culture

Reader’s Choice Awards: Your 5 Favorite Intersect Articles of 2017

Center for Faith and Culture | December 18, 2017
Post Icon

Last week, we asked you what your favorite Intersect articles were. And boy did you respond. You flooded our inboxes with your favorite picks. Most of you stuck with more recent articles. Others went back and found one that resonated with you from earlier in the year.

So, without further ado, here are your top 5 Intersect articles of 2017.

1. Christian Men: Be Different. Be More.

This fall, a floodgate of allegations of sexual misconduct hit the news. This epidemic has affected multiple industries and ideologies. In this article, Christy Britton delivers a simple but pointed message for Christian men: Be different. Be more. Here’s why this article resonated with so many of you:

In a day when women often abused or pressed down, it was refreshing to read an article from a woman’s perspective rooted in biblical truth with practical applications. – Matthew B.

[Christy] doesn’t allow men to simply be faithful to their spouse or be passive in agreeing that sexual misconduct is horrible. No, she calls them to be proactive to change the environment they are in to make women feel honored and to even call out and confront men who do these abhorrent things. This article is great because it is what we need to hear when we need to hear it. – Andrew H.

This article was a clarion call for Christian men to embrace their God-given roles as protectors. Exploitation of women is a perverted use of the power and strength men possess, an inverting if its purpose. Rather than supporting them, it tears them down.

I also appreciated the author’s call for men to value and honor women. With eldership in the church being a male role, it’s possible that men can forget the inherent value women bring to the table as gifted image-bearers and co-laborers for the gospel. The author’s exhortation for men to ‘help women thrive’ by honoring them put men’s attitudes towards women in the category of human flourishing. This was a helpful way to think about it. The way men value and view women can increase or decrease the extent to which they flourish and come into all that God has created them to be and do. – Jesse W.

2. Brianna Copeland: “Our Love of Justice Must Come from our Love of Jesus”

Brianna Copeland talks about her experience fighing for justice in this talk from the GO Conference. Here’s why you liked it:

First, [I like this article] because she is my daughter. But more than that, she is my inspiration to be more, do more and have/live life more abundantly. – Jeff W.

Ms. Copeland did a great job addressing a real and very serious problem that affects all of us. This is a form of slavery, and the only ones that are winning are the slave masters and she points it out. – Michael L.

3. Michael Bird and Bruce Ashford Respond to the Benedict Option

Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option is among 2017’s most talked about books. Michael Bird and Bruce Ashford’s response to the book is also among your favorite articles of 2017. You said,

I think it’s important for pastors and theologians (and christian sociologists) to think through Dreher’s analysis of modern society as well as his proposed path forward. I think his analysis is insightful, but have trouble agreeing with his proposed solution. I liked the alternative responses explored and explained by Ashford and Bird. – Zack J.

Having read the Benedict Option, I found Bird and Ashford’s comments helpful. – Andrew M.

4. Truth and Compassion: A Review of ‘God and the Transgender Debate’ by Andrew T. Walker

Dennis Greeson recently reviewed Andrew T. Walker’s latest book, God and the Transgender Debate. Here’s what you shared:

Although, I appreciate all of the articles, this one in particular stands out to me because of the sensitive and urgent need for the discussions of this topic. Sadly, our culture has began to discuss and welcome those struggling with gender dysphoria faster than the local church. And maybe this is because there is a lack of knowing how, which is true for myself. I am thankful this article discusses a helpful resource to begin the conversation and movement of loving many who struggle. And so so thankful it establishes this has to be done with both truth and love, one can’t leave out the other. I am excited to read this book and continue to grow in how to love and serve my fellow brothers and sisters or those yet to know Christ with the help of this resource. – Emily F.

The viewpoints given made a very strong case for the Christian to show compassion concerning the transgender debate. – Cory C.

5. Christians, Let’s Not Be Cultural Copycats

Tami Gomez is a member of the Bush Center’s Mentorship Program. Many of you appreciated her debut article, in which she lamented Christians’ tendency to be cultural copycats. You wrote,

I love this article written by Tami Gomez because it convicts readers to live raw lives that display the Gospel in its true light. It reminds readers that what everyone needs is not some glamorized Gospel but the true Gospel that is dirty and messy but that is a beautiful picture of the redemption story….and that is what is most important! – Sarah A.

I like this article because it meets us a Christians where we struggle the most: at the intersection of faith as Christians and culture. – Jonathan J.

Beyond the Top 5.

Not every article that you nominated made the top 5. But many of you uniquely resonated with other articles, and we wanted to share some of those comments.

Lesli C. connected with Doug Ponder’s nuanced take on gun control (“Law and Gospel and Gun Control“). She commented,

I love that, like so many Intersect articles, this one boldly tackles the “hot-button” issues of our day. It leads with compassion, has as its foundation Holy scripture, and ends with hope…just as I wish more conversations of this nature would.

James O. has a personal connection to Michael Guyer’s powerful “Letter to a Gay Student.” He wrote,

This spoke directly home. My brother identifies himself as a homosexual. He “came out” a couple years ago. I was torn but told him I love him. We have had a couple of conversations since then; however, after reading this article, I have come to realize that I began to withdraw myself. I am grateful for Michael’s letter to his friend and the Spirit’s rebuke in my life.

Nathaniel Williams’ “To Work Like a Child” felt timely to Matthew J. He wrote,

The need to see our work as an offering to God feels sorely urgent to me. I see far too many influential Christians squandering their influence for God by “turning it off” at work. This article opens an avenue for Christian imagination in the workplace that might help ignite the right kind of thinking about our Monday-to-Friday lives.

Some of you nominated “3 Ways Christians Can Flourish in Culture” by Scott Hildreth. Here was Zack L’s takeaway:

Hildreth reminds Christians that we are culture makers, and that our prophetic voice is an instrument to speak against the ways that culture is running against the character of God, while also showing (in word in deed) how a culture running parallel with God’s character is both pleasing to him and promotes human flourishing.

Which article was your favorite, and why? Tell us about it in the comments.

 

Email Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • culture
  • current events
  • social justice
Center for Faith and Culture

The L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture seeks to engage culture as salt and light, presenting the Christian faith and demonstrating its implications for all areas of human existence.

More to Explore

Never miss an episode, article, or study.

Sign up for the Christ and Culture newsletter now!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.