedral.(Hired)
June 1, 2009... Dante Gebel, a popular Argentine televangelist, by the Crystal Cathedral to lead the California megachurch's Hispanic ministry.

Good News.(Retiring )(James Heidinger)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] James Heidinger, as longtime president of United Methodist renewal ministry Good News. The 67-year-old pastor will be succeeded by Robert Renfro, pastor of Houston's The Woodlands United Methodist Church.

Earl Paulk.(Died)(Obituary)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Earl Paulk, founder of Atlanta's Cathedral at Chapel Hill megachurch, on March 29 in Atlanta. The 81-year-old leader was long marred by charges of sexual misconduct.

Institute on Religion and Democracy.(Promoted)
June 1, 2009... Mark Tooley, as president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a mainline renewal think tank in Washington, D.C. He succeeds retiring president Jim Tonkowich.

Customs confusion: new visa rules trip up traveling religious workers.(IMMIGRATION)
June 1, 2009... After an overnight flight from Denver, Christian singer Don Francisco arrived at London's Heathrow Airport intending to perform in an Easter music program in the English port town of Poole. Instead, the 63-year-old American said, he was...

Quotation marks.(Quotation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... "My departure from the Faith was like a conversion on the road to Damascus. My return was slow, hesitant, doubting. So it will always be; but I know I shall never make the same mistake again." A. N. Wilson, biographer of C. S. Lewis and...

Popping the fraud bubble: more churches seek protection as scams continue to unfold.(FINANCE)
June 1, 2009... As affinity fraud continues to victimize Christian churches and organizations, signs are emerging that more believers are demanding accountability and oversight. But these efforts may be too late for victims who invested funds with suburban...

No 'Poster Boy': Rick Warren draws criticism for distancing himself from Proposition 8.(POLITICS)
June 1, 2009... Months after his invocation at President Obama's inauguration enraged same-sex-marriage advocates, Rick Warren found himself facing criticism from same-sex-marriage opponents. The California megachurch pastor incited some conservatives' fury in...

Go figure.(HeadLines)(health policy, public perception of Barack Obama's religion, and church's income)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... 1.2 million Lives saved by President George W, Bush's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). $2,450 Amount it cost to avert each death. 11% Americans who think President Obama is a Muslim. 19% Evangelical...

Killed three Christians and wounded two.(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Gunmen in Iraq killed three Christians and wounded two in their Kirkuk homes on April 26, shaking the city's 7,000 believers who had largely avoided the sectarian bloodshed of the region. Local clergy believe the victims were targeted for their...

Computer equipment scam cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Over 30 Washington, D.C., churches said a recent computer equipment scare cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. The churches said they were offered free computer kiosks for outreach that proved to have faulty equipment and came with...

Laying off nine employees (17 percent of its workforce) and closing its two magazines.(NavPress)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Christian publisher NavPress reorganized in April, laying off nine employees (17 percent of its workforce) and closing its two magazines, Discipleship Journal and Pray!, after their paid circulation dropped over 23 and 10 percent respectively in...

Could expel students it believed were lesbians.(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... California's Supreme Court in April left intact a lower court's ruling that said a private Lutheran high school could expel students it believed were lesbians because the school, as a voluntary organization, was not covered by California civil...

Changed its name to Grace Communion International.(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... The Worldwide Church of God changed its name to Grace Communion International in April, a rebranding four years in the making that further distances the denomination from the views of founder Herbert W. Armstrong, whose denial of the Trinity and...

Francis Collins: this April, the former director of the Human Genome Project launched the BioLogos Foundation, which aims to foster discussion about the compatibility religion.(Q+A)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Why did you launch BioLogos.org? After The Language of God was published, I got deluged with interesting queries far beyond my ability to respond. So we identified 33 questions that get asked over and over again. We...

Posthumous preaching: some preachers are as popular dead as they were alive.(CHURCH LIFE)
June 1, 2009... The Sunday after Easter, famed Southern Baptist preacher Adrian Rogers appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network, asking his congregation in suburban Memphis to turn to a passage from the Gospel of John. "A Christian with a witness in his...

