Books & Culture

Books & Culture: A Christian Review (B&C) was a bimonthly book review journal published by Christianity Today International from 1995 to 2016.[1] The journal was launched a year after the publication of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll, and it sought to address that scandal by providing a vehicle for Christian intellectual engagement with ideas and culture, modeled on the New York Review of Books.[2] It was launched and subsidized through its early years with the help of grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts.[3] John Wilson edited the publication and Noll and Philip Yancey served as cochairs of the editorial board.[4]

Books & Culture
EditorJohn Wilson
CategoriesLiterary magazines, Christianity
FrequencyBimonthly
FormatTabloid
Circulation11,000
First issueSeptember 1995 (1995-09)
Final issue
Number		November 2016 (2016-11)
Vol 22 No 6
CompanyChristianity Today International
CountryUnited States
Based inCarol Stream, Illinois
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.booksandculture.com
ISSN1082-8931
OCLC32609725

While the publisher and the majority of Books & Culture's writers were evangelical, the magazine was not limited to evangelical perspectives. "Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, and a few nonbelievers" could be found among the publication's contributors, according to the New York Times.[2] In 2000, Alan Wolfe observed in The Atlantic that "In addition to evangelicals, figures as diverse as the economist Glenn C. Loury; the historian Eugene Genovese; Richard Bernstein, of New School University; and the novelist Larry Woiwode have written for the magazine, which has featured interviews with Stanley Crouch, Adam Michnik, and Francis Fukuyama."[5]

Books & Culture was considered "the leading journal of evangelical Protestant engagement with the scholarly disciplines and the arts"[6] and enjoyed a loyal following among both self-styled evangelical intellectuals and the wider publishing industry,[7][8] but it was never financially self-sustaining.[9][3] In 2013 it narrowly avoided closure through a Twitter-driven fundraising push that secured sufficient donations and pledges to keep the magazine afloat into the following year and beyond.[10] Wilson speculated in an interview after the closure was announced that it might have been easier to attract donors if the magazine had functioned as "sort of a culture war vehicle," but that had never been the vision of the publication.[3]

In the Books & Culture podcast, Wilson regularly highlighted other periodicals that he believed would appeal to readers of Books & Culture, including The Other Journal, The Englewood Review of Books, and Image.[11] Commentators discussing the demise of Books & Culture identified these and other publications that might be considered successors to the journal, such as Mars Hill Audio Journal, Touchstone, and Sojourners.[9][12] In December 2016, it was announced that Wilson would be editing a new publication starting in spring 2017 called Education & Culture;[13] that online-only review ceased publication in October 2017.[14]

References
  1. "About B&C". Booksandculture.com. n.d. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  2. Steinfels, Peter (September 3, 2005). "Provocative and Open-Minded, an Evangelical Journal Celebrates 10 Years of Breaking Stereotypes". New York Times – via ProQuest Central.
  3. "Should Evangelical Intellectuals Despair 'Books and Culture's' Demise?". Christianity Today. October 20, 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  4. "Masthead". Books & Culture. November–December 2016.
  5. Wolfe, Alan (October 2000). "The Opening of the Evangelical Mind". The Atlantic. 286.4: 55ff.
  6. Torode, Sam (2014). "Books & Culture". In Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy; Jeffrey, Nathan (eds.). American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. Open Road Media. ISBN 1497651573.
  7. Jacobs, Alan (October 11, 2016). "John Wilson and Books & Culture". Snakes and Ladders. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  8. Coddington, Mark (Oct 14, 2016). "What Books & Culture Meant". Medium. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  9. Schmalzbauer, John (January 12, 2017). "The Life and Death of Evangelicalism's Little Magazine". Comment. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  10. Bailey, Sarah Pulliam (September 9, 2013). "Books & Culture survives financial crisis". The Christian Century.
  11. Wilson, John (October 20, 2014) "the other journal: Everyday theology"; (August 18, 2014) "Rooted Hope for the Church: The Englewood Review of Books"; (August 5, 2013) "A New Look for Image: With the same great content as always." Books & Culture Podcast.
  12. Loftus, Matthew (October 20, 2016). "After Books and Culture: 9 Ways to Share the Cost of Cultural Engagement". Christ and Pop Culture. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  13. "John Wilson of Books & Culture at Christianity Today to join TheBestSchools.org". The Best Schools. December 9, 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  14. "Endings and Education & Culture » Education & Culture". Education & Culture. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
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