Dear Engagers!
Come Christmas, come New Year, seasons to reminisce and dream. Arguably, the best time of the year.
This issue of Engage is crafted with much excitement, richly laden with content, creatively woven to refresh and equip as we continue to Engage with our own faith and share it with others whom we might meet along the way. A question that often pops up around this season – “Was Jesus really virgin born? How is it even possible?” While the tones might range from curiosity to contempt, it gives us an opportunity to think deeper and articulate our beliefs in cogent ways. The lead article, “Virgin Birth Explored” came to us as a question in an open forum by Neil Vimalkumar, from a student of Genetics and we thought that a written response could help a larger audience navigate through this with intellectual rigour. We do believe that our regular feature, “Hard Questions, Honest Answers” has been a blessing for many.
Gadget dependence that rapidly morphed into an obsession is now, nothing short of an addiction. “Abstinence or Moderation?” – That’s often the hot question, when habits become addictions. How does one detox? What does one do, post-detox? Biju George in his classic style urges us to think deeper through this issue. “Gizmos, Gadgets and God: A Trinitarian Detox” – is a timely and crucial piece. Through this edition, we are delighted to introduce a debutant writer, Ivan Boniface. All but eight, Ivan attended a workshop on book reviews and this one on “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is completely his work. He reads Narnia, among other books and can you believe it, our Engage too. Bravo Ivan! Keep reading, keep writing.
The British are often caricatured about their boring obsession with discussing weather, but a sixteen year old Swede, Greta Thunberg’s passion for climate has literally stirred up a Tsunami and rightly so. Caring for Creation, isn’t that supposed to be a mandate for those of us who believe in the Creator God? Nathan Andrews in his well-written piece, “Is Greta right?” explores the theme of climate change in light of the Biblical worldview and Christian stewardship and hope.
The Gospel for the times ahead is largely in the hands of people working in the Creative spaces. Artspeak is a unique feature of Engage, which we try and include as often as we get champions in this space to write for us. One such, that I providentially chanced upon is Dan Ameresekere, an Architect. Through this unique piece, “Architecture and God: Sacred Stories through Sacred Spaces” he presents a case for sharing Christ creatively.
Our Resource Watch feature helps you keep tabs on good Christian content that you may like to listen, read or watch. The World Watch feature points you to a few important new snippets that might stimulate your thinking.
We hope you enjoy this issue as much as we did in bringing it to you! Please do share and introduce friends and family to such content that would ‘help believers think and thinkers believe’. We would love to hear from you.
Have an Engaging Christmas and New Year!
Charles P. Joseph
Editor
