Customer Reviews

Christianity Today

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Christianity Today" is much like "Time Magazine." Founded in part by Billy Graham and Carl Henry, its basis is evangelical. However, as the Christian world is farther reaching than evangelicalism, so reaches "Christianity Today." CT remains steady and solid in its views, and helps educates the well-read Christian.

Mixing pop-news, hard-hitting issues, and intriguing features, CT manages to cover and assess the present state of Christianity. With a core of intelligent thinkers, and seasoned journalists, CT has been the leader in Christian journalism, and sets the pace for its peers.

Articles are often passed around Sunday School and CCD classes to educate the layman what is going on in the modern Christian life, helping connect the year 33 AD with 2002 AD.

Though coming from a protestant slant, Catholics and Orthodox Christians would be well-served to explore this magazine, as the movements of world Christianity are followed and reported. For example, they have done a great job reporting and analyzing the issues surrounding the Irish Catholic-Protestant conflict, separating the socio-political from the religious points of view.

A great buy. I fully recommend "Christianity Today."

Anthony Trendl
http://anthonytrendl.com

For a general-purpose Christian magazine, its hard to go wrong with Christianity Today. It has a little bit of everything that touches the Christian world, whether news, theology, morality, or the devotional life. Editorials and articles are well thought-out and presented in a very intellectually engaging manner. In a couple of issues that followed the 09/11 tragedy, the magazine dealt with questions that were on the minds of many: Is Islam a religion of peace? and Is the God of Mohammad the same God as the God of Jesus Christ? The articles on those questions really nailed the issue for me. Also recently there have been ongoing discussions of Openness Theology which have been helpful. The alternating columns by Philip Yancey and Chuck Colson are worth the price of the magazine. One area that could stand some expansion is the reviews section, particularly book reviews. Besides that, its hard to find fault with this magazine.

I have read CT for years, and appreciate its ability to report on the broad Christian world, as well as current events, from an evangelical perspective that informs believers, and offers credible material for those who want to know what we think. The blend of church news, world news, culture, and theological discussion is amazing. While covering controversies within denominations and movements, CT also helps bring the broad evangelical movement together through its explication and analysis.

Some reviewers complain that CT promotes a prosperity gospel, denominational strife, or other such unbalanced views. Such mistaken views come from reading one article, or one or two issues. Magazines sometimes write interview articles on individual thinkers, and what comes across should be seen as a report of the subject's perspective, not an editorial endorsement by the interviewer. CT instructs the church, by allowing us to see what others are saying. It does so with crisp, concise and thoughtful style.

Bottom-line: Evangelicals will learn much about the world and themselves from this publication. Those interesting in knowing the thoughts, struggles and issues within evangelicalism will find Christianity Today a good starting place.

Christianity Today offers interviews of major thinkers, performers, and newsmakers, with special emphasis on how they relate to the evangelical church world. Their in-house writing is mainstream evangelical, and when it comes to controversy within the movement, the writers are "painfully middle of the road." Nevertheless, since those in the middle usually get shot at from both sides, the CT garners its share of criticism from fundamentalists, liberals, and those with stark views on such subjects as sex, drugs, music, national politics, and international relations (especially regarding the Middle East).

CT is intelligent, broad, and a great starting place for anyone wishing to understand the worldview of one of the most rapidly growing segments of "Christianity Today."

So often when looking through magazines I haven't found quite what I was looking for in the Christian literature. I like the approach Christianity Today takes. It has articles that are broad, and not focused on a specific demonination. I believe the magazine has a slight evangelical bent to it. I do like the variety of articles, and coverage of current events. I would recommend this magazine for those who want to become a little more informed of Christianity in the modern world.

I love the scope of Christianity Today. It's the single most anticipated magazine in my household (and I subscribe to MANY). Why? Because I like knowing what's happening in the Body globally, and what issues are impacting the church here and abroad, such as new cults, persecution, movements, government changes, emerging doctrines, changes in leadership, etc.

There is always at least one article that challenges me to be a better believer, and there is always one or more issues that I add to my prayer list--be it a particular town's sufferings or a particular person's persecution or a ministry aiding girls bound in sexual slavery or a ministry seeking to free slaves, etc. And I enjoy the yearly selection of best books in particular categories.

The columns are terrific, and the round-up of quotes on particular topics (forgiveness, Easter, resurrection, prayer, death, etc) is always worth rereading or tucking into a binder for future readings.

If you're a part of the church, this magazine is a great montly overview of events, important persons, emerging movements, and national stories of interest. It's worth subscribing to.

(PS: I have no idea what the brief review by Anne Freeman is referring to, but something doesn't sound right. I've subscribed to CT for many years, and you always have a term for which you renew: one year, two years, etc. Once your subscription term nears its completion, they send you a note suggesting you renew. You don't have to renew. I'm assuming the opt-outs are for those persons who are on a trial basis--ie, you get a free trial issue to see if you want it--where you're told that you must return an invoice saying "cancel" or they will continue the sub and you will be billed. In that case, part of trying out the magazine is agreeing to those terms--you try, and then you pay or you opt-out with notification of cancellation. If you don't tell them to cancel and keep receiving the magazines without paying, then, well, that's theft in my book. You're taking what you have not paid for and don't intend to pay for.