The soul of the border crisis: local churches are key in fixing the immigration mess.(WHERE WE STAND: CT's Views on Key Issues)
June 1, 2009... THE NEWEST RESEARCH from the Pew Hispanic Center, released this spring, suggests that the immigration system in the United States is going to be nearly impossible to fix. This is an important realization; with a weak economy and high...

How Tim Keller found Manhattan: the pastor of Redeemer Church is becoming an international figure because he's a local one.(Cover story)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN TIM KELLER came to Manhattan in 1989, New York City had a well-deserved reputation as a snarling, scary place. Violent crime, drug dealing, and other urban pathologies had weakened or chased off many of the...

Reconcilable differences: fifteen years after genocide, Rwanda is showing signs of healing.(Forgiveness)
June 1, 2009... MARC SAHABO, a shy, kind man, reaches out to greet me. As I shake his hand, I can't help thinking about what that hand was doing in April 1994: wielding a machete and killing 15 people during Rwanda's genocide, which left about a million people...

The justification debate: a primer: two of the world's most prominent pastor-theologians on justification--and what difference it makes.
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since CHRISTIANITY TODAY'S August 2007 cover story, " What Did Paul Really Mean?" Piper and Wright have taken the dabate on justification from the academy to the masses. Here is where the two evangelicals differ. ...

Not an academic question: pastors tell how the justification debate has changed their ministry.(Theology)
June 1, 2009... WHICH IS MORE SCANDALOUS? The multitudes of Christians who think they need to earn their salvation by being good? Or the throng of Christians who think that holy living doesn't matter so long as they have prayed the sinner's prayer? Pastors'...

Global is the new local: Princeton's Robert Wuthnow says American congregations are more international than ever.(The CT Interview)(Interview)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CHRISTIANS have been transnational since Pentecost. But world events create new possibilities. Spanish missionaries followed closely on the heels of Columbus, and Danish and British missionaries capitalized on trade...

When to be naive: it's not a virtue just for children.(Spirituality)(Essay)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WERE EVANGELICAL SUPPORTERS of President Obama naive to think that he would seriously try to limit abortions? Or were they displaying Christian charity by giving him the benefit of the doubt? When a Christian father...

A city of angels for the homeless: how one church in the nation's homeless capital is responding.(Imagine LA)
June 1, 2009... GAZING OUT a large window in the pastor's office at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Arlene Epps-Gray tells of how a mother who once owned a four-bedroom home surrounded by a pond and a barn became a homeless drug addict. She recalls a pivotal...

The loudest cheers in heaven: one day, God's invisible heroes will gain due respect.(SERIOUSLY DISTURBED)(Essay)
June 1, 2009... HEADING HOME to California recently, a friend and I passed through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. On the way to the connecting gate, we heard loud patriotic music playing and saw a group, mostly women, wearing colorful hats, cheering, and waving...

Saying more than we can say: why the arts matter even during a recession.(WRESTLING WITH ANGELS)
June 1, 2009... AT A CONCERT in Erie, Pennsylvania, I sang a song called "In Good Hands." Afterward, the church's custodian stopped by. "When you was singing that song about Jesus' hands," he said, "the sun was setting behind you, and it was making them stained...

Praying 'for thine is the kingdom'.(REFLECTIONS: Quotations to Stir Heart and Mind)(Quotation)
June 1, 2009... YOURS, O LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 1 CHRONICLES 29:11, NRSV ...

Christ alone: why indulgences are still a bad idea.(RE-FORMED)(Essay)
June 1, 2009... "Why are we bringing it back?" asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move [to revive the practice of indulgences]. "Because there is sin in the world." PAUL VITELLO, reporting on the pope's decree of indulgences...

More than deep feelings: Dallas Willard argues that we really can know Christ.(Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge )(Book review)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Imagine that after a routine checkup, your doctor says, "My hunch is that you have cancer and must undergo extensive surgery." Would you feel confident going under the knife based on a hunch? Would your confidence grow...

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... PREDESTINATION: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine PETER THUESEN ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Whatever your views on predestination, you will profit greatly from this thoughtful book by a historian of American religion....

The Spartacus War.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... THE SPARTACUS WAR BARRY STRAUSS ***** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Yes, that Spartacus, the one played by Kirk Douglas in a memorable movie almost 50 years ago, the gladiator who led a daring slave rebellion in Roman Italy between 73 and...

