As the year 2018 comes to a close, we’re taking a look at some of our most-read articles of the year. This past year saw a lot of interesting news and controversies emerge, as well as insightful discussions with Christian influencers and experts.
The topics of these most popular articles touch on culture, sexuality, entertainment, intimacy, theology, and protest. Activists, artists, and authors are among the diversity of voices and perspectives represented.
Without further ado, here are Faithfully Magazine’s most popular articles of 2018.
10. Black Students At Fuller Theological Seminary Launch #SeminaryWhileBlack Protest
By Charlotte Beard
Black students at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, launched a social media protest to address what they considered as toxicity within the seminary. Using the hashtags #SeminaryWhileBlack, #ToxicFuller, and #BlackExodus to spread awareness, the protest took on public form on June 7 at Fuller’s Baccalaureate service. Students and non-students, both Black and non-Black participants, wore surgical-like masks and held signs in a demonstration against the seminary’s alleged cultural toxicity toward Black students, faculty, and staff. (Read)
9. Interview: Ekemini Uwan Talks Truth-Telling and Hopes for the Church
By Timothy Isaiah Cho
Ekemini Uwan is a public theologian and co-host of the popular “Truth’s Table” podcast. She received her Master of Divinity in 2016 from Westminster Theological Seminary. Uwan’s writings have been featured in several influential publications, including Huffington Post Black Voices, Christianity Today, and The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, and her insights have been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. (Read)
8. ‘God Friended Me’ Star Joe Morton Talks New Role After ‘Scandal’
By Brandi Hunter
Joe Morton, the award-winning actor known more recently for his role on “Scandal,”
transforms into a man of the cloth in the new series “God Friended Me”, premiering Sunday, September 30 on CBS. Morton, whose acting career spans nearly five decades, plays the Rev. Arthur Finer in the show, which has drawn comparisons to “Touched By An Angel”
and “Highway to Heaven.” In the following Q&A, Morton gives insight into his character, tells what viewers can expect from the show, and reveals that he once believed for “a quick minute” that he wanted to be a priest. (Read)
7. I Stopped Sleeping With My Husband
By Dr. Heather Thompson Day
This has been a tough year for me. We are three kids deep, I finished my PhD program, and I have felt like I am running myself ragged at work. Not to mention that everyone in my family has contracted the bubonic plague this year. I’m popping Advil Cold & Sinus like it’s a street drug and considered showing up at my family doctor with a firearm demanding a magic potion to give me my energy back. Life has been hectic, and every relationship right now feels strained. My husband and I started doing something a few years ago that has deeply impacted our marriage for the better. (Read)
6. Why Men Won’t Join Your Church’s Choir or Praise Team
By Bryson Finney
I’ve spent just about my entire life singing in church ensembles (choirs and praise teams), and I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything. These experiences and ministries have played a major part in who I am today. At age 20, I began directing my college choir, which led to leading and directing my church youth/young adult choir back home in Raleigh, North Carolina. After graduating with a B.A. in Music Education, my vocal experiences continued in gospel choirs, praise and worship teams, and also with singing and leading contemporary Christian worship. However, as a male vocalist in the church, I began to grow weary. I was tired of losing my voice each week, feeling inadequate because of an unreasonable expectation placed on me to sing songs out of my natural range, and vocally trying to survive songs rather than ministering the lyrics. It became too much. (Read)
5. Jackie Hill Perry Warns Women About Tempting Her Husband
By Dianna Herron
Less than 24 hours after the popular Christian Poets in Autumn Tour started, Jackie Hill Perry made an Instagram post that called attention to women who have tried to tempt her husband, a spoken-word artist, at the end of events. She also gave a word of advice to women who may see her mate at future events and feel the urge to “do the most” walking after the ways of the devil. (Read)
4. Interview: James K.A. Smith on Public Theology and Racial Justice
By Timothy Isaiah Cho
James K.A. Smith is a professor of philosophy at Calvin College, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He is the award-winning author of Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church and Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. Dr. Smith serves as editor-in-chief of Comment magazine. Faithfully Magazine interviewed Dr. Smith by email about his newest book, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology, focusing on topics of the church’s role in racial justice conversations. (Read)
3. A Tale of Two Machens: Christian ‘Hero’ Let White Privilege Color His Theology
By Timothy Isaiah Cho
A hero to many within Reformed and conservative Evangelical circles, J. Gresham Machen is often depicted as an exemplary theologian with an unwavering devotion to biblical orthodoxy. Yet, a key historical document shows that this hero of the Christian faith allowed white supremacy to redefine, reshape, and even undo tenets of the gospel. (Read)
2. Christian Rapper JGivens Says He Is Gay, Finds Support Among Fellow Artists
Christian hip-hop artist JGivens recently confirmed that he was a homosexual when asked by a fan weeks after the rapper’s initial disclosure on social media. The responses to JGivens’ confession about his sexuality has been mixed, with some online followers offering support and others suggesting he was living in sin. Others suggested that Christian artists should stop associating with the rapper. (Read)
1. Day of the Dead: Why I Won’t Celebrate Día de los Muertos
By Eréndira Ramirez-Ortega
Editor’s note: The most popular article of 2018 on faithfullymagazine.com actually received the most traffic around Halloween, for obvious reasons. Although popularly celebrated in Mexico, her family’s country of origin, Ramirez-Ortega explains why she abstains from observing Dia de los Muertos.
I know, I know, many would say that this is just fun, a commemoration of ancestors, of loved ones that are no longer here. How bad can that be? There is absolutely nothing wrong with sitting around a table and remembering Tias or primos who have died or to look through photos or videos of those that are no longer living. However, it is another thing altogether to build altars, bring gifts of food, place cups of water near photos of the dead (in case their ghost needs refreshment) or the like, as these practices are forbidden by God. (Read)
