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October 24, 2025

This edition is sponsored by Author Peter DeHaan

Today’s Briefing

Evangelical colleges oppose the Trump administration’s higher ed compact, which asks schools to freeze tuition for five years and cap the number of international students.

Gazan Christians begin to see aid return to the region, though closures, strikes, and looting are keeping food scarce.

Madagascar’s Christian leaders call for peace after a military coup ousted the country’s president amid weeks of youth-led protests.

How sectarianism divides the Middle East.

Our hot media environment and world need to be cooled by slow theology.

Behind the Story

From senior staff writer Emily Belz: I wanted to streamline my report on Christian higher education reacting to the proposed Trump administration compact, without getting into the weeds of federal student financial aid too much. But the weeds are interesting!

The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities president David Hoag talked to me about the pendulum swing of going from the Biden administration writing off billions in student debt to Republicans ending some big student financial aid programs. One of those programs that is sunsetting is the Grad PLUS loan, which Hoag said is a “big deal” for Christian graduate programs.

As part of those changes, the federal government is reviewing categories for caps on borrowing for graduate school, Hoag said, wrestling over the definitions of a professional degree versus a graduate degree. Those different categories have different caps on loans. Right now a master of divinity, for example, falls into the professional degree category, which is good news for those programs because that category has a higher loan cap. It’s not thrilling to read about, but all of those negotiations will have implications for the financing of Christian grad programs.

“I never thought we’d have to think about what banking help we need to support our schools with,” Hoag told me. “I’m not overly concerned with us being able to practice our Christian faith on our campuses, but oh my goodness, the funding.”

paid content

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In Other News

The archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America is facing allegations of sexual misconduct and related cash payments.
A Ukrainian lawmaker and deacon is fighting extradition from the UK, claiming he would not get a fair trial back home due to his affiliation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
An Adventist pastor has suffered brain damage while jailed in Kyrgyzstan, where the government banned his denomination.
About a third of evangelicals say religion is gaining influence in the US.

Today in Christian History

October 27, 625: Honorius I begins his reign as pope. His belief in Monothelitism (that Christ had only one will, not two), since condemned as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, have long been a point of conflict for Catholic discussion of papal infallibility.

Will There Be a Christian Super Bowl Halftime Show?

On September 28, the NFL announced that popular Puerto Rican recording artist Bad Bunny would headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. The news sparked conservative backlash. A petition on…

Do Evangelical Political Errors Rise to the Level of Heresy?

If we can learn anything from the history of Christian heresies, it is that they never truly vanish. Instead, they resurface in every generation with new twists. Tim Perry sets…

Highlights and Lowlights of 1957

Last week, Christianity Today began its year-by-year showing of what the magazine thought important since it began in 1956. We’ll present what CT published—warts and all, as in an item…

Young Republican Texts, Anglican Split, and George Santos Released

This week, Trump’s nominee to the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, drops out after his racist texts are revealed. CT’s Harvest Prude joins Russell, Mike, and Clarissa to discuss.…

in the magazine

The Christian story shows us that grace often comes from where we least expect. In this issue, we look at the corners of God’s kingdom and chronicle in often-overlooked people, places, and things the possibility of God’s redemptive work. We introduce the Compassion Awards, which report on seven nonprofits doing good work in their communities. We look at the spirituality underneath gambling, the ways contemporary Christian music was instrumental in one historian’s conversion, and the steady witness of what may be Wendell Berry’s last novel. All these pieces remind us that there is no person or place too small for God’s gracious and cataclysmic reversal.

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