
Today’s Briefing
A college professor finds his students using ChatGPT to cheat in a Christian ethics course.
The Bulletin covers federal troops in DC, Doug Wilson, and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
How neuroscience is connected to the health of our souls.
When it comes to AI, we’re asking the wrong questions about the nature of intelligence.
Behind the Story
From ideas editor Kara Bettis Carvalho: A lot of people have speculated on the likelihood of artificial intelligence becoming sentient, as well as what AI is doing to our brains. For our July/August issue on AI, we wanted to ask the question “What actually is intelligence?” We could have tackled it from a philosophical, ethical, or theological perspective—though other pieces in the issue examined AI from that point of view.
For our roundtable, we wanted to take a look at it from people who work in AI-adjacent fields and get their professional opinions on the relationship between AI and human intelligence. In the first essay of four, a software engineer argues that we are asking the wrong questions (it’s complicated).
The other essays, featured later this week, include an English professor asking whether we are becoming dumber, an entrepreneur and former military officer considering whether we are using our knowledge to become wiser, and a computer scientist wondering whether we can truly measure intelligence.
In Other News
- BBC radio removed a segment where evangelical leader Krish Kandiah suggested a British politician made xenophobic comments.
- More than 200 churches, mostly mainline Protestant, are selling property for affordable housing.
- With grocery prices on the rise, a 90-year-old Baptist in Ohio brings eggs as an offering.
August Is Make-A-Will Month!
Need to create or update your will but not sure where to start? Christianity Today has a trusted partnership with PhilanthroCorp, a Christian charitable will and estate planning firm, to provide you with free, no obligation, and confidential help based on your needs, values, and financial situation.
How does it work?
1. A representative contacts you to arrange a phone appointment.
2. On your first call, you answer basic questions for the estate planning specialist to learn how to best serve you. Additional calls are scheduled as needed.
3. You are given a plan for your attorney to draft final legal documents or PhilanthroCorp can refer you to an attorney in their network at reduced rates.
Today in Christian History
August 18, 1688: John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress preaches his last sermon, in London (see issue 11: John Bunyan).
in case you missed it
Chinese calligrapher Lü Xiaokui spent decades transcribing Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist texts into elegant xiaokai script. When he came across a friend’s message about an initiative to copy the Bible…
Kenneth Regan paused at lunch in New York to glance at incoming texts from top international chess officials. A world-renowned “chess detective,” he’s on call to review games with his…
As a child growing up in Seoul, I read the story of Yu Gwan-sun, a teenage girl who was imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the Japanese colonial police for participating…
On a recent overcast Sunday, a 70-year-old Taiwanese American man in a suit rose to his feet to worship in a high school auditorium in Torrance, California. Standing next to…
in the magazine

As developments in artificial intelligence change daily, we’re increasingly asking what makes humanity different from the machines we use. In this issue, Emily Belz introduces us to tech workers on the frontlines of AI development, Harvest Prude explains how algorithms affect Christian courtship, and Miroslav Volf writes on the transhumanist question. Several writers call our attention to the gifts of being human: Haejin and Makoto Fujimura point us to beauty and justice, Kelly Kapic reminds us God’s highest purpose isn’t efficiency, and Jen Pollock Michel writes on the effects of Alzheimer’s . We bring together futurists, theologians, artists, practitioners, and professors to consider how technology shapes us even as we use it.
CT Daily Briefing
Get the most recent headlines and stories from Christianity Today delivered to your inbox daily.
Delivered free via email to subscribers weekly. Sign up for this newsletter.
You are currently subscribed as no email found. Sign up to more newsletters like this. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe.
Christianity Today is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
“Christianity Today” and “CT” are the registered trademarks of Christianity Today International.
Copyright ©2025 Christianity Today, PO Box 788, Wheaton, IL 60187-0788
All rights reserved.



