“All those prayer and Bible-study groups, the fellowship and hugging and that obligation to spread the word. Sounds like a hotbed of extroversion to me.” I realize how introversion–for better and worse–permeates all aspects of our lives. I was surprised to learn about the new book, Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an... Continue Reading

Oscar Stanton De Priest (1871-1951) was the first African-American elected to Congress in the 20th century. Like Barack Obama, he rose through Chicago machine politics. Unlike Obama, De Priest was a Republican firmly opposed to big government. He lost his seat in 1934 when African-Americans voted their empty pocketbooks and began a massive switch from... Continue Reading

How to Be Single, Sexual, Spiritual and Sane: A Different Christian Perspective by Steve R. Bierly seeks to inform readers on Biblical teachings about human sexuality and how to address natural urges and feelings that come with attraction to the opposite sex. Bierly contends that mainstream Christian teaching in the area of sexual purity is... Continue Reading

You may think that I’m going to go off on the upcoming To Save a Life movie as one of those Christian movies whose budget, cinematography standards, plot and acting have been, well, left behind. But I’m not. Whatever giants the makers of this movie may have beem facing this movie is totally fireproof when... Continue Reading

For two decades, the annual Christianity Today Book Awards have recognized outstanding volumes that shed light on people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission. This year, our judging process began with 472 titles submitted by 72 publishers. CT editors selected finalists in each category, and then our expert judges sorted out... Continue Reading

You probably don’t need a long synopsis of James Cameron’s half-billion-dollar epic “Avatar,” in part because even if you haven’t seen it, you’ve seen it. As many reviewers have noted, Cameron rips off Hollywood clichés to the point you could cut and paste dialogue from “Pocahontas” or “Dances With Wolves” into “Avatar” without appreciably changing... Continue Reading

With a budget rumored to exceed 500 million dollars, James Cameron’s “Avatar” steamrolled through theaters around the world this past weekend. The director of “Titanic” stated that he wrote the story in the mid-1990’s, and was “just waiting for the technology to catch up” to make the film. Based on the alien world of Pandora,... Continue Reading

We live in a time of foment. There is not much that is settled and predictable in western culture today. Consensus has evaporated on almost every front; W.B. Yeats, it would seem, was right: The center cannot hold. The Church is not only not immune to this foment, it seems to be responsible, in part,... Continue Reading

How many ways can you creatively tell the story of Jesus’ birth? Many authors have placed the story of Christmas into a “make believe” world of animals, or special visitors to give it new inspiration for children. But in The Plan, Sinclair Ferguson uses no gimmicks, yet tells the old, old story in a fresh... Continue Reading

Maybe there’s a way to make a really compelling, urgent documentary in which ordinary citizens and celebrities around the globe are canvassed about an important topic. Offhand, I don’t know how. But Peter Rodger’s “Oh My God?” is not the way to do it. On the other hand, perhaps you crave to know what actor... Continue Reading