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December 14, 2010

Volume 127, Issue #25
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Features

Feature

First-call congregation: A place for rookies

Of the 16 pastors serving Calypso Presbyterian since the end of World War II, 15 have come straight from seminary.
by Louis B. Weeks
Feature

How the church grew in south Sudan

Philip Jenkins has argued that Christianity's future is an African one. If so, what does the area poised to become Africa's newest independent nation tell us about Christianity's future?
by Jason Byassee
Cover Story

CC recommends

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music. Categories include theology and spirituality, history and current events, fiction, poetry, children's literature, movies on DVD, classical music and popular music.
Music

CC recommends: Popular music

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.
selected by Steve Thorngate
Music

CC recommends: Classical music

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.
selected by Jon Pott and Raymond C. Van Leeuwen
Film

CC recommends: Movies

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.
selected by Jason Byassee
Feature

Penalized: The unfair burdens of banking

The "free services" my credit cards offer are made possible by excessive fees and penalties imposed on individuals like Mr. George. I imagined myself his advocate; in reality, I was complicit in his victimization.
by Roger Kruger
Film

A review of Conviction and Secretariat

Two of this season's movies, both based on true stories, remind us of the underrated pleasures of conventional filmmaking. Conviction, an account of how Betty Anne Waters sprang her wrongly imprisoned brother Kenny, and Secretariat, the tale of the legendary racehorse, are the most engrossing and emotionally engaging of the recent crop of releases.

reviewed by Steve A. Vineberg
Feature

Sorrowful songs: Henryk Górecki, 1933-2010

When radio stations started playing Henryk Górecki's Sym­phony no. 3, known as the Symphony of Sor­rowful Songs, it was reported that drivers would pull off the road because the haunting, mournful music left them in tears. A 14-year-old Swedish burn victim wrote to Górecki to say that the Third Symphony was what kept her alive. The 1992 Elektra Nonesuch recording of the work, with American soprano Dawn Upshaw singing the soprano part, sold over a million copies and climbed to the top of the classical charts in both the U.S. and the U.K.

by Richard A. Kauffman

Books

A review of The Abundant Community

The mantra of the real estate business  is "location, location, location." In this attention-meriting book, the mantra is "local, local, local." John McKnight (professor emeritus at Northweste...
reviewed by Walter Brueggemann

CC recommends: Poetry

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.

selected by Brett Foster

CC recommends: Children’s literature

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.

selected by Nancy Hull

CC recommends: History & current events

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.

selected by David Heim and Richard A. Kauffman

CC recommends: Theology & spirituality

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.

selected by David Heim and Richard A. Kauffman

CC recommends: Fiction

A special Christmas review of noteworthy books, movies and music.

selected by Amy Frykholm and Janet Potter

Far-flung faith

The author's breadth of vision has enormous implications for how we
understand the nature of Christian truth and the relationship between
indispensable core doctrines and later theological interpretations.

by Philip Jenkins

Departments

American Soundings

The numbing season

The pressure to keep up a relentless facade of merriment is not a Christian pressure. We may not be able to completely escape this, but perhaps we can lessen it by not confusing it with discipleship.
by Rodney Clapp
Editor's Desk

Entwined with us

The birth of Jesus contradicts the idea of a God who "lay above the earth like a layer of icy cirrus." The birth means that we encounter God, not only in elegant theology but in work and in our enjoyment of beauty, friendship and love—in love particularly.
by John Buchanan
Faith Matters

Something from nothing

Early modern versions of the argument from design relied upon a simple analogy: the universe looks like an artifact, which implies a maker. But as David Hume pointed out, one would need experience observing universes being made to judge that the analogy holds true.
by Carol Zaleski
From the Editors

Church under siege

Christian history in the region goes back to the earliest days of the church. As late as the eighth century, Baghdad—not Rome or Constantinople—might have been declared the center of Christianity.
On Art

Cast Your Net Again

In Daniel Bonnell's Cast Your Net Again the fishing net teems with life and so does the whole image. The strong diagonals played against the organic water forms create a dynamic tension....
reviewed by Lois Huey-Heck

News

Conscientious objection to specific wars sought

A coalition of religious leaders and veterans has called for a reconsideration of conscientious objection to war, saying that military members should have the right to object to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for moral reasons....
by Adelle M. Banks

Church of God in Christ convenes away from home

When is a church convention more than just another church convention? When 40,000 saints from the Church of God in Christ come marching in and relocate the year's largest convention from one cash-strapped city to another....
by Tim Townsend

NCC event marks 100 years of ecumenism

More than 400 people of faith met in New Orleans November 9–11 to celebrate a century of ecumenical involvement and to consider how the churches might effectively work together....

ELCA shifts $500,000 for cholera fight in Haiti

The Evangelical Luth­eran Church in America committed $500,000 in mid-November for the prevention and treatment of cholera in Haiti, as well as continued response to communities displaced by the January earthquake....

Faith-based reform gets mixed reviews

President Obama has signed an executive order that reforms the White House's faith-based office in a bid to improve transparency and clarify rules for religious groups that receive federal grants....
by Adelle M. Banks

Bishops OK baptism pact with Reformed churches

In a "milestone" pact six years in the making, the U.S. Catholic bishops ap­proved a mutual agreement with four Reformed Protestant denominations to recognize each other's baptisms as valid....
by Daniel Burke

Israel finds more to like about Christian Zionists

When Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee wrapped up a recent visit to Israel with 40 pastors in tow, he sought out the places where Jesus walked, preached and prayed some 2,000 years ago....
by Michele Chabin

U.S. hunger rate still at historic high

The number of Americans struggling with hunger remained stable in 2009 despite the economic downturn but at the highest recorded level, according to new federal figures....
by Whitney Jones

In move to the right, bishops choose Dolan

In a dramatic break with tradition, U.S. Catholic bishops elected New York archbishop Timothy Dolan as their next president, choosing a friendly but as­sertive leader over the more conciliatory front-runner....
by Daniel Burke

Poetry

Advent

by Todd Outcalt

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