2008 Christianity Today Book Awards; First Church Opens in Qatar
Christianity Today announced its 2008 book awards this week. This year, 49 publishers nominated 359 titles published in 2007. CT editors selected the top books in each category, and then panels of judges — one panel per category — voted. In the end, they chose 10 winners and gave 11 awards of merit to the books that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission.
Here are CT's Top Ten Winners for 2008:
Apologetics/Evangelism
There Is A God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind
Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese (HarperOne)
Biblical Studies
The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition
Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd (Baker Academic)
Christianity and Culture
Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite
D. Michael Lindsay (Oxford)
Christian Living
Caring for Mother: A Daughter's Long Goodbye
Virginia Stem Owens (Westminster John Knox)
The Church/ Pastoral Leadership
The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry
Ajith Fernando (Crossway)
Fiction
Quaker Summer
Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)
History/Biography
A Secular Age
Charles Taylor (Belknap)
Missions/Global Affairs
Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity
Lamin O. Sanneh (Oxford)
Spirituality
The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way
Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)
Theology/Ethics
Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music
Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic)
Read the judge's comments, along with reviews and news articles on the winning books at the Christianity Today Web site.
Christian Church Opens in Arab Nation of Qatar
The first church permitted in Qatar held its first Mass on Sunday without incident, following threats by Islamists unhappy about a Christian place of worship in the capital of the Gulf state, according to Patrick Goodenough of CNSNews.com.
Thousands of Christians attended the service at the Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Doha under the watchful eye of tight security. Local media described the meeting as lengthy and joyful.
The opening of Qatar's first church makes neighboring Saudi Arabia the last of the Gulf States where no churches are allowed.
Like Saudi Arabia, Qatar follows the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, but Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who has been in power since he seized control in a 1995 palace coup, donated the land for the church and several others of other denominations, yet to be built.
Local newspapers reporting on the debate quoted a former head of the faculty of Islamic law at the University of Qatar as speaking in favor of the church, saying places of worship for other religions was a human right guaranteed by Islam.
Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, who opened the church at a simple function late last week, said the message that Qatar was sending to the world by granting permission for the church was that people should be merciful to others and love their fellow human beings.
Accoring to Goodenough, following threats of violence from radical Islamists, several western embassies warned citizens that the church could be targeted.
The U.S. Embassy added the new church to a list of examples of potential targets which it said could be attacked by extremists. The Australian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates, which deals with Qatar, noted that a terrorist Web site had made reference to the new church complex.
Most of the approximately 150,000 predominantly Catholic Christians in Qatar, a tiny country with a population of less than one million, are foreigners from countries including the Philippines and India.
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