In Brief: October 05, 1998

  • County supervisors in San Francisco voted unanimously August 10 to expand the city’s domestic partners policy, making it the only U.S. municipality to order private businesses to provide the same customer discounts offered to married couples. The passage of the ordinance came on the heels of the U.S. House voting 214 to 212 to prevent the city from obtaining federal housing funds because of an ordinance passed last year that forces businesses with city contracts to extend health benefits to partners of homosexuals.
  • Roman Catholic Bible scholar Raymond E. Brown, 70, died August 8 after suffering a heart attack. Brown, the first Catholic to hold a tenured position at New York’s Union Theological Seminary, wrote nearly 40 books, including The Birth of the Messiah, The Death of the Messiah, and landmark commentaries on the gospel and epistles of John. His 1996 book An Introduction to the New Testament responded to liberal theories emerging from the Jesus Seminar.
  • Due to an outcry by nearly 100 religious schools, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on August 11 voted to accommodate schools that had objected to playing Sunday championship games. In April, the NCAA had decided not to give colleges an option. That sparked protests from Campbell University, a Southern Baptist-related school in North Carolina, and Brigham Young, the Mormon institution in Utah. Dozens of other schools joined in complaints.
  • Kay Ward, 56, a pastoral theology professor at Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on August 10 became the first woman elected as bishop among the 700,000 members of the worldwide Moravian Church. The Moravian Church of America has ordained women since 1975.
  • Church music composer and choral director Fred Bock, 59, died of cardiac arrest on July 31. Bock, music director at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, California, at age 24 founded the music publishing division of Word, Inc. There are more than 400 compositions and musical arrangements by Bock in print.

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend: The amazing story of Christian efforts to create and sustain the modern nation of Israel.

Cover Story

How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend

Giving and Getting in 1997

Unreached People Group: Classical Musicians

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from October 05, 1998

The Good HMO

Is Hell Forever?

The Baroness Cox: The Homeless Church of Myanmar

Theology for the Rest of Us

PAX TV off the Ground

Reconcilers Fellowship Folds

Evangelicals Are Not an Interest Group

LifeLine Subscribers Get Busy Signal

Bringing Up Babies

U.S. Churches Join Global Warming Debate

Urban Kids Meet Wilderness and Christ

60,000 Churches Join Prayer Effort

Party Calls for Immigration Cuts

Religion Law Jeopardizes Evangelism

In Brief: October 05, 1998

Signs of Canaanite Jerusalem Found

New Coptic Church Forcibly Closed

C. S. Lewis Birth Bash Draws Crowd

Editorial

The Prodigal Who Didn’t Come Home

Obsessed with the End Times

Letters

Methodists: Council Bans Same-Sex Rites

More PK Downsizing

Congress: Curbing Religious Persecution Difficult

Split Deepens over Religious Liberty Bill

Christian Science: Sect Polishes Image

Terrorism: Bombings Inflame Religious Tensions

Vineyard: Costa Rican Coffee Finances Urban Outreach

Champions for Christ Pulled into NFL Convert Controversy

A Postmodern Primer to Doctrine

Jerusalem as Jesus Views It

Smuggling Jesus into Muslim Hearts

The Muslim Challenge

Satan with a Stethoscope

Putting Death in Your Daytimer

The Lord Puts Strange Hooks in the Mouths of Men

Finishing Well

The Unmoral Prophets

Me? Apologize for Slavery?

View issue

Our Latest

Be Afraid

Be Afraid Bonus Episode 3: Scott Teems

Sometimes, there’s safety in numbers.

News

In Appalachia, Helene’s Water Crisis Taps a Global Christian Response

North Carolina churches are seeing people suffering dehydration. Disaster groups that work overseas are showing up to help.

Public Theology Project

The Bible Doesn’t Fit an Information Age

Algorithms strip us of mystery. The Gospels restore our ability to be astonished by the truth.

Wire Story

Evangelicals for Harris Asked to ‘Cease and Desist’ Billy Graham Ad

Franklin Graham says the campaign is “trying to mislead people” by positioning his father’s preaching in contrast to Donald Trump.

Facing My Limits in a Flood Zone

As a minister, I’m used to helping people during crisis. But trapped at home during Hurricane Helene, I could only care for who was in front of me.

5 Lessons Christians Can Learn from the Barmen Declaration

How a wartime confession resisted Hitler’s Nazification of the German church, and why its principles are still relevant today.

The Russell Moore Show

Autocracy, Robots, and Outlaws

Russell Moore and Ashley Hales, CT’s editorial director for print, discuss what they’re reading.

News

Back at Shooting Site, Trump Supporters Pray for His Protection

Still shaken by the tragic attack, Butler, Pennsylvania, welcomed the former president back with cheers of triumph and a memorial for the previous rally’s victim.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube