What to Make of Purity Culture Redux with Mark Galli

What to Make of Purity Culture Redux

This topic keeps coming back, this time because one of the heroes of that movement, Joshua Harris, has not only rejected what he used to teach about purity, but he also now seems to have rejected his faith. If you’re confused about purity culture, as I have been, this primer by Joe Carter is a good introduction. And here’s a wise reflection at CT on how “Both Purity Culture and Hook-Up Culture Failed Me.” What to Make of John Allen Chau You may recall the death last year of the young man who attempted to evangelize an isolated people group living on North Sentinel Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Lots of commentary erupted afterward, some extolling him as a martyr in the vein of Jim Elliot, others condemning his fanaticism. Alex Perry in Outside magazine has given us a rich and subtle understanding of this young man and the world he came from, as well as the world going on in his head. Grab some iced tea, as this is an absorbing long read! Hat tips to TO and MS for the lead. Discovering a ‘Not-Yet-Well-Known Writer’ Since we’re already into August, I’ll make this my last suggestion for a summer read. The review of H. S. Cross’s Grevious by John Wilson, formerly with Books & Culture at CT, is a delight in itself: “If you are a lifelong reader of fiction who has written about the stuff off and on for decades, nothing is more satisfying than the opportunity to recommend a not-yet-well-known writer who really is exceptionally good.” It’s already on my Kindle. Minority Evangelism White European and North American Christians are not as enthusiastic about evangelism as they used to be. Maybe that’s the way it should be in God’s providence, which suggests that others are taking up the Great Commission with passion and success. Two recent stories in CT exemplify this trend. The first looks at how Hispanics are planting churches faster than ever, and the second is how Ethiopian believers are not worried about survival as much as spreading the gospel in their country and beyond. Improving Fitness with a Two-by-Four An entertaining and useful article on retaining and/or improving one’s balance. A fair number of GR readers are of my age, when you start to notice balance issues. No matter your age, you don’t have to join a gym to work on that, and it costs as little as $2.99 to get started, which is what a 2x4 goes for at my local Home Depot. Grace and peace, Mark Galli Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today