A Christian Magazine?

As a result of my recent lament about writing markets for post-evangelicals, a few folk recommended starting a magazine. Having done this before, I can assure you it's a pain in the ass, and expensive. I've been thinking for years what a good magazine by Christians would look like. First some observations about other magazines, and then the magazine I'd like to see someone do.

Christianity Today. The flagship for evangelicals. Too centrist. Not risky enough. Downright pedestrian at times. Lately doing press releases for the Christian Right.

Books and Culture. Love it. Smart. Good analysis. A little heady at times. Not at all risky.

ReGeneration Quarterly. When it went out of business I knew good Christian magazines didn't have much of a chance.

The Other Side. Ditto.

Sojourners. Good social justice emphasis. Well-written. Narrow focus. Too political these days. And I'm tired of them asking for money.

Cornerstone. Too fundy. Great art, fiction, and poetry.

The Door. Funny. Good interviews. Great cartoons. No theology, except for Ole's column.

Christian Century. Smart. Good analysis. Written for professional clergy and religion professors, so the focus is too limited.

So, put all those together and you get a good idea of what I'd like to see: theologically risky, good interviews with people in and out of the Church, emphasis on art, music, fiction, and poetry, good creative non-fiction, two or three solid columnists (at least one of whom would speak prophetically), humor, especially satire, cartoons with an edge, Church and cultural analysis, movie reviews and analysis, a mix of high and low culture, critiques of movements and personalities in the Church, all written for college-educated or self-educated people. Shouldn't be a problem at all. What to call it? That's the problem.

Comments

[Joe Kendrick]

The Phoenix

[Kevin]

I dunno, but I'd read it.

[Brandon]

Ah...you could get Strang to float you a loan...

......wait....nevermind....then you'd be required to publish crap.

[Dave Rattigan]

Are you familiar with the British magazine Third Way?

http://www.thirdway.org.uk/

[Bob]

"the parish", of course!

[Kevin]

Which Strang: Papa Strang or Baby Strang?

[greg]

Kevin,

I have a friend that writes for Relevant, so I'll be nice. Charisma is a piece of crap. Always has been. I frequently read magazines that come from a perspective with which I disagree. If it's well-written, I consider that a good exercise in hearing the other sides of a matter. Charisma has nothing going for it if you're not sold on TBN/Charismatic Christianity.

I was hopeful when I first heard about Relevant. But the title should have tipped me off. The world doesn't need the church to be relevant in the way church growth folks and evangelicals think about relevancy. I keep beating the Hauerwas drum here, but the world needs the church to be the church so that the world will know it's the world. And I'm not even sure what "progressive culture" means from Relevant's perspective. Progressing toward what? Away from what? If it's a magazine for the Church, do they believe the rest of us are regressive culture?This week they are featuring a poll: what time do you go to sleep? This just speaks to how shallow they believe their readership is, I think. As I said, I have a friend who writes for them; maybe she can effect some change in her area. I'm sure she can.

[greg]

Dave,

I spent some time in Third Way's archives. It looks excellent. Thanks for the recommendation. Since I'm sick today, I'll poke around in the archives throughout the day.

[Phil]

Just a thought. What if you named it after a theologian that you respected and, possibly, embodied what you were trying to communicate. this might accomplish: 1) being catchy, 2) attracting potential readers, and 3) getting them interested in solid theology. Who knows? Maybe they'll even pick up one of Bruggeman's books?

ideas:

the Yoderite

Wink & Nod

Wind in the Willimon

Big Brugger

Jergen Schmergen

I'm only half-kidding. think about it. I'd be happy to help in any way possible. except give you money, of course.

[Bob Smietana]

Greg,

Authentic's got to be in the title. How about "Real Christians" or "Authentic Believer" or "Better Christians"

Some good Christian mags:

US Catholic (http://uscatholic.org/), has a mix of provocative interviews, in depth features, thoughtful theological reflections, columnist that make you think, and witty covers. The March issue's got an indepth piece on the atonement that you'd like.

Christianity Today's got a interview with Eugene Peterson in March with this line, "How do we meet needs? The Jesus way, or the WalMart way?" among other gems. Ron Sider will be in the May issue.

