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Articles by Jon Mathieu
Training faith leaders to work against suicide
Michelle Snyder, executive director of Soul Shop (Source image courtesy of Soul Shop) Michelle Snyder is executive director of Soul Shop, an organization that equips faith leaders and congregations to minister to people impacted by suicide. What’s the history of Soul Shop? It was started in the ’90s by Fe Anam Avis, a Presbyterian pastor at a large church in a small town in Ohio. In one six-month period there were three suicides in the community.
Money and the love of it (1 Timothy 6:6-19)
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. When we think of scripture’s oral traditions, we often think of ancient history, the verbal stories passed from person to person, generation to generation, town to town—stories that would one day be written down and included in what we call the Bible.
Lectionary essay for September 28 Ordinary 26C 1 Timothy 6 6 19 Luke 16 19 31
I’m new to the magazine business, but I have long been familiar with the concept of “burying the lede”: a journalistic error that occurs when a writer ought to start off an article with the most salient content but instead incorporates it later in the piece. Information that ought to be front and center, captivating readers in the introductory lede, is—usually by mistake—buried among secondary details. It’s not just news writers who commit this foul.
Wait, what’s the point of this parable? (Luke 16:1-13)
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. When I was a college student, I attended quite a few evangelical conferences. None was more memorable than the one where a confident quarterback-pastor was bested by a parable. The keynote speaker was a preacher who had played college football.
Lectionary essay for September 21 Ordinary 25C Jeremiah 8 18 9 1
I am sometimes teased by this magazine’s managing editor, Steve Thorngate, for my taste in music. I really don’t see how it’s my fault that I came of age during a moment in evangelical subculture when the formative genres were pop-punk, ska, and emo. And as studies have shown as far back as 1989, when I was learning to tie my shoes, the music we listen to in our late teens and early 20s tends to stick with us and shape our preferences for the rest of our lives.
A history of muscular Christianity in the US
Paul Emory Putz, who directs Baylor University’s Faith and Sports Institute, has spoken of his appreciation for the faith-forming, character-building influence the Fellowship of Christian Athletes had on his life when he played high school basketball in Nebraska. In The Spirit of the Game, Putz magnifies that personal appreciation into a wide-ranging historical study aimed at showing the evolution of the Christian athlete movement in America through the 20th century and into the present day.
Letters & Comments-August 2025 issue
Powerful words I don’t think I have ever read a century editorial as clear-cut and cogent in calling a political party to account as the July offering (“Worse than doing nothing”). It is too bad that so many Christians will think you are preaching politics instead of the gospel—but they probably don’t read your magazine, anyway.
Powerful words, deconstruction for everyone, and more reader feedback
Powerful words I don’t think I have ever read a century editorial as clear-cut and cogent in calling a political party to account as the July offering (“Worse than doing nothing”). It is too bad that so many Christians will think you are preaching politics instead of the gospel—but they probably don’t read your magazine, anyway. —Ann Larson Essex, VT Deconstruction for everyone Wow—Lauren Cibene’s essay (“I’m a deconstructing American,” online only) is so good.
Well-known nonviolent Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli settler
Awdah Hathaleen had a hard time sleeping. Every time his phone vibrated at night, he said, his heart would begin to race. Are the settlers rampaging? Is another home getting demolished? Has anyone been hurt? “The people are really suffering day and night,” he told a reporter in May. “There is no safety at all. We wish we (could) sleep one night (and) be sure that nothing is going to happen. But we (haven’t) found that so far.” On Monday, Hathaleen’s nightmares became a reality.
Afternoons in Borough Park
The man on the bus is raging in Yiddish again. His anger swells; he spews a mouthful of wet, noxious words. Across the aisle, a woman says in an urgent stage whisper, “He was in the camps,” and people turn to their business, the newspaper, homework, the gray November sky, fog settling like a prayer shawl on gaunt shoulders. She might be a high school teacher, a nurse in a doctor’s office, or somebody’s mother, with her plain brown coat and scarf, her sensible shoes.
Living from the wounded side
I am endlessly fascinated by the metaphorical and theological possibilities of the body. I speak about them often when I preach. I like how they both keep me grounded (my disabled body is a constant reminder of limitation and, indeed, possibility) and also let me soar (I’ve found no more wonderful thing on my pilgrimage of faith than to be part of the Body of Christ). Some parts of the body attract more attention than others, however. The human face is compelling.
New Jersey mayor says town won't seize Episcopal church if public doesn't support plan
Mayor Dan Rodrick of Toms River, New Jersey, has delayed a council vote on his plan to seize an Episcopal church’s property and said he would end his effort to turn the church’s 11 acres into parkland if town officials confirm the public doesn’t support it. The proposed ordinance that would allow the town to seize Christ Episcopal Church had been heading for a final vote July 30.
Episode 50: John Kasich, former governor, political analyst, and author of Heaven Help Us
Welcome to Madang. Madang is the outdoor living room of the world. Here, we invite you to sit and tune into unreserved, remarkable conversations with renowned authors, leaders, public figures, and scholars on religion, culture, and everything in between. This is the 50th Episode, featuring John Kasich. Kasich is a national leader who has spent a lifetime bringing people together to solve big problems and leave the world around them just a little bit better than they found it.
Christology without supersessionism
In his latest book, theologian Chris Green addresses an issue that is long overdue: the articulation of a non-supersessionist Christology. The author, who teaches at Southeastern University, calls supersessionism “a particularly damaging doctrine.” Indeed, he even identifies supersessionism as a heresy, because Christians’ forgetfulness of Israel’s primacy in God’s purpose is at the very root of virtually all predicaments in church history.
