Constructing Christianity's "Clear Voice": The Creation of Christianity Today Magazine. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Colyer, Corey J.
• Is Part Of: Sociological focus. Volume 50:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 329
• Page End: 345
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: Social sciences -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Periodicals; 301.05
• DOI: 10.1080/00380237.2017.1312917
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-0237

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Elites play a significant role in the life of social and intellectual movements. This article draws on archival materials and the theory of Scientific and Intellectual Movements to present a case study of the founding of Christianity Today magazine in 1956. Christianity Today was a key intellectual resource used by elites in the evangelical movement to promote a new version of Protestant Christianity in the mid-20th century. The author argues that the magazine functioned as a distribution mechanism for the flow of evangelical ideas. The movement leaders who founded the magazine drew upon their dense networks to obtain cultural, political, and financial resources, as well as to legitimize the new publication. Administrative records and correspondence left behind by these leaders allows us to reconstruct their institution building process.