I love a good year-end list. And Collin Hansen’s annual “Top 10 Theology Stories” is a good one.

A good year-end list helps us do two things we don’t do well in the digital age: remember and synthesize. The speed and disposability of the news cycle is such that few of us remember—let alone revisit or reconsider, in full context—what made headlines months ago. Meanwhile, the fragmentary glut of media swirling around us at any given moment means that even if a story momentarily catches our attention, we rarely have the time or capacity to go deeper with it, assessing its relative importance and considering its meaning in relation to other events, trends, and trajectories. But this “mile wide and inch deep” posture is not conducive to wisdom. We urgently need more models who think carefully and patiently, in connect-the-dots ways.

Collin is a thinker like that. He’s never better than when he—a curious journalist, bookish historian, and committed churchman—sets out to bring order out of the chaos of a year in theological headlines. Take a few minutes to read and reflect on his observations about the stories and trends shaping Christianity in 2021.

Brett McCracken
Senior Editor

P.S. Thanks for faithfully reading our articles, listening to our podcasts, and watching our videos in 2021. We could not produce these gospel-centered resources without the generous support of our faithful partners. Would you consider making a year-end gift today to help us continue to amplify the gospel online?