A Note to Our Readers

Back in 1997, Books & Culture published the first book review/essay I ever wrote. It was a piece about Stephen King’s horror novels and redemption, and Books & Culture was the only magazine I’d ever seen that was interested in both. When my copy arrived I discovered that Jean Bethke Elshtain, Mark Noll, David Lyle Jeffrey, Larry Woiwode, and Philip Yancey (among others) were occupying the pages with me, doing the same thing I was doing: thinking about our faith and its relationship to everything. I’d found good company.

That was over a decade ago, and Books & Culture has been introducing Christian thinkers to each other ever since. Now you’re part of our company, so give us a hand. If you can send a check of support, please do. But don’t leave it at that. Give a subscription to your doctor, dentist, and orthodontist. (How delighted I’d have been, back in 1997, to discover Books & Culture instead of Car & Driver in my doctor’s waiting room!) Give a subscription to your local library. Buy two subscriptions for yourself; leave the extra copies on park benches and in hotel rooms. Help us find a few more kindred spirits; we can’t wait to meet them.

—Susan Wise Bauer is the author most recently of The Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade (Norton), the second installment of a projected four-volume history of the world.

If you would like to donate, visit: booksandculture.com/donate or send checks (U.S. dollars only) to: Books & Culture Attn: Donor Relations Box 510 465 Gundersen Drive Carol Stream, IL 60188

Christianity Today International is a 501(c)(3) organization and your gifts are fully tax deductible.

Copyright © 2010 by the author or Christianity Today/Books & Culture magazine.Click here for reprint information on Books & Culture.

Also in this issue

Books & Culture was a bimonthly review that engaged the contemporary world from a Christian perspective. Every issue of Books & Culture contained in-depth reviews of books that merit critical attention, as well as shorter notices of significant new titles. It was published six times a year by Christianity Today from 1995 to 2016.

Our Latest

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Author Philip Yancey Confesses Affair, Withdraws from Ministry

The writer said he will retire from speaking and writing and grieves “the devastation I have caused.”

News

After Maduro’s Capture, Venezuelan Pastors Pray for Peace

Meanwhile, the diaspora celebrates the strongman’s ouster.

Church Scandals Don’t Negate God’s Faithfulness

That fallen pastor or troubled tradition was never responsible for the truthfulness of the gospel. That is God’s work, and God never fails us.

Review

The Insufficient Secular Case Against Porn

A new book from Jo Bartosch and Robert Jessel makes a compelling and rightfully angry case against pornography but fails to articulate a better sexual ethic.

Excerpt

Fighting Addiction Starts with Forgiveness

An excerpt from Freely Sober: Rethinking Alcohol Through the Lens of Faith on God’s grace in setting the captives free.

The Bulletin

US Captures Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Mike Cosper, Clarissa Moll

David French and Elizabeth Neumann join to discuss the US’s extraction of Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela.

Death of a Eulogy

Matthew D. Love

Christian funerals are increasingly secular. But how can Christians go quiet on the gospel at these of all moments?

The Vanishing Gifts of Boredom

The Bulletin with Christine Rosen

How technology steals uncomfortable yet formative human experiences.

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