I'm pleased to announce that I've been asked to be one of Christianity Today's new columnists for 2008! The editors there said that it's public knowledge now, and I'll take that as meaning that I can blog about it. No, I'm not bumping Chuck Colson or Philip Yancey off of the last page. Those spots are pretty secure. Several of their other columnists are rotating off, and I've been invited to do a one-year stint of six columns, every other monthly issue, starting in February 2008.
At this point we have not yet determined an official name for the column. The exact theme and focus is still being developed, but my general sense at this point is that I'll be making observations about signs of the kingdom in culture and society. That's probably broad enough of an umbrella to include any number of topics I might want to do. I'm already mapping out possible columns that would be timely in August and October.
Upon seeing my Facebook status yesterday, one friend told me that he had subscribed to CT for several years but had let his subscription lapse. Then he saw that I would be writing for them, and he decided to re-subscribe. Hear that, CT editors? That's one new subscriber that you've gotten already because you made me a columnist!
Of course, I'm honored by the invitation and not a little daunted. I've been a CT reader since my college days in the early 1990s. One of the reasons I came to Wheaton for grad school was because of the proximity to CT as a possible employer. My original plan back in high school was journalism, and working in periodicals has always been one of my roads not taken. I ended up in book publishing rather than magazine publishing, though I've dabbled with freelance articles here and there over the years. I was just reminded this week that my first published piece was an article on Dilbert and a theology of work in Regeneration Quarterly issue 2.1, way back in 1996, long before the blogosphere existed to allow unknown grad students to find an audience. While the late, great RQ is no more, that article is now part of CT's archives.
At any rate, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to CT's pages next year. If anybody has any story ideas, send them my way!
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8 comments:
Wow, congratulations! I look forward to reading your columns.
Congratulations, Al! This is great news!
Congrats, Al! That is really exciting. I think I will also renew my subscription so total count of subcribers because of your column is now 2!
Terrific! So happy for you.
Congratulations!!!
Congrats. Are you going to let us know the details when they come out?
Al, that's so awesome! Congrats!
I, like so many people apparently, had been thinking of subscribing as well. While I don't think I'm going to until after graduation (real income = a plus), I will enjoy reading your column from the library. :o)
The kind of stuff you love writing about will make a really cool addition to their line-up, I'm sure, and I imagine it will be a fun addition to an already exciting professional life.
And speaking of the kind of stuff you like to write about, have you read anything on New Urbanism? I actually first got excited about your book because I'd been reading about the evils of sprawl and wanted to hear someone's take on how some of that could be redeemed, the heart God has for suburbia, etc. Well, despite the balance The Suburban Christian brought to my perspective, I'm still not suburbia's biggest fan, and I'd thought one day when I was famous and amazing I'd write a book about the intersection of New Urbanism and Christianity (or at least make sure someone did!). However, I found it, already published by Brazos, on sale for $5 at Lifeway (I also found Lauren Winner for $3-- proud). Thought you might be interested in checking it out: Sidewalks in the Kingdom.
Cool, I just rotated off the editorial board. It was fun. CT is a good magazine.
Congratulations. Sorry I am posting so late to the party.
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