The Covenant Companion, of course, takes the cake

[Kevin]

Greg,

I've written for Relevant a handful of times, both the website and print version. We have a love/hate relationship. I'm pleased that they're trying to connect with people outside the "traditional church." I'm also encouraged that they have something of a social conscience (lots of talk about AIDS, for instance). My wife and I also found our church through their website, which we really love.

But there's a lot of superficial claptrap. The fact that Jesus is now present in pop culture does not make Jesus relevant (just like celebrities are not news, despite the news media spending half its time covering them). The polls are indeed very telling. So are the Slices, which are often inaccurate or downright false.

[Kristen]

Please don't tiptoe around Relevant on my behalf. I'm grateful to them for letting me write for them when I had never written for anyone else, and I'm going to do my best to cover classics and theology and more heavy-hitting stuff on my page for them, but Relevant's def. got it's problems and silliness. No defensiveness here.

[eddie]

I think bob's ideas for names come across as kind of "I am better than you", but hey, it is a Christian Magazine right?

I think the key in starting you mag would be not to follow Relevent in Content but in how they started on the internet. I have a Friend, You know him as Dirk, whose online mag is starting to get tons of Hits and is attracting attention from PR people wanting to push thier clients through his very focused group page. The internet is really a "low-risk" investment that could start to pay off. It would be easy to take what you are doing here trasfer it to your own website and start building a following. From ther your get spread your propaganda around the world.

unless you have a rich Dad, like the relevent guy, It is probably very risky to start a magazine.

You should Check out Dirk's page. You'll see what market he is going for and why it works so well for him on the internet. www.thebeefboy.com

EDd

[Bob]

I don't see a trackback url, so here's the trackback:

From the Parish, a concept for a Christian magazine that I would not only read, but pay money for. As for a title, how about Progressive Christian: the magazine of the Progressive Christian Bloggers Network. Joking, but only kind of.

http://iamachristiantoo.org/index.php?p=72

[Brandon]

Greg,

Have you ever thought of sending something to "First Things"?

[greg]

Brandon,

The fact that First Things uses Scalia as a good example of Catholic Christianity is scary to me. However, I've read the magazine from time to time, and even subscribed once. It's a little to high-brow for my taste, and tends to focus on politics more than I care for. All in all, it's an excellent piece of work.

Bob,

Or anyone. It's scary that I've been blogging for 18 months and still don't know what a trackback is or is for. Help?

[Justin]

Why do we need another magazine?

[greg]

Justin,

I don't know that need is the right word. I'd just like to have something worth reading instead of all the conservative and shallow crap that's out there.

[Bob]

Greg -

Sorry, I'm a bit newer at this than you, and I thought that most blogging software supported trackbacks. A trackback is a url from your post that I enter when I post that makes my post show up as a comment to yours (clear as mud?) Just a way to do automatically what I did manually.

Bob

[Justin]

Greg, I find more than enough good reading material online. A collaborative weblog of skilled and intelligent contributors, editorial oversight, and a conscious effort by contributors to reduce or condense their output on their personal sites might not be a bad idea. Let it grow and die with readership.

[Resident Atheist]

Trackbacks are basically the automated way of telling somebody and all her readers that you've done a blog entry on one of her blog entries.

[greg]

So basically I just need to click "accept trackbacks" when I post?

[Resident Atheist]

I don't use Typepad, so I don't know for sure, but that sounds right.

[jvpastor]

I'm getting in a little late on this convo, but I think the idea of a better Christian mag has some promise. When I was reading "Scandal" I was discouraged that there wasn't something out there to begin expanding my mind that was "Christian." I had become accustomed to looking for cultural away from the church for so long I didn't know there should be other options.

[djchuang]

Sad reality of life, and supply vs. demand, substantive vs. shallow [shallow people outnumber substantive people].

Regeneration Quarterly was a great magazine, in the ballpark of what you're yearning for, but not enough readership to keep it alive. A Canadian counterpart called BEYOND http://www.beyondmag.com/ is trying a different business model, with no ads and higher subscription cost. (It doesn't look to me like a break-even price, but they're trying..)