Coming Soon: 2020 Must-Reads in Christianity and Politics

Last updated on: December 25, 2019 at 11:24 pm By Kristin Du Mez

The frenzied commentary around Mark Galli’s Christianity Today editorial has not only revealed widely diverging opinions within the evangelical community about the Trump presidency, but also about about what, if anything, an anti-Trump editorial in the pages of CT portends. Is this merely futile virtue-signaling on the part of a few evangelical elites who are hopelessly out of touch with real evangelicals? Or is this a crack in the dam, unleashing the pent up but until now mostly quiet resistance to... Read more

God’s Christmas Gift To Women

Last updated on: December 25, 2019 at 11:34 am By Beth Allison Barr

It was Christmas, 1388, in Shrewsbury, a bustling market town far in the west of England. Winter frosted white the new timbers of the Bear Steps Hall, sparkling on the new glaze of the abbey’s west window, making even the centuries-old streets look new and fresh. Not much else was new in this old town, so early on that Christmas day in 1388. Neither the coming of Richard II’s Great Parliament in 1398 (the second parliament hosted by Shrewsbury) nor... Read more

Christmas with The Two Popes

Last updated on: December 23, 2019 at 10:36 pm By Chris Gehrz

Watching the new Netflix film on the last two popes, Chris was reminded of the last Christmas homily by Benedict XVI, which challenges Christians to "make room at the inn" for God - and for refugees, the homeless, and the poor. Read more

Hanukkah and National Myths

Last updated on: December 23, 2019 at 4:00 pm By Philip Jenkins

I posted about the gospel passage concerning Jesus and the feast of Hanukkah, which is no longer a Christian celebration. Its origins were however recorded in the first Book of Maccabees, which remains canonical for a majority of the world’s Christians, and Christians long regarded Judas Maccabeus as one of the mightiest Biblical heroes. But looking at that story in detail suggests quite a wide gulf separating historical reality from later religious myths. The basic story is famous. The evil... Read more

Our Favorite Articles of the Past Year

Last updated on: December 21, 2019 at 9:48 am By Chris Gehrz

Last weekend we shared our favorite books of 2019. Today: our favorite articles of the year, touching on everything from abortion to Advent, populism to cosmopolitanism. Read more

Jesus at Hanukkah: Winter is Coming

Last updated on: May 1, 2020 at 4:33 pm By Philip Jenkins

The feast of Hanukkah begins this year on the evening of Sunday, December 22 (missing the solstice by just one day). Although Christians do not celebrate the feast, anyone with Jewish friends or neighbors will know it as a lovely event, with its lights burning through the Winter darkness, and its symbolism of liberation. If cities don’t have menorahs in front of their public buildings, next to Nativity scenes, they should. But although it is not Christian, Hanukkah does feature... Read more

God in the Rainforest

Last updated on: December 16, 2019 at 1:16 pm By johnturner

Kathryn T. Long’s God in the Rainforest: A Tale of Martyrdom and Redemption in Amazonian Ecuador could have been a best-seller. Following well-worn tropes and predecessors, she could have lionized the evangelical missionaries who risked their lives to contact the Waorani, spent their lives with them, translated the New Testament, and protected them from each other and from outsiders who wanted their land. Or she could have condemned missionaries who collaborated with governments and oil companies to intrude upon the... Read more

Evangelizing the Evangelicals: Peaceful Christians in an Age of Violence

Last updated on: December 17, 2019 at 10:03 pm By David Swartz

Ron Sider returns to his Anabaptist roots in retirement. Read more

The Religious History of the Premier League

Last updated on: December 17, 2019 at 9:43 am By Chris Gehrz

Chris considers the history of the English Premier League, whose past and present support two distinct approaches to studying the relationship between sports and religion. Read more

On Pilgrimage and Back Again

Last updated on: December 17, 2019 at 5:15 pm By Agnes Howard

It’s not your average out-of-office message: gone on pilgrimage, won’t be checking email. Recently I wrote about Timothy Egan’s new book, A Pilgrimage to Eternity, before myself walking a piece of the Via Francigena with twenty-some twenty-somethings studying at Gordon-in-Orvieto. The students from Gordon College and other church-related institutions are mostly Protestant, making sense of the aesthetics and thoughtways of places heavily shaped by Roman Catholicism. The curriculum from time to time includes a pilgrimage, led by Swiss artist Marie-Dominique... Read more