Many of my ministry friends and I have noticed a troubling trend in our faith communities, other social circles, and ourselves. It seems like the headlines, the authoritarianism, the policy changes, the political violence, the [fill in the blank] are catching up to people. Taking a toll. It feels like many people’s fuses are shorter. I don’t know what to call it. The Year of Stress? The 2025 Spiral?
I continue to believe (despite myriad doubts and misgivings) that faith—Christian faith, in my case—and spirituality, embodied practices, and theological reflection can ground us in hope and nurture our love in times like these. And so I remain grateful for the thoughtful reflection in the pages of the Century. At a time when anti-trans rhetoric is weaponized in the halls of power, we have an essay about the book of Genesis and its nonbinary treatment of gender. At a time when artificial intelligence proliferates, we have a reflection on the moral implications of AI’s mimicry. At a time when liberation seems far off for some, we have an introduction to a Filipino “theology of struggle.”
Scroll down for more great content. In our video of the week, I chat with Presian Burroughs about the Roman Empire—its relevance to Paul’s letter to the Romans and its resonance with the US empire. Plus an essay from Brian Bantum about the insecurity that fuels evil, and even more below.
Jon Mathieu Email me: What name would you give to the year 2025 so far? Click to schedule a Friday lunch chat with Jon Click to find Jon on (X/Twitter alternative) Bluesky
“Damaging interpretations of the Bible have been wielded against queer people through churches, often without any recognition that there are other ways to read these same texts.”
“The cruel AI memes embraced by the Trump administration are evidence of a profound moral rot, and I don’t think that moral degradation can be easily disentangled from the degrading effects AI has on information and on the earth.”
“I wonder if the evils of our world—whether they be individual acts toward one another or the wider, more insidious social structures that we grow within and nurture—tend to be grounded in the insecurities we refuse to acknowledge.”
