August 29, 2025

This edition is sponsored by Building Bridges 2 Better, LLC

Today’s Briefing

DC churches tell President Trump to keep immigration officers and National Guard troops out of their parking lots.

Technology pulls us toward optimization. But God is not so invested in efficiency.

From the CT archives: The original Puritan work ethic and Richard Baxter’s rules for business and labor.

General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of the US military in Afghanistan, talks about character and the lack of character.

Charting the cultural history of the two faces of apocalypticism—the dragon and the dove—turns out to be pretty complicated, and this new book doesn’t do a great job.

It’s not too late to take advantage of our Labor Day special. New subscribers can get 25 percent off a year of unlimited access to CT. Hurry, this offer ends soon!

Behind the Story

Print editorial director Ashley Hales: Long after our last magazine issue on artificial intelligence went to press, I find I’m still scanning headlines about AI. I met with professors, tech futurists, skeptical ethicists, and practitioners while planning the issue. But I still have questions.

As a mother, I’m still thinking about how reliance on AI summaries can malform my children’s ability to turn over ideas and experience the serendipity that is the precursor to knowing your own mind. As a church member, I’m praying the church can be a “creative minority” (as David Brooks puts it) that presses against our need for efficiency as the highest good. I’m horrified that as we are increasingly using AI for therapy or companionship, some of this has resulted in suicides.

As we’ve seen social media develop within a framework where technological growth is inevitable, I’m doubtful we’ll consider the ethical, moral, and regulatory guardrails needed alongside AI’s development. But we must try. Our reliance on AI (and its formative effects) is not inevitable—especially if we work together, as humans reliant upon God who became flesh.

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In Other News

Abundance Canada, a charity-fund management firm originally founded to serve Mennonites, is still struggling a year and a half after learning of $7.9 million lost.
R. Keith Parks, a missionary who helped Southern Baptists expand their efforts to reach people around the globe in the 1980s, has died at 97.
Christians in Japan are celebrating 150 years of the Bible in their own language.

Today in Christian History

September 1, 256: North African bishops vote unanimously that Christians who had lapsed under persecution must be rebaptized upon reentering the church. The vote led to a battle between Cyprian, one of the North African bishops, and Stephen, bishop of Rome, who disagreed with the vote.

Payday Lender Restrictions Weaken, as Christian Orgs Step In

On the streets of Memphis, dozens of small stores advertise “the cash you need, fast,” in big letters, “free money” painted onto the windows in neon colors, or “flexible payment…

The Hard Life of a Kenyan Christian Teacher at a Muslim School

At Bil el Burbur Primary School in Wajir County, Kenya, 35-year-old Sween Ambeyi sits on the bare ground in the hot sun and points to a small blackboard hanging on…

Faith Crises Feel Urgent. But They Shouldn’t Be Rushed.

There are multiple parallels between being married and being a person of faith. One we seldom talk about is that both relationships bring us face-to-face with disappointment. Though marital disappointments…

Comics and Capes Can Be Christian Formation

When our girls were moving through secondary school, my wife and I began taking weekly strolls about the neighborhood, loading this midweek hour with conversations about scheduling, money, and parenting…

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.

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