“Benito’s gospel, displayed in all caps on the Jumbotron, is this: ‘The only thing more powerful than hate is love.’ In context, this felt like more than platitude.” – @christhiessen.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/features/bad...

“The idea that Christianity might end up in such a crisis that one can be faithful to it only by rejecting it was explored in painful depth by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’ve returned to Bonhoeffer again and again over this last year.” – Mac Loftin www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“As Coleman raised his shotgun to fire, Jonathan Daniels pulled Ruby Sales behind him. Shot in the stomach, he died at the scene. In 1994, 29 years later, Daniels was added to the Episcopal Church’s calendar as a martyr and witness to the gospel.” – Emilee Walker-Cornetta

“Readers are also told to be awake—to be vigilant about threats and possible spiritual destruction. In other words, the Bible tells us pretty clearly to be woke and to stay woke.” – Jennifer Kaalund www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

American Canaan Biblical scholar Daniel Hawk shows how White American scripts of Indigenous conquest mirror the book of Joshua. Review by Jenna Morgan: www.christiancentury.org/books/americ... @ivpacademic.bsky.social

What’s all the pushback to Bad Bunny about? Why was his halftime show so resonant? Second-generation diasporan-born Puerto Rican scholar Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi chats with @jonmathieu.bsky.social about the performance. youtu.be/e2ndlvbYg4w

The lives of wild seeds Mayan seed guardians and Mennonite farmers are working to recognize their interdependence—with each other and with the land. by @larsakerson.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/features/liv...

“When Bonhoeffer stops being a symbol, he can start being a guide.” – Liza Johnson reviews Matthew Kirkpatrick’s Bonhoeffer for the Church @fortresspress.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/books/pastor...

“It is our civic duty to keep an eye on injustice by the light of a better vision. I think that’s what Nancy Pelosi was reaching for on January 6, 2021, when she reconvened Congress after it had been cleared of the mob and its chaos. Her first words were, ‘Today is Epiphany.’” – Richard Lischer

“Bad Bunny is no deity. But his music is inspiring the world at this moment, bringing people together across languages, nationalities, and a whole host of other differences.” – Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi www.christiancentury.org/features/son...

“A favorable immigration ruling in Chicago was overturned. The growth of our bond fund was not.” – @olivalejandra.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/voices/irrev...

“Through girlhood, marriage, and motherhood (the three sections of the memoir), Anna Rollins shows how her fundamentalist church emphasized the inherent dangers of the world and taught her to respond with hypervigilance.” – review by @mwatsonfore.bsky.social @eerdmansbooks.bsky.social

“For the women in the group, healing means both recovering from what happened and ensuring others know the truth about their experiences. The community they’ve built offers what Vision of Hope never did: genuine support, validation, and hope for recovery.” – @reportertracy.bsky.social

“Trust begins to disappear within a free society whenever we substitute personal interest for the public good. Let’s not forget how much of our life we owe to others.” – Peter W. Marty www.christiancentury.org/first-words/...

“It seems like every Christian on social media has an opinion on Philip Yancey’s confession. I think we should keep them to ourselves.” – Brandon Ambrosino www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“@calebgayle.bsky.social offers insights into the many layers of Black freedom that complicate the narrative spun during the post-R­econstruction era in the United States.” – review by Lisa Barnett: www.christiancentury.org/books/quest-... @riverheadbooks.bsky.social

Here are our 25 most-read essays from 2025. Let us know your favorite! Tags: @christhiessen.bsky.social, @lizcharlottegrant.bsky.social, @jasongedwards.bsky.social, @texasbishop9.bsky.social, @mwatsonfore.bsky.social, @markglanvillejazz.bsky.social, @alexdemarco.bsky.social

“Some church programming tries to address the ‘man crisis’ with invigorated notions of masculinity that always seem to point to the subordination of someone else. Maybe this explains the apparent success of the jobs program for disaffected men that we call ICE.” – @brianbantum.bsky.social

“Engaging neighbors across difference is not a pie-in-the-sky hope; nor is it a smoke screen for preserving the status quo. It’s a necessary element of a functioning democracy.” – the @christiancentury.bsky.social editors www.christiancentury.org/editors/dang...

“She continued to support me as a young, queer scholar in contemplative studies, always ready to have a conversation about shaking awake our understanding of mysticism and the contemplative path.” – Cassidy Hall remembers Lerita Coleman Brown (1953–2025) www.christiancentury.org/features/hea...

“If it seems impossible that these Stranger Things characters are gone, maybe it’s because in some sense, they aren’t.” – @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“Whenever the Episcopalians get around to revising the Book of Common Prayer, I want to make some suggestions regarding Prayer #37: For Prisons and Correctional Institutions.” – @philipchristman.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/voices/bette...

Tzvi Novick walks readers through Jewish practice, interfaith history, and the honest reckoning required for authentic relationship. Review by Jennie English-Dumont: www.christiancentury.org/books/judais... @eerdmansbooks.bsky.social

We have almost finished the countdown of our most-read articles from 2025. At #2 is this essay from Brandon Ambrosino, written shortly after Donald Trump mused that he may not get into heaven when he dies. www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“The phrase ‘Shaker musical’ sounds like a prompt you might get at a bad improv class. But . . . the dancing and singing are the beating heart of the film, and the deepest expression of Shaker spirituality.” – Kathryn Reklis www.christiancentury.org/screen-time/...

