Editor's Note - Christianity Today

In September of this year, CTi, publisher of Christianity Today and seven other magazines, will launch a new journal: Books & Culture: A Christian Review. To whet your appetite for that charter issue, we have prepared a preview of Books & Culture here in the pages of CT. As you read, keep in mind that Books & Culture, like such esteemed journals as the New York Review of Books, the Hungry Mind Review, and, yes, the National Enquirer, will be published in tabloid format. Its pages will differ from CT's in size and texture. What you have here is a sample of the kind of writing you will find in the new magazine.

Each bimonthly issue of Books & Culture will include a generous mix of features: essays, memoirs, interviews with leading Christian thinkers and writers, excerpts from new and forthcoming books, debates on current issues, and more. In September's charter issue, for example, George Marsden listens in on a conversation among Socrates, Thomas Jefferson, and William Jennings Bryan; Philip Yancey assesses the achievement of Annie Dillard—a more deeply Christian writer than is generally recognized; Mark Noll considers Lincoln as theologian; Frederica Mathewes-Green illuminates the role of icons in Orthodox worship; and a forum on affirmative action presents diverse Christian perspectives on a question that provokes passionate disagreement.

Every issue of Books & Culture will contain reviews of books that merit critical engagement. Look for Gerald Early on Albert Raboteau's "A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Spirituality," Phillip Johnson on "The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution," Sara Miles on "Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South," Richard Mouw on "Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America," and Ralph Wood on P. D. James's "Original Sin." In a wide-ranging column with a strong personal voice, Larry Woiwode will keep an eye on new fiction but will also attend to books, recent and not so recent, that call for a second look. Movies? See Rodney Clapp on magic realism's metamorphosis.

This is just a selection, but it should be enough to suggest what you can look forward to every other month in Books & Culture. See you in September.

CONTRIBUTORS

Roberta C. Bondi is professor of church history at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. She is the author of "To Love as God Loves: Conversations with the Early Church" and "To Pray and to Love: Conversations on Prayer with the Early Church."

Frederica Mathewes-Green, a columnist for Religion News Service and World magazine (where she also serves as a national correspondent), is the author of "Real Choices: Offering Practical, Life-Affirming Alternatives to Abortion."

Mark Noll is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College (Ill.). His most recent book is "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind."

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., is professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. His most recent book is "Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin;" with Thomas G. Long, he edited "A Chorus of Witnesses: Model Sermons for Today's Preachers."

William H. Willimon is professor of Christian ministry and dean of the chapel, Duke Divinity School. He is the author of "Resident Aliens" (with Stanley Hauerwas) and "On Your Own but Not Alone: Life After College."

Philip Yancey is the author of many books, including "Disappointment with God" and the recently published "Finding God in Unexpected Places." His new book, "The Jesus I Never Knew," is forthcoming in August.

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