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Post mortems, reviews, roundups, top ten lists—'tis the season to wrap up 2003 with a bow and set it aside for the dreams and plans of the new year. For Christian History magazine's online newsletter, "Behind the News," this means reviewing some stories that we probed during 2003 for their Christian-history backgrounds (here's a complete list of the year's stories with links to each one).

From Iraq to the Da Vinci Code, the Episcopal crisis to The Lord of the Rings, the year just ended has had its share of dramatic news stories and blockbuster media events crying out for a little historical context. Seeing that no one else online was consistently providing this sort of background, we did our best. You can judge the results for yourself in this year-end roundup of top "Behind the News" stories.

Here they are, in (roughly) reverse-chronological order, with a freebie thrown in at the end:

1. As Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code entered its umpty-umpth week on the New York Times bestseller list and secured the top spot among Amazon.com's top sellers, a couple of us began to have the experience of relatives and friends coming to us and challenging the integrity of Christian faith based on the "facts" Brown claimed lay behind his novel. We decided it was time to look a little more closely at Mr. Brown's opus.

Breaking The Da Vinci Code
So the divine Jesus and infallible Word emerged out of a fourth-century power-play? Get real.
by Collin Hansen
Posted November 7, 2003

Thanks, Da Vinci Code …
… for sending us back to Christianity's "founding fathers"—and the Bible we share with them
by Chris Armstrong
Posted November 14, 2003

2. October brought news on the Catholic front with the fast-tracking of the process to canonize Mother Theresa.

John Paul II's "Canonization Cannon"
Why and how this pope has made over 470 saints.
by Steven Gertz
Posted October 24, 2003

3. That month, with John Paul's health continuing to fail visibly, we also heard an increasing buzz that Catholicism may soon have its first black African pope. Having just told the story of the first black African bishop in our Issue 79: The African Apostles, our ears perked up and we decided to investigate.

The Next Pope: An African?
Sixty-four years ago, the Roman Catholic Church consecrated its first black African bishop. Is it time now for the next step?
by Chris Armstrong
Posted October 17, 2003

4. But the top church-related news story in the fall happened on the Anglican front, which really did begin resembling a battle front when the Episcopal Church pushed on with its decision to allow a homosexual to become a bishop. We viewed this one from several angles.

When Denominations Divide
The two-century-old "Unitarian controversy" suggests a grim prognosis for the current crisis in the Episcopal Church
by Collin Hansen
Posted October 10, 2003

Our Brothers and Sisters, the Episcopalians
The Episcopal Church needs our help. Here's why we should give it.
by Chris Armstrong
Posted October 3, 2003

5. On September 12th, we belatedly observed the second sad anniversary of the terrorist attack on America and remembered the "other 9/11" of the mid-nineteenth century—also a bloody, religiously motivated attack within our borders. There seemed to be a lesson in both cases: words spoken in a religious setting must be very carefully chosen.

Learning From the Other 9/11
Words kill. So teachers, watch what you say.
By Chris Armstrong
Posted September 12, 2003

6. By the summer, Philip Jenkins'sThe Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity had garnered a lot of buzz in the media. With the Episcopal crisis already looming and our work on Issue 79: The African Apostles well underway, we paused to consider the impact of African Christianity on the church in the west.

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