Comment Magazine: BEGIN HELPING HERE by Dan Postma

Begin helping here

Funding for the Future Comment Magazine A

Publication

Equipping and connecting the next generation of Christian leaders

Gideon Strauss Editor of Comment Magazine

As the editor of Comment, the best part of my job is hearing back from our student readers or their mentors when one of our writers hits the sweet spot on a big question that connects personal faith and public life. We say in our 2008 Manifesto, "Comment is a journal of public opinion bringing Christian voices to the dialogue in the public sphere, seeking the common good." When those voices are heard, and the common good is thereby served, then we know that the work we put into making this journal happen is really worth it.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Must Readingâ&#x20AC;? for the toughest minds

and the most

passionate hearts

In the course of my studies, Comment proved indispensableâ&#x20AC;Ś as a journal which could incite ideas and connections while facilitating the introspection and grounding required to be a person of deep faith, committed to hard service. Brian Dijkema Ottawa, Ontario

1983

July 1999 - Gideon Strauss hired as new editor of Comment

2000 May 2001 - Comment becomes bimonthly print journal, broadening outside of exclusive “work and economic life” focus for the first time, published by the “Work Research Foundation”

2005

June 2005 - Comment begins publishing new essays every Friday online

Timeline

January 1983 - First issue of Comment launched as a six-page newsletter

August 2005 - Comment begins simultaneous new quarterly book format with “Best of Comment” print edition September 2006 - Comment sold in bulk to Canadian and American colleges for the first time January 2008 - Comment debuts “1,000 Words” fine art feature and “Q&A” interview feature online October 2008 - Comment publisher “Work Research Foundation” relaunched as “Cardus” and Comment Friday emails surpass 3,000 readers March 2009 - Comment debuts new “ABCD” categories online: arts, business, culture, and delights, plus fine art (1,000 words)

2010

June 2009 - Comment Friday emails surpass a total of over 500,000 sent

If you are looking for a resource on Christian worldview and its multifaceted implications across the whole spectrum of thought, life and culture, then there is no better resource available today than Comment magazine. End of story. David Naugle Dallas Baptist University

UTORS:

dec. 2005

a ugust 2005

eaches theology at Wheaton nois. He is the author of ublic Theology: Abraham cy for the 21st Century (Baker 05). He is also co-editor with m and Laura Miguelez of e Evangelical Tradition ress, 2004).

Al Wolters is Professor of Religion & Theology at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario. He served as a Senior Member at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto from 1974-1984, and is the author of Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview.

READING the

BIBLE

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Michael Van Pelt is the President of the Work Research Foundation.

V I N C E N T B A C O T E • A A R O N B E L Z • D AV I D K O Y Z I S • G I D E O N S T R A U S S • A L W O LT E R S • A N D M O R E . . .

CONTRIBUTORS: ClIfford Blake aNderSoN • MIChael GoheeN

CalvIN Seerveld • JaMeS k.a. SMIth • al WolterS aNd Mor

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OUGHT

will

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WILL I WHY R E A D? LOVE 24 WHY we love love stories

Tangled up in the thorns of love 34

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“Thinking”22 Christianly with

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Living

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things we

08 Garber’s journey

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51 WHAT do I love?

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Harry Van Dyke is Professor Emeritus in History at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and Director of the Dooyeweerd Centre for Christian Philosophy.

JUNE 2006

CONTRIBUTORS:

White

James K.A. Smith is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including Introducing Radical Orthodoxy (Baker Academic, 2004) and Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (Baker Academic, 2006).

Kathryn Streeter is a freelance writer currently authoring a meshing of personal biography and cultural critique, aimed at persuading families not to underestimate the good life which city neighborhoods and towns offer. She is a member of the Congress for New Urbanism, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

MARCH 2006

o m m e m o r at i v e E d i t i o n O F C o m m e n t M a g a z i n e

Esther Lightcap Meek is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Geneva College, in Beaver Falls, PA. She authored Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Brazos, 2003), and is currently writing Inviting the Real.

CONTRIBUTORS

JONathaN ChaplIN • makOtO fuJImura Jim Skillen directs the Center for Public Justice kathErINE in WashingtonErIC D.C.,JaCOBSEN and is the •author most lEary recently of With orray Against the World?: pENNINgS aND mOrE... America’s Role among the Nations (2005).

COMMENT

Gideon Strauss is the editor of Comment and a Senior Fellow at the Work Research Foundation.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

George Pierson Russ Reeves Bruce Wearne

Dan Knauss is the arts and design editor at The New Pantagruel. He also contributes to The Matthew’s House Project, The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies, the Companion to Pre-1600 British Poetry, and Wikipedia.

Rob Joustra Russ Kuykendall Eric Miller Paul Otto

Michael Goheen occupies the Geneva Chair of Reformational Worldview Studies at Trinity Western University, Vancouver.

COMMENT

Jay Green rd Greydanus Joel Hunter

Calvin Seerveld is Senior Fellow Emeritus in Aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, and the author of several influential books, including Rainbows for the Fallen World.

Janel Curry is Professor of Geography, and the Dean of Research and Scholarship, at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

DECEMBER 2005

David Koyzis teaches political science at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, and is the author of the award-winning Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies (InterVarsity Press, 2003).

SYMPOSIUM CONTRIBUTORS:

Vincent Bacote is Assistant Profess of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author of The Spirit in Public Theology: Appropriating the Legacy of Abraham Kuyper (2005).

Calvin Seerveld is Professor Emeritus in Aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, and the author of several influential books, including Rainbows for : the Fallen World.

a N D MO R E . . .

Eric Jacobsen is the author of Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith (Brazos Press, 2003) as well as numerous articles on New Urbanism. He is a member of the Congress for New Urbanism, and is currently in full-time studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, pursuing a PhD in Theology and Culture.

Ray Pennings is Vice President of Research with the Work Research Foundation, leading the organization’s economic and industrial relations research. He has authored several books and hundreds of journal and magazine articles, and lives in Calgary, Alberta.

W O R K R E S E A R C H F O U N D AT I O N

C a LV I N S E E RV E LD

Al Wolters is a professor in Religion & Theology at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario. He served Wa LTEas R aC .Senior WR I G H T Member at the Institute of Christian Studies in Toronto from 1974-1984, received his G I D E O N S TRa U S S doctorate in philosophy from the Free University of Amsterdam in 1972, and is the author of Creation Regained: MI C H a E L Biblical Va N P E LT Basics for a Reformational Worldview (Eerdmans, 1985).

Makoto Fujimura is a painter drawing on ancient Japanese and recent New York City traditions. He is also the founder of the International Arts Movement, and a member of the United States’ National Council on the Arts.

Clifford Blake Anderson is Curator of Reformed Research Collections in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library.

Katherine Leary is the Director of the Center for Faith and Work in New York City, a ministry of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. She earned a Masters of Business Administration fom the University of Virginia, and spent twenty years leading several high-tech companies.

W O R K R E S E A R C H F O U N D AT I O N

CONTRIBUTORS:

COMMENT

is Senior Researcher with arch Foundation, formerly a r at the Parliament of Canada io Provincial Parliament. ed in the machinery of litical communications, policy he formulation and writing of and draft legislation. Prior to ed in the pastoral ministry for ears.

Gideon Strauss, with a Ph.D. in social philosophy and the ethics of public policy, is editor of Comment and a Senior Fellow at the Work Research Foundation. He believes there are enduring patterns of economic life R ayit PisE Ntime N I N to GS that don’t change, and believes start paying attention to them.

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Jonathan Chaplin teaches political theory at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, as the Dooyeweerd Chair in Social and Political Philosophy. He is completing a book entitled Pluralism, Society and the State: Herman Dooyeweerd’s Political Thought and is co-editor with Paul Marshall of Political Theory and Christian Vision: Essays in Memory of Bernard Zylstra (University Press of America, 1994).

ches political science at versity College in Ancaster, olds a Ph.D. from the Notre Dame, and is the award-winning Political Visions A Survey & Christian Critique ary Ideologies ress, 2003).

CONTRIBUTORS:

W O R K R E S E A R C H F O U N D AT I O N

ays and poems have been oss a spectrum of journals, ks & Culture, Boston Review, and Fine Madness. He teaches ment of English at Saint Louis d is working on a Ph.D. in ure.

mar. 2006 Black

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Ray Pennings is Vice President of Research $ 9 .0 0 c d n with the Work Research Foundation, leading the organization’s economic and industrial relations research. He has wide experience with trade unions, public affairs, business consulting, public policy, and political activism. He has authored several books and hundreds of journal and magazine articles, and lives in Calgary, Alberta.

READIN 26 Politics on vacation 34 Sidewalks, streets, and “third places” 52 TASTy summer selections

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Comment is one of my favorites! I consider it a "must read" for anyone who wants culturally savvy commentary on issues that leaders need to know and care aboutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and with a solid grounding in a biblical worldview. Richard Mouw President, Fuller Theological College

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Comment influences my work by continuing to be a source of seasoned and emerging voices of truth. It also connects me to a community of writers and thinkers who are engaging the questions I, and my peers, are asking each other and ourselves. Christina Crook Vancouver, B.C.

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JUNE 2006

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COMMENT

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Michael Goheen occupies the Geneva Chair of Reformational Worldview Studies at Trinity Western University, Vancouver.

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W O R K R E S E A R C H F O U N D AT I O N

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When a serious yet accessible journal like Comment is available both on-line and in an attractive print version, I am especially pleased. And, when a magazine is rooted in a particular faith tradition that engages the ideas and practices which shape our society with coherence, but yet includes diverse writers who think deeply and practically about faithful cultural reformation and social innovation, well, it becomes one of my favorites. Byron Borger Book Seller, Hearts and Minds

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Cardus Coursepack Cardus Coursepacks bring some of the very best Christian thought together into one place. Drawn from Comment magazine, and other popular material from Cardus, these Coursepacks are indispensable tools for the engaged Christian learner. Featuring 18 of the best articles from the last decade of Comment magazine, our first “worldview” package is ideal for teaching Christian college and university students what it means to “think Christianly” about philosophy, vocations, politics, church life, business, sex, happiness, justice, and even education itself.

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Brian Harskamp Director of Development 905.730.7201 bharskamp@cardus.ca

Cardus is a Canadian charity registered under Work Research Foundation (no. 11892 9207 RR 0001), operating as CARDUS. In the United States, the Work Research Foundation is a designated Exempt organization, registered in the State of California.

Cardus is on a mission to support people with cultural influence through the development of credible theories and practices for our life together. We are working to sustain and renew our North American social architecture. Cardusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thinking, research, and policy reflects on, and

works to integrate, the broad wisdom of the biblical narrative of brokenness and restoration, a story that buttresses respect for human diversity, the sacredness of life, the purpose of history, and the responsible use of all earthly resources. The biblical narrative is public and truthful, intended for the good of all people.