Traditionally, this week usually sees the major mainstream news weeklies putting Jesus on their covers or in some other way referencing Holy Week. Not coincidentally, those covers are often some of the magazines' biggest sellers on the newsstand.

Why is this year different from all other years? Because thinking about Christ's Passion came early, thanks to Mel Gibson. Newsweek already put "Who killed Jesus?" on its cover, and for the last six weeks or so other news outlets have examined similar questions raised by The Passion of The Christ. So several magazines that might have normally been inclined toward religion cover stories took a pass this year, including U.S. News & World Report, which doesn't have any religion articles in this week's issue.

Time, however, went the other direction.

Time asks why Jesus died
Weblog was beginning to wonder where Time's religion reporter, David van Biema, was off to. The magazine did a fine job profiling Rick Warren without him, for example, but it was odd to see such an article without his byline. Now we know the answer: Van Biema was busy putting together one of the best religion cover stories the magazine—or any mainstream news magazine—has ever done.

First off, yes, it's extremely refreshing to see an article about the way The Passion of The Christ depicts Jesus' death that doesn't focus on who's to blame. The question here isn't who killed Jesus, but why Jesus died. The theological term for how Jesus' death reconciled man and God is atonement.

Weblog can't do much more than encourage people to read this story, which reveals a thorough knowledge of the subject. There are some great lines from John R.W. Stott, as well as comments from Mark Noll, Jack Graham, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Al ...