Word&Way News: Dec. 20
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. This week at A Public Witness, we published a report on an advocacy letter from global Christian leaders, a review of a new book by a sociologist, and a recap of this year’s Unsettling Advent devotionals.
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Review: This Is Going to Hurt. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed This Is Going to Hurt: Following Jesus in a Divided America by Bekah McNeel.
Report Ranks Countries Where Religion Faces Highest Government and Social Persecution. A new report from Pew Research Center about international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, and Pakistan as the worst among the most populous nations.
As Wars Rage Around Them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City Feel the Walls Closing In. Julia Frankel reported on a small, ancient Christian community struggling to survive.
Religious Traditions Can Help With Holiday Blues, Mental Health Experts Say. Audrey Thibert reported on how Christmas celebrations can help as people experience depression.
Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem: The City Founded by Moravians on Christmas Eve Keeps Its Traditions Alive. Luis Andres Henao reported from the other Bethlehem, where Christmas is also a big deal.
Unsettling Advent
Our Advent series continued this week, with devotionals by Sarah Miller, Nabil Costa, Lina Sawan Raad, Mae Elise Cannon, Daoud Kuttab, Wissam Nasrallah, and Brian Kaylor.
Dangerous Dogma
This week: Bruce Chilton on the Herods [Reissue]
Also, check out our countdown of the top 10 most-downloaded episodes of Dangerous Dogma in 2024.
Another noteworthy podcast this week:
On The Bible for Normal People, Pete Enns and Jared Byas discussed the nature of Old Testament “prophecies” said to predict Jesus’s birth.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Christmas is almost here. If you’ve not started shopping yet, well, you’ve almost procrastinated long enough.
I’ve already been enjoying looking at lights and sampling Christmas goodies (to make sure they’re okay before we share them with family, of course). And I love listening to the classic Christmas music this time of year, on the radio and in church services. I played the cello on Sunday in my church’s Christmas cantata and I’m looking forward to playing some of the old seasonal hymns during the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.
But the arrival of Christmas also means a new year is coming just one week later. This year has been one that brought a lot of significant news for us to cover, and 2025 promises to do the same. We can only offer our award-winning journalism with the support of our paid subscribers and donors. So before we all sing “Auld Lang Syne,” you can help us prepare for the critical year to come by upgrading to a paid subscriber if you’re not already one or by making a tax-exempt end-year donation.
As always, thanks for reading and sharing our work. And I hope you have a merry Christmas!
Other News of Note
Megan Messerly of Politico wrote about the influence conservative Catholics could have in the upcoming Trump administration.
Chauncey DeVega of Salon spoke with Interfaith Alliance head Paul Raushenbush about Christian Nationalism and the “weaponization of Christianity.”
A school district in Texas removed the Bible from its school libraries for running afoul of a new law banning books with offensive sexual content. But after complains by a state lawmaker and some local parents, the Bible was declared okay.
“Some of the things I’m most proud of is being able to get people to know that this whole ‘church-state separation is a myth’ movement is real and it’s more powerful than ever. … All to say, I’ve been a little bit concerned by how few people really understand what’s going on with Christian Nationalism.” —Texas religion and democracy reporter Robert Downen in an interview with Sojourners.
A judge ordered a Christian Bible college in California to cease operations after state investigations into educational quality and student safety.
Three United Methodists were killed in Nigeria during a clash with members of the breakaway Global Methodist Church.
Jayson Casper of Christianity Today wrote about how a Shiite and a Catholic in Lebanon found friendship amid war as they sheltered at a Baptist seminary.
Callie Keener of the Baptist Standard reported on how Christmas celebrations are going in Nazareth this year amid war in the region.
Activists with Christians for a Free Palestine sang Christmas carols outside the New Jersey headquarters of Maersk to protest the company shipping weapons to Israel. The songs included new lyrics, like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” now with the words, “These tidings we bring from churches far and wide, We don’t want your company to support genocide.”
Jason DeRose of NPR reported on churches offering “Blue Christmas” services to help people experiencing grief during the holidays.
A Disciples of Christ pastor in Merriam, Kansas, displayed her collection of more than 500 nativities before selling more than half of them to benefit a local church.
Photo of the Week
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