One of the books I loved in my youth was Watership Down by Richard Adams. For reasons I could not name at the time, the peculiar tale of a band of rabbits escaping the destruction of their warren and sojourning to a new home captivated my imagination. Inspired in part by Adams’s experiences in World War II, the novel narrates the dangers the rabbits confront along the journey to a prophesied promised land as well as the fight, once they reach it, to defend it from danger.
Later, when I studied abroad in England, a friend asked whether I would join him on a day trip to retrace the rabbits’ journey. I had not known that Watership Down actually exists: It’s an elegant green hill outside Kingsclere in southern England. Adams described places he knew well, places that can still be found, down to the smallest details. So, dog-eared copy of the book in hand, that friend and I spent an enchanting spring day charting the way from the Sandleford Warren to the top of Watership Down. There, to our delight, we found dozens of rabbits peeking out of their holes as the sun set over the downs of Hampshire.
Watership Down became one of the best-selling books of all time and has been adapted into stage plays, animated films, and a streaming series. It deepened my sense of the profound pleasure of reading and its power to transport us to faraway places. It also sharpened my attention for things I had once overlooked—in this case, things close to the earth, berries and thistles and flowers—the kinds of things rabbits would notice.
The issue you hold in your hands is devoted to the magic of books. Books are teleportation devices, time machines, world engines, empathy generators, enliveners of minds, and invigorators of souls. The history of Christianity is, among other things, a history of books, from The City of God to the Summa Theologica to The Imitation of Christ, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Institutes of the Christian Religion, and Mere Christianity. And of course, God chose to bear the story of his relationship with his people and of his incarnation and ministry in the person of Jesus Christ in the Holy Book.
We congratulate the winners of this year’s Book Awards. We hope they capture new hearts and minds for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope they point our attention toward things we neglect, refining our vision of what it means to follow Jesus with all our hearts and minds.
Christianity Today remains committed to the written word. We believe in the extraordinary, life-changing power of stories and ideas. That is why we were founded and why we exist today. We all belong to an adventure story—a journey from a broken paradise to a promised land. We all partake in the grand narrative of God’s redemption and restoration of all things.
And as in Watership Down, the story is one of friendship and fellowship. We are a community on the move. When we lift our heads, we see the destination ahead of us: a high and beautiful place, a home in the sunlight, where we will be one with our Maker and Savior.
The kingdom of God is among us and ahead of us, and it is a real place. One day we will see it in full. As we at Christianity Today move through our One Kingdom Campaign and follow where we believe God is leading, we are grateful to our readers. Thank you for seeking the kingdom together, and we pray you’ll bring those around you to join us in the journey.
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