Marvin Olasky

His explanation for quitting was because of editorial cuts they had made at the magazine, not necessarily because of this scandalous article that they published, sliming the name of Elizabeth Elliot.

But Marvin Olasky had made a statement about the values of Christianity Today, and you're exactly right, Todd.

He said, Christianity Today is not theologically affirming on LGBTQ issues and does not publish affirming perspectives.

Now, this article, I think, in a fair reading, you could tell that this CT piece was affirming, because...

They're affirming.

They're not making a statement against homosexuality or lesbianism or any of these alternative sexualities, they are kind of affirming them in a soft, positive way.

So, CT violated its own editorial philosophy or belief system as Marvin Olasky himself laid it out.

What should the editors of Christianity Today do?

i don't know or is that tim uh dale rempel well wasn't he the guy that wrote the article that was a little too uh

i think it was mark galley that was me too and then uh daryl or daniel harrell And then Timothy Daryl Rimple, Russell Moore, and then Russell Moore stepped down to allow Marvin Olasky because then Russell Moore became the editor-at-large where he currently is.

So he has a more retirement role, even though I don't even think he's that old.

And then now it's Eric Petrick is the EIC over at Christianity Today.

And I've got to say that even from the outside, the chaos is not hard to see.

Petrik's appointment, for example, means that Christianity Today, in less than a seven-year span, has had six editors-in-chief: Mark Galli, Daniel Harrell, Tim Dalrymple, Russell Moore, Marvin Olasky, and now, of course, Erik Petrik.

What the October second announcement also did not say was that simultaneous to Petrik's appointment, the magazine was laying off twenty percent of its staff and forty percent of its editorial team.

Among those hit by the layoffs was Andy Olsen, an award-winning journalist and the editorial director for news at Christianity Today.

So, for example, I asked Martin to explain the real reasons for the layoff, and I s- say that because the financial condition of the organization doesn't really look that bad.

In fact, if you look at the most recent Form nine-ninety from twenty twenty-four, they seem to be in pretty good shape.

And Marvin Olasky was brought in specifically for the purpose of ramping up the journalistic quality of the publication.

So at first glance, uh, it doesn't appear that financial reasons were the cause of the layoff or, or that Marvin Olasky's journalistic direction was the cause of the layoff as well, because he was recently brought in to take them in that direction.

He can't get on.

I'm gonna just like talk to you and see if we can figure something out." So then we tried to bring my boss, Marvin Olasky, on, 'cause he's a historian, and he would like, you know, he could take a stab at some of the historian questions that people had submitted that I couldn't answer.

And so Marvin tries to come on, and he can't get his sound turned on, and so [chuckles] he's like there.

And then his wife, Susan, who is lovely, is like leaning in, and she's like trying to help him, and this is all live.

I'm Paul Hastings, and you're listening to Compelled, where we use gripping, immersive storytelling to bring to life Christian testimonies from the kingdom of God told by the people compelled to live for him.

Recently, we heard from Marvin Olasky, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and former longtime editor of World Magazine.

Marvin has influenced an entire generation of Christian thought leaders and pastors, but few realize that Marvin spent his early life as anything but a Christian.

In fact, Marvin wasn't even sure if he wanted to be an American.