A Note to Readers · About the Journal
Christian Critic is not a church, a ministry, or a newsroom. It is a working editorial publication, staffed by theologians and journalists, that publishes long-form, fair-minded criticism of the books, music, films, sermons, conferences, and trends circulating inside the church. Eleven years on, the current issue is below.
Editor's Note · Founded 2014
Marcus Delaney is the founder and editor-in-chief of Christian Critic. He spent eleven years as a religion editor and columnist at the Dallas Morning News, where his work on megachurch governance and evangelical political organizing won two Texas APME awards. He left the paper in late 2013 to build the kind of long-form, unhurried publication he wished had existed when he was filing weekly criticism on deadline.
The first issue of Christian Critic shipped on Ash Wednesday, 2014 — a 3,100-word review of a bestselling devotional that the publisher had refused to print elsewhere. Eleven years later, the journal has published more than 1,400 reviews across books, music, film, preaching, and church culture, with an average review length of 2,400 words — roughly four times the industry standard for online criticism.
Marcus holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and continues to write a monthly "Bench Notes" column on the working life of a Christian editor. He is based in Austin, Texas, where the journal is published.
The Editorial Creed
"Tell the truth about Christian culture — with charity, with theological literacy, and without fear of the people whose platform paid for the book. That is the whole job. There is no second thing."
Christian Critic does not speak for any denomination, seminary, or parachurch body. It does not produce doctrinal statements, advocacy campaigns, or pastoral guidance. It publishes criticism — written by working theologians, journalists, and practitioners, edited under a formal corrections policy, and disclosed under a public Editorial Transparency Index — so that believers and seekers can decide what to trust.
The Editorial Board
Christian Critic's editorial board is composed of credentialed theologians, working journalists, and ministry practitioners who write under their own names and disclose relevant affiliations. The masthead below is a representative cross-section of the full board — grouped to make the journal's range visible at a glance.
Theologians · Terminal Degrees
Senior Contributing Editor — Systematic Theology
Doctor of Theology, Cambridge Faculty of Divinity. Twelve years as senior lecturer in dogmatics before joining the journal full-time in 2017. Reviews on atonement theory, sacramental theology, and liturgical practice.
Theologians · Terminal Degrees
Contributing Editor — Ethics & Public Theology
Ph.D., Duke University. Holds the E. Stanley Jones Chair of Ethics at a research university and contributes the journal's quarterly "Neighbor Review" column on Christian responses to public policy.
Theologians · Terminal Degrees
Contributing Editor — Biblical Studies
Master of Sacred Theology, Yale Divinity School; Ph.D. candidate in Old Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary. Reviews homiletical Bibles, study Bibles, and devotional commentaries.
Journalists & Practitioners
Senior Editor — Music, Film & Streaming
Former senior editor at Relevant and current host of the journal's "Reverb" podcast. Twelve years covering the Christian publishing and recording industries from Nashville; the journal's lead reviewer for contemporary worship music.
Journalists & Practitioners
Contributing Editor — Conferences & Church Culture
Twenty-two years as an investigative religion journalist; previously a staff reporter at the Houston Chronicle and a Nieman Fellow (2019). Covers large evangelical events, leadership scandals, and institutional governance.
Journalists & Practitioners
Contributing Editor — Preaching & Pastoral Practice
Senior pastor of an independent congregation in Atlanta and a frequent contributor to Homiletic magazine. The journal's primary reviewer of sermon collections, preaching conferences, and discipleship curricula.
Theologians · Terminal Degrees
Contributing Editor — Catholic & Orthodox Studies
Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary. Background in Roman Catholic moral theology and Anglican–Orthodox dialogue; the journal's lead writer on sacramental and devotional literature outside the evangelical mainstream.
Journalists & Practitioners
Contributing Editor — Publishing & Trade Books
Fourteen years as a trade-book editor at a major Christian publisher before joining the journal; co-author of the journal's annual State of Christian Publishing report. Reviews the industry's frontlist under her own byline.
The full masthead — including 38 active contributors and the journal's standing peer reviewers — is published in the colophon of each annual print anthology. Institutional credentials listed above include Cambridge, Duke, Princeton Theological Seminary, Fuller, and Yale Divinity School among the twelve terminal-degree holders on the editorial board.
Editorial Standards
Three operational commitments distinguish Christian Critic's editorial practice from parachurch commentary. Each is published in full inside the journal's public Editorial Handbook; excerpts and the underlying mechanism are summarized below.
I
Every long-form review is assigned to a named contributor with demonstrable standing in the relevant field. Drafts are read by at least one peer reviewer from the editorial board and copy-edited against the journal's house style guide (the "Plumb-line"). Reviews are not paid for by reviewed publishers, artists, or producers, and commissioned pieces are never exchanged for interview access. Average review length is 2,400 words; reviews under 1,200 words are flagged in the colophon.
II
A published review is a living document. Substantive errors of fact — wrong attributions, misquoted scripture, misidentified contributors, incorrect publication data — are corrected within seven days of verification, with a dated correction notice appended to the original review and a brief editorial note in the following week's newsletter. The corrections log since 2014 is searchable and publicly accessible on the journal's site.
III
Since 2020, every long-form review on Christian Critic carries an Editorial Transparency Index rating — a four-axis disclosure covering the reviewer's relevant affiliations, the work's funding model, scholarly consensus (where applicable), and the reviewer's stated theological tradition. The index is set by the reviewer and audited quarterly by the managing editor. It is not a score; it is a disclosure.
How the journal is paid for
Christian Critic Media, LLC, publishes the journal. The company is reader-funded: a recurring-membership program sustains the editorial operation, with no advertising, no denominational subsidy, no church sponsorship, and no paid review placements. The structure is the editorial point — the journal can be unfair-minded about the church only because no one in the church is paying the bills.
The journal is recognized by its peers — the Evangelical Press Association Award for "Best Critical Commentary" in 2021 and 2024, a 2023 Online Journalism Award finalist for Religion Reporting — and has been featured in Christianity Today, Religion News Service, The Christian Post, and on NPR's "On Point." None of that recognition carries an obligation. The only obligation the journal accepts is to its readers.
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