As I described last week, I write you this email from an exhibit hall in Boston. A team of our editors is here for AAR/SBL, an annual gathering of religion and Bible scholars—many of whom are readers of and writers for the Century! We have been discovering some fascinating pieces of scholarship that will become essays in your inboxes and mailboxes in 2026.
One scholar I met this week is Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, who just published her first Century article. It’s about the way music can call us home—in her case, the music of Bad Bunny reconnecting her to her Puerto Rican roots. It may be helpful to read this essay between now and the Super Bowl, when Bad Bunny will be performing the halftime show (much to the chagrin of some conservatives). Another new piece has nothing to do with the conference I’m at but is very important to me. It’s an interview I had with Michelle Snyder, who directs a ministry that helps create “soul-safe communities,” communities that talk about desperation and work to reduce deaths by suicide. I learned so much when I spoke to Michelle, and I hope you’re enriched by our conversation.
Scroll down for even more great new content, including three new Voices columns. Alejandra Oliva writes about what it means to be patient in these times. An essay from Isaac Villegas considers the significance of large pulpit Bibles. Julian DeShazier points us to the example of musicians who just can’t quit. Plus even more great stuff below.
Jon Mathieu Email me: Has a conversation ever changed the course of your life?
(Lunchtime chats temporarily disabled during holiday season!)
“We define a soul-safe community as one that addresses suicidal desperation as a regular aspect of its life and work. So we’re not doing this once a year at a Blue Christmas service—we’re doing this every day.”
“Bad Bunny’s music and activism have reconnected me to roots I thought were severed beyond repair. His lyrics call me home—to my ancestors who lived, labored, and died on the world’s oldest colony.”
“The heft of the pulpit Bible is a statement. Worship leaders and preachers can’t ignore it. Our people in the pews notice as we shuffle our papers around it.”
