As a geographer before I became a theologian, I have subscribed to National Geographic for decades and cherish both the quality of the articles as much as the photographs.
Indeed it was National Geographic that first inspired me to take up photography. Until my wife put her foot down I was well on the way to accumulating a complete collection of 60 years of magazines.
But if you needed just one article to convince you to become a subscriber, it would be this month's cover and lead article The Forgotten Faithful, by Don Belt with photographs by Ed Kashi.
"Easter in Jerusalem is not for the faint of heart. The Old City, livid and chaotic in the calmest of times, seems to come completely unhinged in the days leading up to the holiday. By the tens of thousands, Christians from all over the world pour in like a conquering horde, surging down the Via Dolorosa's narrow streets and ancient alleyways, seeking communion in the cold stones or some glimmer, perhaps, of the agonies Jesus endured in his final hours. Every face on Earth seems to float through the streets during Easter, every possible combination of eye and hair and skin color, every costume and style of dress, from blue-black African Christians in eye-popping dashikis to pale Finnish Christians dressed as Jesus with a bloody crown of thorns to American Christians in sneakers and "I [heart] Israel" caps, clearly stoked for the battle of Armageddon."
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