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Responses to our November issue.

Envato Elements

Empty Pews Are an American Public Health Crisis

No one is doing more to advance the study of religion and health than Tyler VanderWeele, and I was pleased to see his article (along with Brendan Case). It’s important to note, however, that the case for attendance is so strong because it’s one of the only religion/spirituality variables historically included in high-quality studies. More and better data will help evaluate additional variables, including an area I focus on, attachment to God. Notably, believers who experience insecure or anxious attachments are unlikely to benefit from religious services.

Blake Victor Kent Santa Barbara, CA

I enjoyed the article and see the need for communal worship and gatherings. What you missed is more emphasis on hypocrisy, especially with sexual abuse in the church. Too much is covered up to keep the church looking good. Another aspect is the fear and condemnation of the other outside the church. Your article would be more effective by interviewing those who have left because of intolerant attitudes and forms of worship that do not glorify God. I have not left God or my Savior, just church.

Marjorie Logman Aurora, IL

Jesus Loves the Brown Pop-Eyed Atewa Slippery Frog

Thank you for sharing this story and this man’s wonderful work to preserve God’s creation. May we all do likewise.

Tricia Gaitely Murfreesboro, TN

Churchgoers May Remember Song Lyrics Over Sermon Quotes

As someone who is asked to speak in small churches, I am grateful to be allowed to choose the hymns for the service. I believe that this is an opportunity for the congregation to worship and to confess with their mouths truths about God grounded in Scripture.

Judy Hewitt Ottawa, Ontario

The Church Needs Reformation, Not Deconstruction

God will bring much good and renewal to those who are reframing their understanding of the gospel. They may be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” now, but God will not let go of those who belong to him.

Jeanette Lamothe Albuquerque, NM

We Need a Savior More Than a State

To the unchurched, isn’t “washed in the blood” spiritual and abstract? It’s a phrase full of meaning to a segment of the evangelical culture, but let’s face it, it’s in-speak. I couldn’t agree more that solid theology is the remedy for the travesties committed in the name of Christianity. Unfortunately the evangelical world has more than its share of shaky, amateur theology and seems loath to police itself.

Joseph Costantino Bridgetown, Barbados

How Scripture Keeps Surprising Me

Memorized Scripture shines light on paths we may be tempted to take in haste and those we might avoid out of fear.

@PATTI_TILTON (Twitter)

The New Head of the World Evangelical Alliance Wants to Talk

There is no agreement based on labels. Agreement must be based on doctrines. There has been a migration of many North American “evangelicals” away from historic doctrines of the united church. Without this identification with doctrines of the church, how can you define evangelical or Christian?

Stephen Wuest (Facebook)

Books “stuffed into shelves, stacked in piles, and even teetering on top of the toilet.” As a bookworm, that sounds perfectly reasonable, and I am wondering what is on top of your toilet, Ken Chitwood?

Annette Johnson (Facebook)

My Body Is a Temple, Not a Fighting Machine

I wanted to let Hector know that I loved his story. He is a great writer and storyteller, but more importantly, a man whose convictions steered him to God’s bigger plan and purpose for his life. I don’t know him, but I can say I’m proud of him!

Sandy Anjilivelil Denver, CO

Also in this issue

For all the alarms sounded today over declining reading habits, and for all the fears that social-media shallowness has crowded out serious thinking, people still make a big deal of books. We buy them and read them. We discuss and debate them. And we still sense that the deepest, most enduring truths about God and man, about history and contemporary life, are found not on Twitter threads but on the printed page. This is one reason we’re dedicating the bulk of this issue not only to our annual Book Awards but also to books themselves, in the form of excepts from awards finalists (and several winners) that shine a light on some of the finest Christian thinking happening today.

Cover Story

Christianity Today’s 2022 Book Awards

Excerpt

The Cosmos Is More Crowded Than You Think

Henrietta Mears, the Improbable Evangelical Leader

John Stott’s Global God

Our Jan/Feb Issue: Words in the Wild

Are the Arts a Tool, a Temptation, or a Distraction?

Evangelicals Have Made The Trinity a Means to an End. It’s Time to Change That.

How White Rule Ended in Missions

Blessed Are Those Who Embody the Beautitudes

Testimony

I Entered Prison a ‘Protestant.’ I Left a Christian.

If I Had to Bow to an Idol, It Would Be the Sun

How to Disagree Nicely but Not Lose Your Convictions

Excerpt

Black Christians Are Confronting Black Lies About Christianity

Parents Set the Pace for Their Adult Children’s Religious Life

News

As COVID-19 Death Tolls Rise, More Americans Want Religious Funerals

News

How Black Missionaries Are Being Written Back into the Story

News

Illinois Eliminated Parole in 1978. These Christians Want to Bring it Back.

News

Gleanings: January 2022

Learning to Love Your Limits

Review

Well Done, Good and Faithful Missionary

Excerpt

The Poet Who Prepared the Ground for the Sexual Revolution

View issue

Our Latest

News

Ghana May Elect Its First Muslim President. Its Christian Majority Is Torn.

Church leaders weigh competency and faith background as the West African nation heads to the polls.

Shamanism in Indonesia

Can Christians practice ‘white knowledge’ to heal the sick and exorcize demons?

Shamanism in Japan

Christians in the country view pastors’ benedictions as powerful spiritual mantras.

Shamanism in Taiwan

In a land teeming with ghosts, is there room for the Holy Spirit to work?

Shamanism in Vietnam

Folk religion has shaped believers’ perceptions of God as a genie in a lamp.

Shamanism in the Philippines

Filipinos’ desire to connect with the supernatural shouldn’t be eradicated, but transformed and redirected toward Christ.

Shamanism in South Korea

Why Christians in the country hold onto trees while praying outdoors.

Shamanism in Thailand

When guardian spirits disrupt river baptisms, how can believers respond?

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