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February 6, 2026

This edition is sponsored by Compassion International

Today’s Briefing

From Sho Baraka: President Donald Trump’s racist post about the Obamas deserves outrage.

Daniel K. Williams has ideas for what pro-lifers can do to bring down abortion rates in states where most of their neighbors are unchurched.

Christians want to be the right kind of parents, but some popular authors’ advice has been more fear based than Bible based, writes Kelsey Kramer McGinnis.

The Bulletin tackles the topic of international surrogacy.

Russell Moore on why a postliterate culture cannot abandon biblical literacy.

From the CT archives, race relations remained rocky 30 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.

Behind the Story

From CT correspondent Kelsey Kramer McGinnis: When my first child was about one year old, I found myself lost in a sea of contradictory, endless content about how to parent toddlers. Like so many other parents, I was worried about getting it right. The tone of so many parenting influencers, “experts,” and advice givers can make the stakes of every little decision feel so high.

To my surprise, I was most confused and troubled by what I found in the Christian parenting resources I read. Where mainstream books used terms like developmentally appropriate behavior, popular Christian publications laid out black-and-white frameworks for interpreting child behavior as sin and rebellion, obedience and disobedience. I was desperate for an approach that helped me understand my child and respond with compassion. What I found was a lot of fearfulness about what would happen if I failed to adequately discipline my child.

My article today stems from a book I wrote with coauthor Marissa Burt, The Myth of Good Christian Parenting. To write the book, we read over 100 Christian parenting books, listened to hours of podcasts, and scrolled through endless social media content. What we found is that, since the 1970s, Christian parenting resources have recycled myths and promises about “biblical” parenting that, in some cases, are more rooted in politics and social panic than in Scripture. Christian parents have so much more freedom than these books have led us to believe. We’re hopeful that readers will feel seen and freed up to reexamine ideas about discipline, authority, and parenthood that have shaped generations of evangelical families.

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In Other News

A proposed bill in Oklahoma would fine any nonprofits or churches that “provide material support for the benefit of any illegal immigrant or asylum seeker.”
A South Korean pastor was released from prison after he organized rallies in favor of the country’s impeached former president.
Christian hip-hop is the biggest subgenre of rap on Spotify with about 10,800 artists. Read CT’s past articles on “holy hip-hop” artists like nobigdyl., Wande, and Lecrae, as well as up-and-coming Indian rappers.

Today in Christian History

February 9, 1881: Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky dies. A devout Russian Orthodox Christian, the author of Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880) once wrote “If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.

I Have Chronic Pain. I Still Love the Olympics.

I am 9 years old, and I have just quit ballet classes because it’s become painfully apparent that I don’t have the basic sense of rhythm the other girls do.…

I Ran from God and My Jewish Identity. Then I Read the New Testament.

I grew up in an interfaith home in Seattle, a city cradled between mountains and water, where belief often felt like a patchwork quilt. Our house had a little Christmas,…

Tarot Cards, Shrines, and Priestesses

By the time Day Sibley decided to embrace Ifa, a divination practice from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, she had long been on a search for identity that she could…

Reckoning with Race, Immigration, and Power

This piece was adapted from CT’s books newsletter. Subscribe here. Christine Jeske, Racial Justice for the Long Haul: How White Christian Advocates Persevere (and Why) (IVP Academic 2026) Racial Justice for…

in the magazine

Cover of the January / February 2026 of Christianity Today.

When Jesus taught, he used parables. The kingdom of God is like yeast, a net, a pearl. Then and today, to grasp wisdom and spiritual insight, we need the concrete. We need stories. In this issue of Christianity Today, we focus on testimony—the stories we tell, hear, and proclaim about God’s redemptive work in the world. Testimony is a personal application of the Good News. You’ll read Marvin Olasky’s testimony from Communism to Christ, Jen Wilkin’s call to biblical literacy, and a profile on the friendship between theologian Miroslav Volf and poet Christian Wiman. In an essay on pickleball, David Zahl reminds us that play is also a testament to God’s grace. As you read, we hope you’ll apply the truths of the gospel in your own life, church, and neighborhood. May your life be a testimony to the reality of God’s kingdom.

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