the christian century

As it tells the story of our time, the Century makes readers and writers of us all.

We offer a resource to feed your ministry. Will you consider supporting ours?

Top honors for work by Kathryn Reklis, Brian Bantum, Steve Thorngate, and Gordon Atkinson.

Our staff operates under the premise that life is never dull.

What to do with that stack of old Bibles (or that stack of old issues of the Century)?

The unexpected Christian century has produced a global body of Christ that challenges as well as enriches Christians.

The first gathering of the Associated Church Press was held in St. Louis in 1916. Last week the ACP returned there to celebrate its 100th anniversary, gather a fine bunch of religion journalists, and hand out awards for work published in 2015.

I accepted two first-place awards of behalf of the Century staff: best in class for national and international magazines and best in class for blogs.

The Century's new publisher is Peter W. Marty, author of The Anatomy of Grace and senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa.

I’ve appreciated the Christian Century since a fellow divinity student put a copy in my hand. As I step down as editor-publisher, I’m aware more than ever of the need for a steady voice thinking critically and faithfully.

There is a time for everything, the preacher in Ecclesiastes observed. It is now time for new leadership at the Century.

I’m just back from Toronto, where I attended the annual gathering of the Associated Church Press. The event was capped by an awards ceremony for work published in 2014, at which the Century was given the “award of merit” (i.e., second place) in the best in class category for national and international magazines.

We also won seven additional awards honoring specific work from last year.

Barton Swaim, reviewing Elesha J. Coffman’s The Christian Century and the Rise of the Protestant Mainline for the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), wrote this:

Nor were the editors [of the Christian Century] above dirty tricks, at one point even hiring an investigative reporter to find some impropriety in [the Billy Graham] organization’s finances. None came to light, but in something of a scoop, Ms. Coffman has discovered documents linking the revered historian Martin Marty to the rough anti-Graham campaign.

As far as Coffman’s book goes, I have only the usual quibbles that a historian voices when reviewing the work of another historian. It is Swaim who is unfair to the magazine.