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Christianity Today magazine is an evangelical Christian periodical, founded in 1956, based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent organization by the same name, Christianity Today, a nonprofit global media ministry.

Christianity Today magazine has a print circulation of 130,000 and readership of 260,000,^[2] as well as a website at ChristianityToday.com^[3]. The founder, Billy Graham, stated that he wanted to "plant the evangelical flag in the middle-of-the-road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems".^[4] Graham started the magazine as counter-point to The Christian Century, the predominant independent periodical of mainline Protestantism, and as a way to bring the evangelical Christian community together.^[4][5]

Christianity Today is considered a leading voice of the evangelical movement with its coverage of the global church. Every monthly print issue and daily website updates include interviews, feature articles, essays, and commentary from leading Christian thinkers, and theological analysis on current issues, trends, people and news events that impact people of faith. Christianity Today delivers commentary from a biblical perspective, covering the spectrum of choices and challenges facing Christians today.

History[link]

The first issue of Christianity Today was mailed October 15, 1956, and the opening editorial, Why 'Christianity Today'?, ^[6] stated "Christianity Today has its origin in a deep-felt desire to express historical Christianity to the present generation. Neglected, slighted, misrepresented—evangelical Christianity needs a clear voice, to speak with conviction and love, and to state its true position and its relevance to the world crisis. A generation has grown up unaware of the basic truths of the Christian faith taught in the Scriptures and expressed in the creeds of the historic evangelical churches."

Its first editor was Carl F. H. Henry. Notable contributors in its first two decades included contributions from F. F. Bruce, Edward John Carnell, Frank Gaebelein, Walter Martin, John Warwick Montgomery, and Harold Lindsell. Lindsell succeeded Henry as editor and during his editorial administration much attention centered on debates about biblical inerrancy. Later editorial work came from Kenneth Kantzer and Terry Muck. Notable current writers include author Philip Yancey, Fuller Theological Seminary's Richard Mouw, Yale University law professor Stephen Carter, and Prison Fellowship's Charles W. Colson. The current Editor in Chief is David Neff and Senior Managing Editor is Mark Galli. Contents include feature stories, news ranging from cultural issues from a Christian viewpoint to the global church, opinion, reviews, and investigative reporting.

In Billy Graham’s 1997 autobiography, 'Just As I Am,' he writes^[7] of his vision, idea, and history with Christianity Today.

About the Ministry[link]

The nonprofit ministry's mission statement is "creating Christian content that changes the people who change the world." Its presence on the Internet began in October 1994 when it became one of the top 10 content providers on all of AOL. Then, in 1996, their website was launched. It was originally named ChristianityOnline.com before becoming ChristianityToday.com. Today ChristianityToday.com serves as the web home for Christianity Today magazine.

At the ministry's web home, ChristianityToday.org, all other brands for Christian thought leaders and church leaders are featured, including publications like the intellectual Christian review, Books & Culture, and the publication for pastors and church leaders, Leadership Journal. Some of the web resources from Christianity Today include Kyria.com for Christian women and PreachingToday.com for preachers.

All Christianity Today brands together reach more than 2.5 million people every month when print and digital views are combined, plus more than 5 million pageviews per month on the Internet. The ministry offers access, both premium and free, to over 100,000 articles and other content on their various websites linked from ChristianityToday.org.

Christianity Today magazine - Korea and Brazil[link]

Christianity Today Korea was launched in June 2008 as the Korean edition of Christianity Today. Christianity Today Brazil was launched in October/November 2007. ^{[8] [9]}

Books & Culture[link]

Books & Culture is published six times a year and is a book review and intellectual journal modeled after the New York Review of Books and New York Times Book Review. According to its advertising page, the magazine's circulation is 11,000 and its readership is 20,000.^[10] It is edited by John Wilson, and notable recent contributors include Mark Noll, Lauren Winner, Alan Jacobs, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Miroslav Volf.

Christian History[link]

Christian History was a journal of the history of Christianity, first issued in January 1982. Each issue had multiple articles covering a single theme. Initially published annually, it became a quarterly publication. It was discontinued as a print publication in 2008 but content is still maintained and available at ChristianityToday.com.

A list of all brands from the global media ministry can be found at ChristianityToday.org^[11]

References[link]

• Board, Stephen, "Moving the World With Magazines: A Survey of Evangelical Periodicals," in American Evangelicals and the Mass Media, edited by Quentin J. Schultze, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1990, pp. 119–142.
• Marsden, George M., Reforming Fundamentalism, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1987.

External links[link]

• ChristianityToday.org - official ministry website
• ChristianityToday.com - official Christianity Today magazine website
• Books & Culture - official Books & Culture website
• Leadership Journal - official Leadership Journal website
• Kyria.com - official Kyria.com website
• PreachingToday.com - official PreachingToday.com website