How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... HOW ROME FELL: Death of a Superpower ADRIAN GOLOSWORTHY **** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Adrian Goldsworthy doesn't have Barry Strauss's gift for taut narrative, but he is a historian with many virtues (as readers of his recent biography...

Heartbreak and promise: Isla Morley's debut portrays the complexity of grief after a child's death.(Come Sunday )(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Losing a child in an accident is every parent's worst nightmare. In Come Sunday (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) ****, South African writer Isla Morley unpacks the stages of a mother's grief after tragic loss in a debut novel full of heartbreak and...

My top 5 on neglected doctrines.(On Being A Theologian Of The Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518; Suprised By Rope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church; Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body; Dogmatics in Outline; The Gospel In A Pluralist Society)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... THE GOSPEL IN A PLURALIST SOCIETY LESSLIE NEWBIGIN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mission. This breathtaking vision rearticulates the faith in its own apostolic integrity, and shows how to live it out viably and confidently in the very...

The changing face of apologetics: Lee Strobel doesn't think the traditional methods work anymore.(The Unexpected Adventure: Taking Everyday Risks to Talk with People about Jesus )(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Lee Strobel has written many books-The Case for Faith, The Case for Christ, and The Case for the Real Jesus among them-that provide intellectual reasons, wrapped in stories, for the Christian faith. Stan Guthrie, CHRISTIANITY TODAY managing...

Old-timers hit the highway: Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill team up for a winner.(Mystery Highway)(Sound recording review)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As long as Christian music legends Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill have been making music (occasionally together), they haven't collaborated on a full-length studio album-until now. Mystery Highway **** is all power-pop...

4 More good ones.(THE LIST)(Mama Rosa, Way to Dublin Town, Madeleine Peyroux, Live In London)(Sound recording review)
June 1, 2009... BRIAN BLADE MAMA ROSA (Verve Forecast) *** Brian Blade has earned considerable acclaim as the drummer and bandleader of the celebrated jazz group the Fellowship Band. With Mama Rosa, however, he breaks from the Fellowship, and indeed,...

Starvation by court order: Schiavo documentary claims that it was murder.(The Terri Schiavo Story)(Video recording review)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 2005, as a sharply divided nation looked on, Terri Schindler Schiavo's feeding tube was removed as the result of a court order. Thirteen days later, she died of starvation. Her mother, Mary Schindler, was prohibited...

Romantic comedy, plus Jesus.(Brief article)(Video recording review)
June 1, 2009... * New in Town (Lionsgate, ***)--recently out on DDD--is a sweet romantic comedy that was actually edited from PG-13 to PG to make it more family friendly. Starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. as an unlikely pair, the film has its charm...

Lioness.(Television program review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... LIONESS PBS INDEPENDENT LENS | JUNE 2, 10/9C **** [tv] We all know that men and women serve in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what's less known is how many of those women, known as the Lionesses, end up in combat. Five...

$9.99.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... $9.99 REGENT RELEASING | RATED R | JUNE 19 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] The tagline for this flick is simple enough. "Want to know the meaning of life? It'll cost you only $9.99." Penned by Israeli writer Etgar Keret (The Bus Driver Who...

Year One.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... YEAR ONE COLUMBIA PICTURES | RATED PG-13 | JUNE 19 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] What do you get when you throw Jack Black and Michael Cera into a comedy that features Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, and some dude named "Sodom Officer Rick"?...

My Sister's Keeper.(ON SCREEN)(Movie review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... MY SISTER'S KEEPER NEW LINE CINEMA |RATED PG-13 | JUNE 26 NOT YET REVIEWED [camera] Based on a Jodi Picoult novel, this film tackles tough medical and philosophical ethics. In the book, when a two-year-old is diagnosed with leukemia, her...

Protecting our little platoons: there's reason to be concerned for the future of voluntary organizations.(THE BACK PAGE)
June 1, 2009... THE ECONOMIC CRISIS is fueling a rapid expansion of government control over banks and industries-and soon, perhaps, over health care, which alone amounts to one-sixth of America's GNP. This transfer of responsibilities raises cautionary flags,...