The year was a long year, but 2008 will never be forgotten. Through it all, RELEVANT provided a venue for the Christian subculture that needed a deeper look into the every day. Discussions with Barack Obama and Rob Bell were the highlights of a truly exciting year …
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From TIME magazine to CNN to practically every major media outlet in the country, RELEVANT’s interview with Barack Obama got heavy circulation. People couldn’t stop talking about his statements regarding late-trimester and partial-birth abortions. In the midst of a brutal campaign year, Obama took the time to clear up some rumors: “Emails have been sent out suggesting that, somehow, I would be in favor of letting an infant die in a hospital because of this particular vote. That’s not a fair characterization, and that’s not an honest characterization.”
2. Rob Bell on Saving Christians
It’s not surprising that Jesus Wants to Save Christians was decided RELEVANT’s best book of 2008. Rob Bell is still at the forefront of a revolution amongst young, intellectual Christians. His theologies are not always agreeable, but his passion is clear. In this interview with RELEVANT, Bell talks about being a successful church body, the New Exodus perspective and what exactly it is that Jesus wants to save Christians from.
Vince Antonucci allowed RELEVANT to excerpt a portion of his book, I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. It’s a challenge that Christians represent Christ in greater ways. It is about revealing Christ externally, but there must be an “internal life” for the Christ-follower as well.
4. 10 Books that Changed Everything
Only RELEVANT can claim works from Karl Barth and Dostoyevsky to be modern classics that all Christians must read. But with massive pageviews, this article still holds as a trusty guide to some of the most compelling, introspective and challenging pieces of writing that a Christian will ever come across.
It was one of RELEVANT’s shortest articles, but it garnered some of the most traffic our site has ever seen. In this simple story by Jordan Davis, a young person learns the true value in sexual purity.
Before Proposition 8 was voted on, thinkers like Nancy Ortberg, Chuck Colson and Brian McLaren were wrestling with gay rights through a Christian’s perspective. When you hear N.T. Wright say, “I bet some people will write me messages after what I’ve just said, telling me that I’m wicked and ill-informed and stupid,” you know you’re not just reading another typical political article.
RELEVANT’s Top 10 Albums of 2008 proved that there was great music to be heard this year. But RELEVANT’s readers proved that their music of yesterday garnered just as much interest as any new artist on the scene. RELEVANT caught up with the ska-celebrity of the past, Reese Roper, to talk about what’s been going on since Five Iron Frenzy broke up.
8. Not Alone
Throughout the entire year, a steady readership continues to glance over this personal story by Anne Sims. When being a single twentysomething means “years of failing to understand that true love doesn’t ask for [your] soul, but receives it, shares it and grows it,” the adventure is wild.
Officially this is just a review, but we can also say that The Dark Knight is just a movie, too. With this look at the year’s biggest movie, RELEVANT found meaning behind the masks, makeup and action in the best superhero movie of all time.
RELEVANT readers voted Barack Obama the candidate “Jesus would vote for” earlier in the year. In a poll a few days after the election asking who readers voted for, however, more selected McCain. Are we really ready for President Obama?
