Paul Windsor on Calvin Klein

There’s a helpful post here from Paul Windsor, clocking the ‘remarkable ability’ of the Calvin Klein machine ‘to capture the spirit of the age and to express it in a single word’ – most recently, ‘defy’.

He sees these as contemporary equivalents to the ‘altar with an inscription’ (Acts 17:23) and ‘some of your own poets’ (Acts 17:28) in Athens, noting that the apostle Paul ‘was flexible enough to commence his preaching from “texts” in his culture — and then he was creative enough to move from there to Jesus’.

Lausanne Global Analysis 10, 5 (September 2021)

The latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis, from The Lausanne Movement, is available online from here, including pdfs of individual articles as below.

Peter Brierley

Christianity in the UK

Aaron Lewin

Reaching Israelis in Berlin

Phil Butler

Growing Churches in Hostile Contexts

Mary Ho

When Leaders Drink Tea Together

Mission Frontiers 43, 5 (September-October 2021)

The September-October 2021 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by the U.S. Center for World Mission, contains a number of articles exploring the question: ‘Is the World Still a Waffle?’

Here is the issue blurb, which sets the scene:

‘The world is a very different place than it was nearly 50 years ago when the people group paradigm was birthed. Should the missions community still view the world as a waffle? Is traditional ethnolinguistic people group thinking still relevant? This issue will address how the waffle barriers are changing. Global trends are creating new social dynamics and changing both the barriers and boundaries by which groups are defined. New hybrid, trans-national and dynamic groupings must be considered for evangelistic purposes, Disciple Making and Church Planting Movements. Most of the material in this issue is important in shaping our thinking.’

The issue is available here, from where individual articles can be downloaded, and the entire issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Christian History Magazine on C.S. Lewis

The latest issue of Christian History Magazine is devoted to the topic of ‘Jack at Home: C.S. Lewis and those who knew him best’.

Here’s the issue blurb:

‘Why are we still so fascinated with C.S. Lewis? The list of reasons is long: he is one of the most famous fantasy authors of the 20th century; he was an accomplished scholar, a prominent Christian, and a gifted apologist. His books remain bestsellers, and movies have been based on his life and works. For many, C.S. Lewis is larger than life. But sometimes his fame gets in the way of us seeing him as a person. In this new issue on Lewis, CH shows you the man behind the fame: not just as an apologist, fantasy author, and scholar, but as a son, brother, friend, mentor, student, teacher, husband, and stepfather. Meet his ancestors, family, and many of his friends – all of whom were as fascinating as he. Discover C.S. Lewis in a new light, or meet him for the first time in this latest issue of Christian History.”

The whole magazine is available as a 16.1 MB pdf here.

Mark Meynell on Colossians and Philemon

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (September 2021) it’s Colossians & Philemon for You by Mark Meynell – which is excellent – and is available in exchange for an email address here.