“When I told my reading group we’d be looking at one of Brian Staveley’s dark fantasy novels alongside Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theology, they balked.” – Lyle Enright www.christiancentury.org/features/wha...

“Confronting the crisis in American Christianity means sitting with the unsettling thought that the gospel might be heard in a church not from the pastor standing in the pulpit but in the shouting of an angry crowd bringing a church service to a screeching halt.” – Mac Loftin

What if, rather than attempting to rebuild theological education from the rubble, we spent some time dwelling in the beauty of the fragments that remain? We asked eight theological educators to tell us what is most exciting about their current work. www.christiancentury.org/features/lea...

“The bulk of Alexander Podrabinek’s memoir is devoted to his eight-year fight against the Soviets’ efforts to break him.” – review by Ralph C. Wood www.christiancentury.org/books/harrow... @undpress.bsky.social

“Seeking God’s justice shakes us from the slumber of indifference. In order to heal and restore life, we must respond to the call to wake up.” – Jennifer Kaalund www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“There’s no need—ever—for a swollen federal agency with a settled internal culture of sadism, secrecy, deception, and racial profiling, an agency that understands itself to operate under no legal or moral constraints, to exist at all.” – Phil Christman www.christiancentury.org/voices/aboli...

“I have always thought of a library as a sacred space. But a library is also a reckoning.” – @stephsaldana.bsky.social, our newest Voices columnist www.christiancentury.org/voices/great...

“This is all proof that the church is still ‘the church,’ that people still matter, and—as an intern recently reminded me—that peacemaking requires sacrifice.” – Julian DeShazier www.christiancentury.org/voices/pasto...

The countdown continues: our #4 most-read article of 2025 was Julie Faith Parker’s essay about gender in the book of Genesis. www.christiancentury.org/features/bib...

“We were getting tens of thousands of dollars each day—a tidal wave of people opening their wallets because there was a chance it would help undo the harms that had been done to Chicago over the course of a brutal occupation by federal agents.” – @olivalejandra.bsky.social

We continue counting down our most-read articles of 2025. At #5 is @lizcharlottegrant.bsky.social’s deep dive into the origin of US evangelicalism’s doctrine of biblical inerrancy. www.christiancentury.org/features/cer...

“Jason Mott’s People Like Us provokes questions of meaning and mortality, individuality, identity, community, and the meaning of home with a richness and complexity making for a proper novel and not a manifesto.” – Ken Bigger @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/books/book-t...

“The ELCA is not alone among deteriorating church bodies, nor is my generation alone in the sense of loss it confronts. But what is unique to our experience is that we are told to understand such developments as nimble, strategic, and bold.” – Daniel Pioske www.christiancentury.org/features/lut...

“Christians have strong opinions about everything. In the last few decades, we’ve been brainwashed into believing the only way to be a true Christian is to broadcast those opinions loudly and proudly, without apology, finesse, or sensitivity.” – Brandon Ambrosino

“Not everyone demonizes groups of people the way Trump does. But we all generalize about people based on their identity markers, whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, wealthy or poor. Why do we do this?” – the Christian Century editors www.christiancentury.org/editors/dang...

“The book is a case study of Father David Roney, a Catholic priest who escaped accountability by fleeing from Minnesota to a rural mission in the Indigenous highlands of Guatemala.” – Brian Clites reviews Kevin Lewis O’Neill www.christiancentury.org/books/when-p... @ucpress.bsky.social

Counting down our most-read articles of 2025, and at #6 is @jasongedwards.bsky.social's tribute to the late Walter Brueggemann. www.christiancentury.org/features/wal...

“I’m thankful for the Stranger Things creators’ commitment to hope even amid deep uncertainty, and the way those claims echo the gospel.” – @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

We continue to revisit our most-read articles of 2025. At #7 is an essay from Christopher Thiessen from just after the Super Bowl. www.christiancentury.org/features/ken...

Theological education may be fracturing, but there’s wisdom and beauty in the fragments. We asked eight educators to tell us what is most exciting about their current work. www.christiancentury.org/features/lea...

“When our church ancestors write about the incarnation, they are not just describing a subjective experience.” – Stephanie Perdew www.christiancentury.org/voices/one-us

“Matthew Kirkpatrick offers a critical engagement with Bonhoeffer’s theology that stands apart for its clear and necessary message for today. He asks: What does Bonhoeffer mean for the church?” – review by Liza Johnson www.christiancentury.org/books/pastor... @fortresspress.bsky.social

“In a way that can only be seen to be believed, the dancing and singing are the beating heart of the film, and the deepest expression of Shaker spirituality.” – Kathryn Reklis www.christiancentury.org/screen-time/...

“Living with the nuns for a week helped me see how much our freedom is contaminated by noise—the noise of restless living that accompanies us from waking to sleeping.” – Ilaria Di Biagio describing her experience that resulted in the photo essay Silentium www.christiancentury.org/features/por...

We continue our countdown of the 10 most-read articles of 2025, and at #8 is this essay from Mac Loftin. “The vice president’s mangling of the Christian ordo amoris is just a smokescreen for the largest deportation operation in American history.” www.christiancentury.org/features/van...