Crux Magazine

There's another magazine on the web (with a printed publication in the works): CRUX Magazine (CruxMag.com -- not to be confused with the "internet news periodical" CruxNews.com, headed by Michael S. Rose and affiliated with New Oxford Review). CruxMag.com appears to be a similar ecumenical venture as GodSpy.com, that is to say, (re)publishing articles and excerpts from books on hip, trendy topics (ex. Bob Dylan, Burning Man, the rock band U2) along with more serious fair, informed by a spiritual perspective grounded in orthodox Christianity.

But while Godspy.com is a little more overt in its Christian mission, CruxMag prefers the veiled approach, perhaps with the intent of not merely "preaching to the choir" and reaching an audience completely saturated in postmodern culture and altogether ignorant of the gospel. Senior editor Bobby Madex describes it as:

". . . a new quarterly resource for the systematic exposure of all the double talk, circular reasoning, shoddy scholarship, and logical sleights of hand that have transformed reality into a hall of funhouse mirrors. At CRUX you will find revealing conversations with some of the leading cultural figures of our day, unconventional insights gleaned from popular movies, music, and literature, eye-opening features on everything from Paris Hilton to postmodernism, and regular inquiries into the latest trends impacting contemporary philosophy, science, and theology--all with the nuance and precision that such subject areas demand.

And from it's "About Us" page:

"What is Crux Magazine? -- Quite simply, it is the lone voice in the wilderness, the avant-garde of the avant-garde, the bane of conventional wisdom, a thorn in the flesh of ideology, a last bastion of Truth, and the home of tough questions and even tougher answers . . .

This website is merely the first phase of our project. Coming soon is an ambitious full-color print publication that will extend our reach and compete with the likes of Rolling Stone and the New York Times for the minds of the American public.

We are determined to supply a high-quality alternative to the principle tastemakers of our target demographic, young adults aged 25 to 45. But as evidenced by our look and content, we are also a creative and trailblazing entity in our own right, the embodiment of a fresh and radical perspective on culture that is gaining adherents by the day.

"The lone voice in the wilderness"? "avante-guarde of the avant-garde"? "last bastion of truth?" -- Depending on the reader, one might take such remarks as a) a boast of their own status as a publication; b) a subtle jab at youthful preoccupation with nonconformity; c) a reference to the role of the religiously orthodox life in modern times, akin to G.K. Chesterton's observation that "The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age."

Crux Magazine declares itself, among other things, "a forum for those daring to reject the 'culture of cool' and the dictates of 'what's hot'"; "a landscape where the law is natural and the logic eternal"; "a cry from the center in an increasingly decentered universe" -- with experienced writers and evangelists like as J. Budziszewski, Robert P. George, Phillip E. Johnson, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Fr. Ron Tacelli (co-author of Handbook of Christian Apologetics) on the editorial advisory board, I think it has the potential to be just that, joining other Christian efforts (Envoy magazine, GodSpy.com, IgnatiusInsight) already involved in "debunking the societal myths" and "redirecting the prevailing orthodoxy of our age."

It's a cultural war, and we're all in this together. Do pay them a visit.

Related Links

• Getting in on the blogging action, CruxMag.com sports three blogs by its staff: New Adventures in Sci-Phi (a play on the R.E.M. album?), commenting on the latest advances in science and philosophy; pop culture reviews from Situation Critical, and "general culture commmentary" from Signs of the Times.
• Discussion at Amy Welborn's Open Book of an article by Joe Feuerherd "Comforting Myths" National Catholic Reporter March 3, 2005) questioning "a revitalized 'orthodoxy' among the Catholic young" -- which I presume to be among the target audience of CruxMag.com.