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The Christian Century

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The Christian Centuryis aChristianmagazinebased inChicago,Illinois.Considered the flagship magazine of USmainline Protestantism,[1]the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews books, movies, and music.

The Christian Century
Cover of the December 14, 2010, issue
Editor/PublisherPeter W. Marty
Managing editorSteve Thorngate
CategoriesChristianity
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation36,000
First issue1884
CompanyChristian Century Foundation
CountryUnited States
Based inChicago,Illinois
LanguageEnglish
Websitechristiancentury.orgEdit this at Wikidata
ISSN0009-5281

TheCentury's current editor and publisher is Peter W. Marty, while Steve Thorngate is its managing editor. Regular columns include:

TheCenturywebsite hosts podcasts byGrace Ji-Sun Kim,Amy Frykholm, Cassidy Hall, Matt Fitzgerald, Matt Gaventa, and Adam Hearlson.

The magazine's editorial stance has been described as "liberal."[2]It describes its own mission as follows:

For decades, theChristian Centuryhas informed and shaped progressive, mainline Christianity. Committed to thinking critically and living faithfully, the magazine explores what it means to believe and live out the Christian faith in our time. As a voice of generous orthodoxy, theCenturyis both loyal to the church and open to the world.[3]

History

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TheChristian Centurywas founded in 1884 asThe Christian OracleinDes Moines,Iowa,as aDisciples of Christdenominationalmagazine.

In 1900, its editor proposed to rename itChristian Centuryin response to the great optimism of manyChristiansat the turn of the 20th century that "genuine Christian faith could live in mutual harmony with the modern developments in science, technology, immigration, communication and culture that were already under way." Around this same time, theCentury'soffices moved to Chicago.

The magazine did not receive widespread support in its denomination and was sold in a mortgageforeclosurein 1908. It was purchased byCharles Clayton Morrison,who soon labeled the magazinenondenominational.Morrison became a highly influential spokesperson forliberal Christianity,advocatinghigher criticismof theBible,as well as theSocial Gospel,which included concerns aboutchild labor,women's suffrage,racism,warandpacifism,alcoholismandprohibition,environmentalism,and many other political and social issues. The magazine was a common target for criticism byfundamentalistsduring thefundamentalist–modernist debateof the early 20th century.

During theSecond World War,the magazine helped provide a venue for promotion of ideas by Christian activists who opposed theinternment of Japanese Americans.Critiques of the internment policy, by writers such as Galen Fisher, appeared regularly in theCenturyand helped bring awareness to the situation.

In 1956 the magazine was challenged by the establishment ofChristianity TodaybyCarl F. H. Henry,which sought to present a theologicallyconservative evangelicalviewpoint, while restoring many social concerns abandoned by fundamentalists. Both magazines continue to flourish, with theCenturyremaining the major independent publication within ecumenical, mainline Protestantism.

The magazine was heavily involved in covering and advocating for thecivil rights movement.It sent editors to a march inSelma, Alabamain 1965 and was one of the first national magazines to publishMartin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"along with six of his other essays. King was also an editor-at-large to the magazine.[4]

In 2008 bothMartin E. Martyand former editorJames M. Wallconcluded long runs asCenturycolumnists.

Other writers published by theCenturyover its long history includeJane Addams,Albert Schweitzer,W. E. B. DuBois,Reuben Markham,C. S. Lewis,W. H. Auden,T. S. Eliot,Reinhold Niebuhr,Richard John Neuhaus,Paul Tillich,John F. Kennedy,Dwight D. Eisenhower,Thomas Merton,James Cone,Rosemary Rutherford,Mary Daly,Billy Graham,Wendell Berry,Henri Nouwen,N. T. Wright,Delores S. Williams,Sarah Coakley,Rowan Williams,andMarilynne Robinson.

Accusations of antisemitism

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The magazine has been accused of being antisemitic during the editorial reign of Morrison in the 1930s and 1940s.[5][6][7]It published articles: opposing American intervention in World War II for the benefit of the Jews persecuted under the Nazis; arguing moral equivalence between an alleged Jewish-nationalist crucifixion of Jesus and the Nazi persecution of Jews; condemning American Jews for maintaining their distinct identity; and a rebuttal to Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress, claiming he was exaggeratingthe Holocaust.[8]As late as 1944 the magazine published articles such as "A Reply to Screamers" byFred Eastman[9]which admonished the suggestion that there was a moral obligation for the United States to aid in the plight of European Jews being murdered duringthe Holocaust.Marty, writing about the 1940s, described theChristian Centuryat that time as being an "anti-Zionist"publication.[10]

Beginning in 2012,James M. Wall(editor from 1972-1999) served on the editorial board of VNN,[11]an online news and opinion site that the Southern Poverty Law Centre identified as a neo-Nazi hate site.[12]Wall's name was retained on the Christian Century masthead from 2012 to 2017, despite his association with VNN, drawing criticism.[13][14]

In 2017 Wall's name was removed from the masthead. InChristian Century's 2021 obituary of Wall, Marty conceded "Wall's extensive pro-Palestinian writing at times devolved into anti-Semitism."[15]In recent years, the magazine has published both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel authors and argued for atwo-state solutionto the conflict.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^Gary B. Bullert, "Reinhold Niebuhr and the Christian century: World War II and the eclipse of the social gospel,"Journal of Church and State44 [2002] 271-290.
  2. ^Left-wing scholars attack the best-selling 'Da Vinci Code',Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press, July 10, 2004.
  3. ^"Mission".The Christian Century.Retrieved23 February2022.
  4. ^The Christian Century 1959-08-19: Volume 76, Issue 33.
  5. ^Hertzel., Fishman (1973).American protestantism and a Jewish state.Wayne State University Press.OCLC463014711.
  6. ^W., Ross, Robert (1998).So it was true: the American Protestant press and the Nazi persecution of the Jews.Wipf and Stock.ISBN1-57910-122-4.OCLC45870561.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^"Has Christian Century Turned a Corner? Maybe..".CAMERA.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  8. ^"The Stubborn Antisemitism of Yahoo and The Christian Century".CAMERA.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  9. ^Eastman, Fred (February 16, 1944). "A Reply to Screamers".The Christian Century.Vol. 61, no. 7. pp. 204–206.ISSN0009-5281.
  10. ^Modern American Religion: Under God, Indivisible, 1941-1960, Martin E. Marty, University of Chicago Press, 1999, p. 189.
  11. ^"Christian Century Does Right Thing, Removes James M. Wall From Masthead".CAMERA.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  12. ^"VNN Forum, Font of Vile Anti-Semitism, Goes Dark Amid Financial Troubles".Southern Poverty Law Center.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  13. ^"Christian Century Does Right Thing, Removes James M. Wall From Masthead".CAMERA.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  14. ^JNS (November 2018)."United Methodist Church under fire for Anti-Semitism".Cleveland Jewish News.Retrieved2021-07-01.
  15. ^"Former Century editor James McKendree Wall dies at 92".The Christian Century.Retrieved2021-07-01.

Sources

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