We get letters
Using e-mail, fax, and old-fashioned snail mail, readers' letters to CT editors totaled nearly 1,500 during 1997. By far, the subject that commanded the greatest attention was the ongoing controversy over the proposed, then withdrawn, inclusive-language edition of the New International Version of the Bible (already published in Great Britain), and the ensuing discussion of Bible translation issues. Other articles that produced strong reactions from readers in 1997 were Daniel Clendenin's piece on Eastern Orthodoxy (Jan. 6, 1997) and Gary Burge's analysis of evangelical worship (Oct. 6). Scores of writers also responded to Michael Hamilton's examination of the legacy of the late Francis Schaeffer (Mar. 3) and to Philip Yancey's "A State of Ungrace" (Feb. 3), asking if the church has forgotten its central message in fighting contemporary culture wars.

For 1998, keep those cards, letters, faxes, and e-mails coming.

"RIGHT DIAGNOSIS, WRONG RESPONSE"
"The Making of a Revolution" [Dec. 8] conveys the "giddy" excitement Phillip Johnson and others feel in believing he leads a revolution that will cause Darwinism to go "belly up." However, the situation warrants more caution.

The article ignored the question of why many Christians most qualified to assess Johnson's scientific claims remain unconvinced. His philosophy troubles many Christian scientists more than his scientific claims. He agrees with atheists such as Dawkins, Sagan, and Provine that evolution and a materialistic metaphysics are inseparable, implicitly affirming the logic of their anti-Christian argument—that evolution by natural selection (if true) implies Christianity is false. But this is precisely the issue that needs refutation. Equating natural ...