Best Christian magazine on the market, bar none

For a general-purpose Christian magazine, its hard to go wrong with Christianity Today. It has a little bit of everything that touches the Christian world, whether news, theology, morality, or the devotional life. Editorials and articles are well thought-out and presented in a very intellectually engaging manner. In a couple of issues that followed the 09/11 tragedy, the magazine dealt with questions that were on the minds of many: Is Islam a religion of peace? and Is the God of Mohammad the same God as the God of Jesus Christ? The articles on those questions really nailed the issue for me. Also recently there have been ongoing discussions of Openness Theology which have been helpful. The alternating columns by Philip Yancey and Chuck Colson are worth the price of the magazine. One area that could stand some expansion is the reviews section, particularly book reviews. Besides that, its hard to find fault with this magazine.

Thoughtful intelligent surprisingly broad evangelical voice

I have read CT for years, and appreciate its ability to report on the broad Christian world, as well as current events, from an evangelical perspective that informs believers, and offers credible material for those who want to know what we think. The blend of church news, world news, culture, and theological discussion is amazing. While covering controversies within denominations and movements, CT also helps bring the broad evangelical movement together through its explication and analysis.

Some reviewers complain that CT promotes a prosperity gospel, denominational strife, or other such unbalanced views. Such mistaken views come from reading one article, or one or two issues. Magazines sometimes write interview articles on individual thinkers, and what comes across should be seen as a report of the subject's perspective, not an editorial endorsement by the interviewer. CT instructs the church, by allowing us to see what others are saying. It does so with crisp, concise and thoughtful style.

Bottom-line: Evangelicals will learn much about the world and themselves from this publication. Those interesting in knowing the thoughts, struggles and issues within evangelicalism will find Christianity Today a good starting place.

American evangelical Christianity's premier publication

Christianity Today began in the 1940s as an alternative to Christian Century, at a time when the "new evangelicals" (spearheaded by Billy Graham) were breaking away from fundamentalism and into the religious and academic mainstream. Fifty-something years later, it is outstanding as the voice of mainstream conservative evangelicalism in the United States.

News is generally top quality, and articles embrace a wide variety of issues (cultural, social, theological, ecclesiological etc.) from a broad range of evangelical standpoints (ranging from the fairly conservative to the progressive, eg. Sanders, Pinnock etc.). Even as an ex-evangelical, I am still guaranteed always to find something of interest within its pages.