Christianity is far from exhausted at the turn of the new millennium, but many of the regions where it gained status as an established religion are likely to remain in the free fall of secularism, writes sociologist David Martin. In the National Post (Jan. 1), a Canadian newspaper, Martin maps where Christianity is likely to retain its […]

While more Americans believe there is a hell than from a few years ago, they, and religious leaders in general, are also less inclined to view hell in literal terms, according to an article in U.S. News & World Report (Jan. 31). Last summer, the Vatican and then the pope himself illustrated the revisionist mood when they […]

A controversy among American Muslims is raising the question of how authority is delegated in the diverse Islamic community. The controversy surrounds Shaykh Kabbani, leader of the Washington-based Islamic Supreme Council (ISC),   who stated in an address at the U.S. State Department last year that many American Muslim groups had connections with terrorist groups, or were […]

A movement known as “radical orthodoxy,” is gaining prominence in the theological community, and has also been strongly affected by the growth of postmodernism in the secular culture. First Things magazine (February) reports that radical orthodoxy is led by a group of Anglican and Roman Catholic thinkers from Cambridge University in response to postmodernist concepts that […]

Is postmodern thought undermining the very identity of evangelical colleges? That is the question posed by Charlotte Allen in Lingua Franca magazine (December/ January). The influence of postmodern philosophy has emerged on several campuses and in the works of evangelical publishers such as InterVarsity Press. In the attempt to understand and appropriate the highly influential intellectual movement […]

Afghanistan and Pakistan may be the next major arenas of prolonged conflict due to new outcroppings of Islamic fundamentalism. Most of the energy and leadership for the escalating crises comes comes from militant Islamic groups and leaders producing “economic meltdown and ethnic and sectarian warfare” So writes Ahmed Rashid in the November/December, issue of Foreign Affairs. […]

The hardening anti-Western stance of Greece is both reflected in and being strengthened by the positions taken by the Greek Orthodox Church, reports the New Republic magazine (Dec. 13). Greek journalist Takis Michas writes that the support Greece gave Serbia during the Balkan wars was one indication of how religion and nationalism is tied up in the […]