Christianity Today

|Passing around the corner from the dining room table, I heard one of my sons reading aloud from C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I stopped and listened, knowing how much those Narnia books have meant to me. He was in the middle of a line, speaking fast and about to move on to the next paragraph. I stepped out into his view and said, “Stop there; […]

AdvertisementSupported byGuest EssayBy Esau McCaulleyContributing Opinion WriterThe presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States, who weeks ago started selling shoes, is now peddling Bibles. During Holy Week.What’s special about this Bible? So many things. For example, according to a promotional website, it’s the only Bible endorsed by Donald Trump. It’s also the only one endorsed by the country singer Lee Greenwood. Admittedly, the translation isn’t distinctive — it’s […]

Good Friday reminds us of the ephemerality of human power.Nearly 15 years ago, I had the chance to ask Christopher Hitchens, one of the world’s most prominent critics of religion, a simple question: “What do you think is the greatest contribution of Christianity, either writ large in terms of society or writ small in terms of individual lives?”To which Hitchens, an atheist who grew up as a nominal Christian, replied, […]

The Christian reaction to Trump’s Bible endorsement goes deeper than you think  CNNsource

I curled into a fetal position and sobbed. All my partner had asked for was to reschedule our plans so they could have some alone time. What was wrong with me? Why did such an innocuous request send me to the floor, the night ruined, too anxious and wrecked to enjoy the alone time I also needed?I didn’t understand it in the moment, but later I realized what was behind […]

Help keep Salon independentEarlier this week, Donald Trump unveiled his newest grift to squeeze money out of his cult followers: Trump-branded Bibles. Claiming the book contains the "King James version" and "also includes the Founding Father [sic] documents," Trump promised "you have to have it for your heart, for your soul." The screenshots of the video are funny by themselves, but I highly recommend watching the ad Trump cut for […]

Debate has raged in recent weeks about pastor and author Alistair Begg’s advice that a grandmother attend her grandchild’s wedding to a transgender person. Now that the dust is somewhat settled, it’s worth asking what we can learn from the whole episode.I’ve explained elsewhere why I disagree with Begg’s advice, but here I want to reflect on how we navigate our differences about such matters within the body of Christ. […]

This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.Over the past several weeks, I was away with a Christianity Today group, teaching through Exodus up and down the Nile River in Egypt. Along the way, I found myself in lots of temples and tombs—many of them filled with the embalmed corpses of ancient Egyptian kings and queens.As I was there, though, I couldn’t help but think about the American […]

More weeks than not, I think about skipping church.“We could just take this one week off, I tell myself. We’ll be back next week. It’s cold out, anyway.”The author of the book of Hebrews wasn’t dealing with Minnesota winters when he exhorted his readers to keep “assembling together.” If he had to face sub-zero temperatures, he’d totally get why staying home sounds so good.And anyway, I’m an introvert.Church can feel […]