News Magazines for Christians | Vol. 39, No. 17 | WORLD
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December 1, 2024 | Vol. 39, No. 17

Holiday trimmings

Grace Snell | Some Christian families are determined to reclaim Christmas—by rejecting or reimagining it


FEATURES
Freedom seekers

Addie Offereins, Grace Snell | Top-rated addiction treatment saves lives. But some users want more than a lifetime of medication dependence

How “Just Say No” became “Just Don’t Die”

Grace Snell | Advocates of “harm reduction” assume some people will never get clean

Potential for abuse

Grace Snell, Addie Offereins | Some addicts use drug-treatment prescriptions to get high

Tehran’s puppet brigades

Jill Nelson | Hamas and Hezbollah are on the front lines of the war against Israel, but Iran is pulling the strings

Resisting the deep state

Kim Henderson | How a small team of attorneys is beating back federal agency overreach


CULTURE
TRENDING

The reign of the Sugar Plum Fairy

TRENDING | How a classical Russian ballet became an American holiday favorite

Books

Interpreting without faith

BOOKS | Jordan Peterson reads the Old Testament

A Grimm history

BOOKS | The Brothers Grimm were much more than folklorists

Man about town

BOOKS | C.S. Lewis’ life in Oxford

Foibles and triumphs: eight books

BOOKS | Biography, entertainment history, fiction, and more

The essential Church

Brad East’s concise guide explores a “microcosm of the new creation”

Children's Books

Beauty amid the broken

CHILDREN’S BOOKS | Two adventurous middle-grade novels

Tales of truth and hope

CHILDREN’S BOOKS | Ancient truths in bite-size doses

 
FILM & TV

Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.

MOVIE | This well-produced biopic offers high stakes but feels disconnected from its subject

Blitz

MOVIE | A tale about a biracial boy evacuating London during WWII lacks needed energy but remains heartwarming

Red One

MOVIE | Occasionally funny family-­Christmas and action-movie mashup lacks the self-confidence to become a classic

Coming soon

MOVIES | A look at upcoming December releases

Gladiator II

MOVIE | Long-awaited sequel tramples on the historical record and offers an unsympathetic hero

Music

50th-anniversary avalanche of live recordings

MUSIC | Bob Dylan’s 1974 tour box set

New and noteworthy

MUSIC | Reviews of four fresh albums

Making music with a personal touch

MUSIC | Christian duo sings intimate songs in intimate settings

In time for Christmas

MUSIC | Songs for the season

Masterworks

Finding the extraordinary in the mundane

MASTERWORKS | The Dutch master Rembrandt and his Supper at Emmaus

Quest

The case for human exceptionalism

QUEST | Four books that shaped my thinking


NOTEBOOK
Life
The right to rescue

LIFE | A Colorado nurse who saved a mother’s baby now fights to keep her medical license

Science
Bright as a bug

SCIENCE | Fruit flies shed light on age-related cognitive decline

Religion
Liberty score

RELIGION | Survey rates 50 states’ protections for religious charities

Lifestyle
A lifetime of listening

LIFESTYLE | It takes a special kind of secretary to keep a church family together for 62 years

COMPASSION | Homeless sue NYC for destroying their belongings

Law
No assembly allowed

LAW | California city planners deny permit for Chinese American church