In September of this year, CTi, publisher of Christianity Today and seven other magazines, will launch a new journal: Books & Culture: A Christian Review. To whet your appetite for that charter issue, we have prepared a preview of Books & Culture here in the pages of CT. As you read, keep in mind that Books & Culture, like such esteemed journals as the New York Review of Books, the Hungry Mind Review, and, yes, the National Enquirer, will be published in tabloid format. Its pages will differ from CT's in size and texture. What you have here is a sample of the kind of writing you will find in the new magazine.

Each bimonthly issue of Books & Culture will include a generous mix of features: essays, memoirs, interviews with leading Christian thinkers and writers, excerpts from new and forthcoming books, debates on current issues, and more. In September's charter issue, for example, George Marsden listens in on a conversation among Socrates, Thomas Jefferson, and William Jennings Bryan; Philip Yancey assesses the achievement of Annie Dillard—a more deeply Christian writer than is generally recognized; Mark Noll considers Lincoln as theologian; Frederica Mathewes-Green illuminates the role of icons in Orthodox worship; and a forum on affirmative action presents diverse Christian perspectives on a question that provokes passionate disagreement.

Every issue of Books & Culture will contain reviews of books that merit critical engagement. Look for Gerald Early on Albert Raboteau's "A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Spirituality," Phillip Johnson on "The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution," Sara Miles on "Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South," Richard Mouw on "Why ...