College Loses Provost

The provost at The King's College has quit a short time after the arrival of a new president. Marvin Olasky announced his resignation as provost of just months after the college chose Dinesh D'Souza as president. Olasky will become the school's "presidential scholar" which means he will be doing no more than handling the college's guest speaker series. He'll be putting his effort behind World magazine, a publication for which he serves as editor in chief. The evangelical college is located in the Empire State Building.

Reader's Digest Project Dropped

Rick Warren and Reader's Digest magazine have called it quits less than a year after starting a multimedia project called the Purpose Driven Connection. Warren's Saddleback Church is taking over the operation and the quarterly print magazine will be completely discontinued. Reader's Digest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year. Rick Warren is author of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

Christianity Today Redesign

Christianity Today will soon sport a redesign that the editor says could leave some readers disoriented. Senior managing editor Mark Galli says the redo is aimed at a younger audience. One thing that won't change is that the online version will lag behind the print publication. CT will continue posting print articles on line gradually through the month after the print magazine comes out. The publication will re-launch in January.

Jon Stewart Called a Prophet

"The Hebrew prophets often use humor, satire, and truth-telling to get their message across, and I feel you do a combination of all three. I think you are a little like a Hebrew prophet after all." - Jim Wallis writing in the July issue of Sojourners magazine to the Daily Show's Jon Stewart

4 Mags Closed

Christianity Today will let 30 workers go and shut down 4 magazines. That includes Today’s Christian Woman magazine, the Campus Life College Guide, Glimpses, and Church Office Today.

Mags Dropped

The Navigators has decided to stop publication of its two magazines, Discipleship Journal and Pray! will be dropped in favor of developing a greater web presence.

Last year, Ignite Your Faith and CCM Magazine ceased publication. At the same time, Rick Warren has launched a magazine called the Purpose Driven Connection.

The End of Christian America

Newsweek offers this article on the fall of the number of self-identifying Christians in the US.

Warren's Mag Debuts

Rick Warren's new Purpose Driven magazine is now on news stands. The Purpose Driven Connection is a quarterly magazine published with help from Reader's Digest. Besides the magazine itself, there is a study guide and DVD to foster small-group discussion. An Annual subscription will run you $29.99. The megachurch pastor wrote The Purpose Driven Life, a book that has sold more than 40 million copies.

Purpose Driven Connection

There was The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church. Now, there’s The Purpose Driven Magazine. Only it’s called the Purpose Driven Connection. A one-year subscription will run you $29.99. Single copies are about $10. You’ll find the new it on newsstands, Christian bookstores and at national retailers like Wal-Mart. Of course, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren, graces the cover. The publication is a product of Reader’s Digest.

Playboy Apologizes

Playboy Magazine is apologizing for a cover issue in Mexico referring to the Virgin Mary. A barely clad model, Maria Florencia Onori, is shown with the headline Te adoramos, Maria. That means We love you Mary.

The Religious Case for Gay Marriage

Newsweek’s cover story this week entitled The Religious Case for Gay Marriage has lead to an organized campaign encouraging readers to cancel their subscriptions . Chief Executive Tom Ascheim had to open a new email account to handle all the angry email from readers.

Company executives said today the magazine will cut staff as part of a makeover that will turn it into a smaller publication driven by opinion rather than news. The magazine, owned and operated by the Washington Post, has been losing money, cutting more than 100 positions this past spring. Mediaweek reports that Newsweek's ad pages have dropped by about 21% this year.

Newsweek on the Bible & Gay Marriage

Lisa Miller of Newsweek argues in a new essay titled Gay Marriage: Our Mutual Joy that we should not look to the Bible for guidance on same sex marriage. Miller suggests that the Bible’s lessons on marriage are ambiguous and lack moral clarity. She writes, “The Bible was written for a world so unlike our own, it’s impossible to apply its rules, at face value, to ours.”

Here’s some of the reaction coming from religious conservatives:

Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention:
"It doesn't surprise me. Newsweek has been so far in the tank on the homosexual issue, for so long, they need scuba gear and breathing apparatus. I don’t think it’s going to change the minds of anyone who takes biblical teachings seriously.”

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:
"(It is) yet another attack on orthodox Christianity. “I hardly think that Newsweek is a credible venue for theological discussion. I mean, I thought it was just full of holes.”

Here’s the comments of Newsweek editor Jon Meacham:“Religious conservatives will say that the liberal media are once again seeking to impose their values (or their ‘agenda,’ a favorite term to describe the views of those who disagree with you) on a God-fearing nation. Let the letters and emails come. History and demographics are on the side of those who favor inclusion over exclusion.”

Reaction to Baptist Store Yanking Magazine

LifeWay Christian Bookstores took the magazine Gospel Today off the shelves for its cover featuring five women pastors. WRCB-TV in Chattanooga spoke with one of the women on the cover about he controversy.

Christian Magazine Taken Off Shelves

Lifeway Christian Bookstores have yanked one of its magazines from it store shelves. But the Southern Baptist Convention (owner of the bookstores) will still sell you copies of Gospel Today magazine, you just have to ask for it. The latest issue of the Georgia publication has been put behind the counter because the latest issue shows five women pastors on the cover. That’s a no-no for Southern Baptists who believe only men can take the pulpit.

Warren Plans Magazine

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren plans to launch his own magazine. A test issue coming out this fall and have a run of about half-a-million. The working title is Purpose – after his bestseller The Purpose Driven Life.