But if you have a regular subscripton, it runs its term and no more--as it should. A subscription is an agreement: I want this many issues for which I pay you the amount you state for that term. And if you want to cancel early, you write or email or call and say, 'I want to cancel. Send me a refund of what's due." That's standard op for magazines, and I should know: I have subscribed to dozens over the last 20 years, including CT and a sister magazine Christian History. I tried CH for a time, didn't renew, and it expired. I got no hassles. I didn't have to send a letter. I simply let it expire when the year was up.

As in all things: Read the agreements, read the terms, and abide by them.)

CT, the magazine: Highly Recommended.

EDITED ON March 20th to ADD: I contacted Christianity Today to inquire about the accusation leveled in the review by Anne Freeman. They assured me my subscription was not on auto-renew, and they added this:

~~As for the posting at Amazon, sometimes customers sign on for the free
trial issues and never respond to the invoices. We do require a
cancelation notification either by phone or mail. These accounts get
sent to our collection department after certain time period, however it
is an in-house collections. We do not report to credit bureaus and it
does not affect credit scores.

Hope this eases your mind!~~

So, again: Always know what kind of sub you have and the terms. And, as such, be at ease in ordering this magazine. ~~Mir

Christianity Today began in the 1940s as an alternative to Christian Century, at a time when the "new evangelicals" (spearheaded by Billy Graham) were breaking away from fundamentalism and into the religious and academic mainstream. Fifty-something years later, it is outstanding as the voice of mainstream conservative evangelicalism in the United States.

News is generally top quality, and articles embrace a wide variety of issues (cultural, social, theological, ecclesiological etc.) from a broad range of evangelical standpoints (ranging from the fairly conservative to the progressive, eg. Sanders, Pinnock etc.). Even as an ex-evangelical, I am still guaranteed always to find something of interest within its pages.

In some circles, to arrive at the office without having read the Wall Street Journal is like turning up in your boxer shorts and a sneaker. In other circles, the same can be said of 'CT', as it is known to regular readers, who include virtually everyone of influence in the evangelical movement in America.

As a CT reader for more than thirty years, I have lived with this monthly's evolution from the thought journal that the late theologian Carl Henry wished it to be, empowered to drag American evangelicalism - kicking and screaming if need be - out of the cultural backwaters. Gradually, and by means of the separation of Henry from the project, it became a more general-access piece of the kind that fellow founder Billy Graham is said to have desired.

General access is no kidding. Circulation has mushroomed over the decades and given rise to something of a Christianity Today Empire around evangelicalism's Mecca, Wheaton, Illinois.

With CT, you get news, analysis, some extremely well-written columns, and a dose of measured opinion, all of which purports to represent evangelicalism's 'middle', even if this is a constantly moving and morphing target.

More belligerent alternatives (think WORLD magazine) have sprung up to lead the culture wars, Southern Baptists have been largely coopted into the evangelical movement, and frequent contributions from evangelicalism's Christian college faculties have made CT a confident product of the evangelical establishment. Now firmly distinguished from fundamentalism - a distinction that, astonishingly, is still routinely missed by cultural elites from outside the movement - CT allows itself to cringe at antics on both the left and the right of American Christianity. The magazine has also developed a fine instinct for recognizing the leading edge of Christian activity before it becomes a recognizable trend.

Hugely influential, occasionally claustrophobic, rarely maddening, always worthwhile. CT is the WSJ of the neo-evangelical movement.

As a self-diagnosed Christianity Today junkie, I cannot speak highly enough about Christianity Today as a thoughtful and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in the Christian faith. CT was the brainchild of Billy Graham fifty years ago, and it maintains his strain of Christian perspective, namely evangelicalism. Graham was never interested as a preacher in answering every bit of theological and doctrinal minutiae, nor does Christianity Today aim to do so. Instead, this magazine truly covers the full spectrum of issues that impact the lives of Christians, from news stories of current events and biographies of leaders within the church to analyses of important social and spiritual matters and controversial battles (past and present). CT offers a genuinely global perspective of Christianity, telling missionary stories from around the world in each issue. There are stories of successful and thriving churches of every stripe and descriptions of the victories and successes that occur within all sorts of denominations and ecclesiastical organizations. And they periodically include debates or discussions from opposing sides of important theological ideas, offering folks from both sides a forum to state their case.

One of the things that I appreciate most about Christianity Today is their passion to do journalism the right way as Christians. They publish articles by writers with whom many of their readers will not necessarily agree, and they chronicle the lives of many folks who may be outside the church or at least affiliated with a fringe movement. They do all of this while maintaining an unabashedly clear evangelical center, which is most clearly communicated through the editorials in each issue. I love the heart of this magazine and its leadership. I love their approach to their charge as evangelical Christian journalists. I truly read each issue, cover to cover, including all of the advertisements and even the classified ads! I feel like I remain a well-educated and informed Christian when I immerse myself in this amazing resource. I find myself copying or forwarding links to at least one or two articles from each issue to friends and family whose lives I know will be touched as mine always is when I invest in reading from the pages of Christianity Today. I would recommend it to anyone.

This is a decent magazine and it's good to support an Christian magazine. But if Sojourners ~sometimes~ errors to the left- Christianity Today ~often/ persistently~ errors to the the "right."

In the current climate, I subscribe to Sojourners. CT has been too passive in letting things veer to the right-wing.

Contributor Yancey is an inspiration and a true Christian voice; while Colson is deluded by the high places of power and is a stain on an otherwise reasonable approach of CT.