
Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2026 The Christian Century.
Jesus’ risen, mutilated body
In Luke’s postresurrection appearances, the disciples have to reckon with the traumatic somatic.
by Ched Myers
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s short stories reveal the insanity and violence of our society
Evoking the murders of unarmed black men, this collection is meant to appall us.
by Amy Frykholm
See the asylum seekers’ wounds and believe
At the border, survivors of violence present their scarred bodies as testimony.
Christians can’t confront violence by blaming “both sides” and their incivility
We don't have to choose a political party. We do have to name the problem for what it is.
Poetry for a world that’s falling apart
Jeremiah Webster charts a via negativa in verse.
Why Roxane Gay resists the conversion narrative
Sexual violence doesn't always allow its survivors to claim redemption.
by Amy Frykholm
Occupation pierces my Israeli soul
Jewish history tells me to be both compassionate and alert. When it comes to the Palestinian conflict, I don't know how to do both at once.
Did Christianity destroy classical pagan culture?
Catherine Nixey is right: the early Christians were violently destructive. So were the Romans, the Persians, and the plagues that swept across the ancient world.
Parents of slain UN worker seek justice for their son, peace for the Congo
Michael J. Sharp had been investigating violence in the Congo when he was killed one year ago.
From inertia to (small) action
Mai-Anh Le Tran bravely jumps into the space where theory meets practice.
by Kat Banakis
Flannery O'Connor's demonic characters bear witness to Christ
If O'Connor's stories are shocking, that's only because the gospel is, too.
A novel for frightening times
Han Kang’s main theme is the dignity and the cowardice that atrocity brings forth from people—often the same person.
Robots of the West
Westworld’s claim is that memory leads to consciousness, which leads to violence.
Pope Francis’s response to the killing of a French priest puzzled some. But it pointed to the true nature of Christian witness.
Why does the church participate in modern-day lynching, or at most turn a blind eye, rather than protesting as our faith would dictate?
The media have been ablaze with stories of police brutality, campus rape, military conflict, and mass murder. Stan Goff insists on a single thread: masculinity.
reviewed by Kathryn Blanchard
Are the rest of us so different from our brothers and sisters in Libya or in Charleston? Are they heroes with whom we can never identify?
People appeal to Bonhoeffer to justify a range of moral choices. They tend to ignore his emphasis on context and the need for constant discernment.
The current issue of the Century features a remembrance by my mother of my grandfather’s terrifying war experience and its unfolding consequences. Tomorrow the world marks the 70th anniversary of V-E Day, when the world-shaping trauma of the war halted in Europe. My grandfather’s story is only a tiny fragment of the war, his decades of agony only a ripple in its billowing aftershocks. But it is the kind of story that is easily lost as the war recedes from living memory.
In 1998, I drove my parents from Wisconsin to Georgia to visit the new National POW Museum. My siblings couldn't believe I'd agreed to this.