Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Training faith leaders to work against suicide

November 26, 2025 at 5:28 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Conducting this interview was so, so, so helpful to me as a faith leader and a human being. If you get a chance to read it, I hope it helps you too.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Nov 21

“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.”

– Michelle Snyder, in an interview by @jonmathieu.bsky.social

“Suicide happens because of loss of hope and loss of social connection,” says Michelle Snyder of Soul Shop. “What if we became a church where no one loses hope and no one is...

The religious significance of Chicago ICE protests

November 21, 2025 at 3:45 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Writer Tom Montgomery Fate chats with Jon about the peaceful protests at the ICE facility in Broadview, IL, where several faith leaders were recently arrested.

youtu.be/bKGNh_WmvGY

September 28, Ordinary 26C (1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31)

November 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

“This enraging callousness, this unjust distribution of wealth, is Jesus’ lede, and not just rhetorically but also ethically and theologically.”

– @jonmathieu.bsky.social

www.christiancentury.org/lectionary/s...

Preachers often bury the lede—especially with this...

September 21, Ordinary 25C (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1)

September 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

“Jeremiah is the emo prophet.”

– @jonmathieu.bsky.social

www.christiancentury.org/lectionary/s...
#lectionary

Jeremiah is the emo...

Evangelicalism, postmodernism, and the question of truth

September 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Writer @annajrollins.bsky.social chats with @jonmathieu.bsky.social about the nature of truth, inside and beyond the conservative Christianity they both used to practice.

youtu.be/fdS1YX-aB9I?...

Evangelical idols and ideologies

September 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Bar Harbor, Maine, is just mostly ice cream shops. In other words, heaven.

September 2, 2025 at 3:25 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

I know “time is money” for Uber drivers more obviously than many others, but could they possibly wait for me to buckle my seat belt before they screech ahead in an attempt to break the sound barrier?

August 30, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Okay I am watching this New Heights episode with Taylor and I admit, it slaps (when I try to say something cool I have to use words from like 10 years ago)

August 15, 2025 at 10:11 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

It’s puzzling to me: these conservative evangelicals are out here talking about truth-telling, truth-telling, truth-telling, but you tell them the truth that they’re ass clowns and they get upset.

August 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

In case you want to read something a little punchy this morning. In this double book review I make the case that evangelicals probably aren’t going to be the ones to give the most meaningful critiques of evangelicalism.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Jul 22

Books by Mike Cosper and Jeff Mikels critique evangelicalism from within. In a new review, @jonmathieu.bsky.social wonders whether the authors’ continued connection to the tradition makes it impossible for them to go far enough.

www.christiancentury.org/books/evange...

In their new books, Mike Cosper and Jeff Mikels critique evangelicalism from within. Do they go far...

Gender is not binary in the book of Genesis

July 23, 2025 at 1:23 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Hopefully some scholars will write about why public CEO infidelity at a Coldplay concert can save the morale of a dying nation. Seriously, I’d read that.

July 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Bible scholar Julie Faith Parker chats with @jonmathieu.bsky.social about merisms, Hebrew words, and eunuchs in scripture.

youtu.be/1q6AFj7P9e4?...

Dear Jesus, Am I broken enough yet?

July 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Um, relatable content.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Jul 9

“Life became a sin scavenger hunt. At the end of every day, I curled up with my journal in my blue-and-green loft bed for a moral inventory. ‘How have I been disappointing you lately, God?’ I wrote.”

– @mwatsonfore.bsky.social

www.christiancentury.org/features/dea...

At youth group and church camp, I learned to perform my own unworthiness. It took years to recognize the spiritual harm this...

Is all artificial intelligence evil?

July 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Mac Loftin makes the case that artificial intelligence is evil (to Jon, who sort of likes AI).

youtu.be/Fhb2WLXPEm0

Why are evangelicals obsessed with Amish country?

July 8, 2025 at 2:05 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Gas is so expensive here in Pittsburgh, PA.

Thanks Obama. I mean Biden. I mean Kamala. I mean California governor Gavin Newsom.

June 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

I stumbled upon a video of Counting Crows covering “the 1” by Taylor Swift, which is so well-suited for me specifically that I think when the US crumbles and war takes us all I will die happy.

June 13, 2025 at 2:33 AM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Don’t miss @jonmathieu.bsky.social’s chat with @caitwest.bsky.social about evangelicalism, Amish country, and high-control religion.

youtu.be/s3BnFD8bKb4

Evangelical fantasies in Amish country

May 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Cait West

@caitwest.bsky.social

What do the Quiverfull movement, Christian nationalism, and Plain communities have in common? Apparently, musical theater.

www.christiancentury.org/features/eva...

I grew up in the Quiverfull movement. In the tourism industry of Shipshewana, Indiana, I see a lot that looks...

Can philosophy help us process horrifying headlines?

April 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

You ever do that thing where you’re interviewing someone for a magazine and you reach into your pocket for a tissue but instead pull out a length of toilet paper that you forgot was there because your bathroom tissue box ran out?

April 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

David Dault

@daultradio.bsky.social

I’m grateful to Jon Mathieu and everybody at the Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social for giving me an opportunity to say more about my recent piece about consent, violence, and the plight of Remeysa Ozturk.

https://youtu.be/O7OV34fES_0?si=gsILH9jDoP9eEDpT

The theology fueling MAGA evangelicals

April 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM

Reposted by Jon Mathieu

Christian Century

@christiancentury.bsky.social

Writer @lizcharlottegrant.bsky.social and our @jonmathieu.bsky.social try to understand the extreme theologies lurking just behind the surface of many troubling headlines.

youtu.be/f48gQLiE3Gg

The double standard in religious education

April 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Really fun and interesting chat with @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social about teaching religion in a university setting.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Mar 4

We chat with professor @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social about the impossible truism expected of religious educators: teach students how to think, not what to think.

youtu.be/mQYj8Gd462k
@jonmathieu.bsky.social

Our origin in dirt can teach us humility. But what if it also bears the divine...

March 4, 2025 at 7:16 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

This essay has it all: Anthony Bourdain, cool theology… okay it has two things, but still it’s great.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Feb 24

“Our origin from the dust of the ground doesn’t just teach humility. It also reminds us that our calling is always toward the flourishing of life in the world.”

– Peter Choi, a new Voices columnist

www.christiancentury.org/voices/dust-...

Dust and glory

The demons in our politics

February 24, 2025 at 4:18 PM

Jon Mathieu

@jonmathieu.bsky.social

This was a fun conversation, and I really appreciate this take on demons.

Christian Century @christiancentury.bsky.social · Feb 18

New video: scholar Mac Loftin chats with our community engagement editor @jonmathieu.bsky.social about the theology of William Stringfellow. In his view, demons are not supernatural monsters; they are institutions and abstractions that entrap people (especially leaders) in cycles of death.