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This edition is sponsored by RightNow Media |
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The American political right tends to "focus too much on agency, to the point of dismissing intractable effects of historical oppression or unjustly blaming people for their own mistreatment," wrote regular contributor Justin Giboney for CT this week. |
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Meanwhile, some progressives suggest it’s "oppressive to expect any responsibility from certain identity groups. This point of view might sound compassionate, but it’s ultimately disempowering." |
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"Jesus had a way of caring about people’s social disadvantages while also making them face their own shortcomings," Giboney observes. "Both individually and communally, we must be as clear-eyed about our own wrongdoing—and our own agency—as we are about wrongs committed against us." |
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Recognizing our agency isn’t just good for our own souls—it can also give us a renewed sense of our obligations to others. Also this week, Raymond Chang called for the church to speak up for immigrant communities today in ways it did not during the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. |
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"The gospel does not allow us the luxury of remaining neutral or disengaged when it comes to the unjust treatment of those made in God’s image," Chang writes. |
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"Let it be said that when the vulnerable cried out in 2025, the body of Christ did not look away. Instead, we stood up. We spoke up. We followed Jesus to the margins, and there we found him." |
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P.S. The application portal for our six-month Young Storytellers Fellowship is now live! We’re looking for a new cohort of evangelical creatives and communicators between the ages of 18 and 27. Read more about the experience of last year’s fellows here. |
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Phylicia Masonheimer, author and founder of Every Woman a Theologian, weighs in on the rise of women’s porn—erotic novels in particular. |
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"The men in these books are often very aggressive; they’re very dominant. They’re kind of patriarchal. And the way it’s presented is as a good thing." | Listen here. |
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Did you know only 1 in 5 church attendees reads the Bible regularly outside of Sunday service? RightNow Media offers a solution: over 25,000 streaming biblical videos for every person in your church. |
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Kate Shellnutt, editorial director, news: The latest season of Love on the Spectrum (out last month on Netflix) is my favorite yet. There are plenty of fair critiques of reality TV, dating shows, and this one in particular ... but there is so much to love about these autistic couples, whose dates—good and bad—are brimming with sincerity, empathy, and compassion. |
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Kara Bettis Carvalho, ideas editor: Weighted vests are now cool! I bought one for walking and running, and it’s been a great low-impact workout on days I don’t make it to the gym. Start out with a vest that’s 5–10 percent of your body weight, and slowly increase. |
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Clarissa Moll, producer and moderator of The Bulletin: I’m planting my gardens with Eden Brothers seeds. Everything I purchase from them grows like gangbusters! |
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Greg Laurie is one of the surprising evangelical supporters of President Trump.
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Pastor Josh Buice has resigned, and the organization canceled its upcoming conference, after his church uncovered "sinful" and "deeply divisive" online behavior.
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The Republican senator from Kentucky spoke with CT about his goals and motives in recent controversies in Washington and the import of the rule of law.
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Teaching through the Book of Revelation kept me sane in a crazy year.
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It's easy to live in a state of panic, anxiety, and fear, from the pinging of our phones to politics and the state of the church. In this issue, we acknowledge panic and point to Christian ways through it. Russell Moore brings us to the place of panic in Caesarea Philippi with Jesus and Peter. Laura M. Fabrycky writes about American inclinations toward hero-making. Mindy Belz reports on the restorative work of Dr. Denis Mukwege for rape victims in Congo. We’re also thrilled to give you a first look at the Global Flourishing Study, a multiyear research project about what makes a flourishing life across the globe. While panic may be p | | | |
