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News and trends worth watching
items of interest
"For anyone longing to hear the voice of God, the book market has a growing reply: You can. And you need not confine yourself to classic scriptures that constantly are reprinted. Scholars and industry observers say readers have unmatched access today to books claiming to be divine revelation—that is,
God's own words. Some in recent years sparked sensations. Conversations with God, by Neal Walsch (Putnam, 1999), and The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield (Warner Books, 1997), reached best-seller lists, begot sequels, and spawned followings who saw the authors as prophets. . . .
"America . . . may be uniquely disposed now to welcome new revelations. One major reason: those Americans who no longer depend on established religious authorities for spiritual guidance. 'Religion has become deregulated,' said John Berthrong, dean of the School of Theology at Boston University and author of Boston University and author of The Divine Deli: Religious Identity in the North American Cultural Mosaic (Orbis, 2000). . . . There are, of course, examples of prophets recording revelation first and then going on to found a great movement upon the text's code for life. Muhammad founded Islam in this manner in the seventh century; Joseph Smith began Mormonism by the stone method in the 19th. Scholars tend to discount any new contenders as hopeless. 'Some of them really do become large mass movements,' Berthrong said."
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December 22, 2003 issue
View Issue-
'The bright and morning star'
Steve Graham
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letters
with contributions from Barbara M. Waggoner, Peter F. Barker, Jane Carey
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items of interest
with contributions from G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Lynn Garrett, Claudia Kalb, Fienie Grobler
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'One lone, brave star'
By Richard Bergenheim
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Holiday bounty
By Sandra Ashby
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A mighty joy
By Anni Ulich
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Poetry of our love
By Maureen Helms Blake
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A child's reach
By Aparecido Soler
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A certain dawn
David C. Kennedy
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CHRISTMAS DAWNS—fresh light on the season
with contributions from Susan Omar, Ginger Sitali, Cynthia Newport, Jeremy Carper, Ginny Luedeman, Priscilla del Castillo, Jane McCarty, Peter Julian, Beverly Bemis Hawks De Windt, Carol Winograd, Melissa Knight, Denise Reehl
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WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME
Mary Baker Eddy
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God has never failed
By Sandy Sandberg
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Simple gifts
By Kim Shippey
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A life-changing Christmas gift
Joan Wattam
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Burn healed through prayer
Peter Boigk
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A holy night brings rest and freedom from fever
Cindy Roemer
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Christmas dawns
Editor