The cover story from the latest (July/August) issue of Christianity Today offers a refreshing antidote to all the gloom and doom that often accompany conversations around the future of the church in this country.  The article features a gallery of short bios of vibrant, young Christians idealistically taking on some of the hardest, most depressing and intractable issues of our day.

The story is worth a read; but, because of its pertinence to our interests here at this intersection between life and God, the work of one person in particular caught my eye: Peter Blair, the 24-year-old editor-in-chief of the two-year-old Christian journal Fare Forward, a “Christian review of ideas.”  Have you heard of the magazine, or Blair, or both? (Is this one of those times when I thought I was in the know and really was the last to know?)

But, the tagline “A Christian Review of Ideas” had me sold.  What a great way to dispense of the notion that Christians by definition can’t be thoughtful (in every sense of the term). I was even more sold after reading Blair’s bio, which includes groveling references—kidding on the “groveling” part—to the mutually idolized writers Marilynne Robinson and Wendell Berry.  (Oh, and the additional fact that Blair likes beer is also notable.)

But, more seriously, I am digging the articles at Fare Forward: they’re deep, thought-provoking, and catholic in their commitment to a “faith seeking understanding.”  Thank you, Peter, for your wise, youthful contributions to a Christianity that engages both the heart and the mind in the pursuit of The Way, The Truth and The Life.  Keep up the great work!