Climbing the curve
This is what living within a big historical event looks like
Infectious anger
As the coronavirus spreads in China, so does fury at the government
No change allowed
States are moving to restrict so-called “conversion therapy” practices meant to help people struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender issues. A WORLD review suggests the bans are misguided
Shadow groups within shadow groups
Iran’s jailed Christians face ordeals no U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign can reach
Entropy in action
A fortnight of disorder in weather, politics, and world health
Voices
Janie B. Cheaney
Magical thinking all around us
When Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc., developed the Fyre app as a tool for booking music acts, he dreamed up a doozy of a promotion with rapper Ja Rule: Fyre Festival 2017, two weekends of sun...
Joel Belz
A socialist future?
Do you really think it’s possible,” a visitor to my office last week asked, “that we might elect a self-professed socialist to our presidency before this year is out? How could that conceivably happen...
The Editors
Mailbag
The gospel according to Pete ...
Mindy Belz
Fear broken
In 2009 Victor Bet Tamraz received a call at his home from an officer with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security summoning him to the church he pastored. When he arrived at Tehran Pentecostal...
Marvin Olasky
The right feminism
Right-wingers of the world: Let’s not be hostile to International Women’s Day, coming up on March 8. Let’s distinguish among the feminism that lets women be all they can be, the kind that keeps men...
Andrée Seu Peterson
Backfire
Pity King Balak of Moab. Nothing he tried worked. His prophet-for-hire Balaam had an easy enough gig: stand at the top of a hill and curse a million Israelites spread out below, lest they “lick up all...
Notebook
Lifestyle
Lessons in humility
Second in a series on long ministry ...
Medicine
Peanut protection
The doctor fed peanuts to a patient with a serious peanut allergy … ...
Sports
Old-school baseball
Remarkable stories these days can quickly disappear into the blast of internet drama or depressing news cycles. That gives even more reason to go back during spring training and revisit one feel-good...
Culture
Music
Sound and meaning
Early Work, Volume 1: 2002-2005 by Josh Garrels: During the last decade, Garrels has emerged as one of Christendom’s most consistent singer-songwriters, developing a folk-based approach to musical...
Movies & TV
Becoming best picture
Parasite received a huge box-office boost when it won the best picture Oscar on Feb. 9. It even received a one-week engagement in 214 IMAX theaters starting Feb. 21. And that’s too bad, because anyone...
Movies & TV
Cookie-cutter courtroom drama
On its surface, it’s hard to imagine a timelier TV series than ABC’s newest prime-time show, For Life. Law and Order may boast that it’s ripped from the headlines, but this new inspired-by-a-true...
Movies & TV
What lifts the Burden in new historical drama about racism?
It’s not a pretty sight: “Redneck KKK Museum” spelled out in big letters across a marquee. The year is 1996, and the Klan of Laurens, S.C., has refurbished a theater to display its pointed hoods,...
Documentary
Sound theology, rich cinematography
A giant water bug grabs a frog and injects it with enzymes that liquefy the hapless croaker’s innards. The aqueous insect then slurps dry its prey—an “amphibian-flavored Capri Sun”—casting the carcass...
Children's Books
Persevering plots
Flight of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse: In this sequel to Mark of the Raven, Selene adjusts to being Lord Damien’s wife. Despite their hasty marriage and enemy families, they are falling in love. But...
Books
Words with beauty and power
The Soul in Paraphrase: A Treasury of Classic Devotional Poems by Leland Ryken: Dissatisfied with available anthologies of Christian poetry, Wheaton professor and ESV Bible editor Leland Ryken created...
Books
Crying out in despair
Beware the Ides of March, ancient Romans used to say, but Catherine Wilson’s How to Be an Epicurean (Basic, 2019) would have us, as we become ancient, beware every day. That’s because one of her...
Music
Tributes to Vivaldi
In the Vivaldi episode of his PBS Great Performances series Now Hear This, the violinist-conductor Scott Yoo describes The Four Seasons, Antonio Vivaldi’s most famous composition, as the embodiment of...
Q&A
Weak countries with big bluffs
Since 2008 I’ve interviewed seven times international strategist George Friedman, chairman of Geopolitical Futures. We have different perspectives—he’s a materialist—but his analysis is valuable and...
Movies & TV
As lovable as an old hound
As I walked out of the latest adaptation of The Call of the Wild, I wondered if I was misremembering Jack London’s classic novel, a favorite from my childhood. Maybe my 11-year-old heart had only...
Dispatches
Quotables
Quotables
“They put us in a petri dish to get infected.” ...
Quick Takes
Quick Takes
Getting a handle on horns ...
Human Race
Trump wins in court on abortion funding
Vindicated ...
News
By the numbers
287 The reading score for 17-year-old Americans on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2015. This was virtually unchanged from the score of 286 in 1975. Scores on both reading and ma...