The Jewish judge at the center of Trump's Harvard showdown
Judge Allison D. Burroughs, during the July 21 hearing in the case between Harvard University and the Trump administration, pressed a Justice Department attorney to explain why the government’s effort to cut off billions of dollars in research funding would meaningfully address antisemitism on campus.
Episcopal Diocese of West Texas prepares for long-term response after deadly floods
The San Antonio-based Episcopal Diocese of West Texas is assessing how best to assist with long-term recovery efforts after July 4 floodwaters killed at least 138 people in the Texas Hill Country. “There’s going to be a lot of rebuilding to do. There’s going to be a lot of counseling to do. There’s going to be a lot of need in the long haul financially,” West Texas Bishop David G. Read said in a phone interview.
The stories I needed growing up
Living in Southeast Texas as a teenager, I belonged to one of the few Asian families in our small town. My parents owned a Chinese buffet, where I worked every Saturday and many evenings. Pentecostal groups, their women’s uncut hair in sweeping updos, settled on the place in droves after their evening services, just as we were about to close. A man wearing a “Jesus Is My Homeboy” baseball cap always came on weekends and ate unthinkable quantities of salt-and-pepper crab.
Juneberry Primer
As a girl, I’d pronounce compote like coyote. Clafoutis rhymed with clematis or stephanotis instead of cherry or juneberry, syllables I never quite pronounced right— add to this list, a plaque and the plague; musically, a zydeco versus a xylophone.
Ulysses and the post-Catholic James Joyce
“History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake,” Stephen Dedalus says, early in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Twenty-five years ago, when I was starting my dissertation research on this groundbreaking novel from 1922, I spent some time analyzing the significance of this statement in the context of Irish history and Joyce’s artistic theory. Now, I don’t have to analyze it. I just get it. I am watching an epoch of history unfold, and I don’t like where it seems to be going.
Twin threats to democracy
It is rarely contested that a reciprocal relationship exists between White power and American neoliberal culture. As the public conversation around racial capitalism and the threat of White Christian nationalism to democracy increases, so does the awareness that neither neoliberalism nor White power could exist in its current form without the other.
Essays by readers: Stretch
The Buechner Narrative Writing Project honors the life and legacy of writer and theologian Frederick Buechner with the aim of nurturing the art of spiritual writing and reflection. Readers are invited to submit first-person narratives (under 1,000 words). Read more. Moments continue to go up in flames like the bush in Midian to illumine, if only for a moment, a path that stretches before us like no other path.
What’s special about a church building?
I’ve walked in and out church doors for so long I had forgotten. The strangeness of a building, a gathering, an hour or two or three on a Sunday morning where you, me, anyone can simply walk in and sit and listen, maybe meet someone new. No ticket required. No purchase of a pint or coffee or burger and fries in order to stay. You don’t need a bike. You don’t need to know how to sew or sing to be a part of this living thing that comes into being every week. You could go to a park or free museum, sure.
Latino Episcopalians in the spotlight with Gutiérrez presiding bishop nomination
Acolytes lead the procession at San Mateo Episcopal Church in Hyattsville, Maryland, on May 19. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain) Six years ago, during the keynote address at the 2018 Nuevo Amanecer conference in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Episocpal Bishop Daniel G.P. Gutiérrez of the Diocese of Pennsylvania told an audience of Latino Episcopalians: “We are not an outreach project. We are the church.” Today, Gutiérrez is one of five nominees to succeed Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
Lectionary essay for June 9 Ordinary 10B 1 Samuel 8 4 11 12 15 16 20 11 14 15
The people must have been so disappointed in Samuel. He comes into his leadership role as a prophet and judge instead of the sons of Eli, who are corrupt. For all the years of his life, Samuel is a trusted leader of Israel. He goes on a circuit from town to town as a judge. He leads the people militarily, making sacrifices to God and gaining God’s support in battle (1 Sam. 7:6–16). Samuel is a good leader. Until he isn’t.
Unknown 18th-century hymns discovered in Wales
If you ever find yourself at a rugby game in Wales, don’t be surprised when the crowds begin to belt out Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, known as Bread of Heaven to the Welsh. Called the “Land of Song,” hymns in Wales are not just for church services. They have played a prominent role in the life of the nation by preserving and transmitting its language and culture. Even as churches continue to close, formal and impromptu hymn sings remain.
Jesus’ very Jewish question about sabbath (Mark 2:23-3:6)
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. Sabbath is given and commanded as a day of rest, being modeled after the idea that God rested after all the work that God had done to create the world (Ex. 20:8-11). In Deuteronomy, sabbath is also described as a sign of liberation.
A pulpit without a context
The cursor zips across the screen in the video introducing me to AI sermon tech. I watch as a preacher selects a quote from a list and then adds a “social starter” to the page. The sermon manuscript buzzes to completion, followed by offers for related products—creative engagement questions or “viral captions” for social media. The ad is fast-paced and shiny, conveying the promise of the product: to create sermons with greater impact in a fraction of the time.
A crushing lack of humanity
Ametronome ticks as a Cher record spins to life on a turntable. The camera pulls back to reveal these objects arranged neatly on a hydraulic press—along with a trumpet, a piano, a guitar, analog cameras, cans of paint, leather-bound journals, old computer monitors, and even a stack of foam emojis. As the press plate lowers, the trumpet is crushed, the paint cans burst, and the camera lenses shatter.
After Hagia Sophia, Turkey converts second ancient Byzantine church into mosque
Hundreds of worshippers filled the narrow streets of Istanbul’s Fatih district on Friday to hear the sounds of Friday prayers ringing out from the newly inaugurated Kariye Mosque. Once known as the Chora Church, the site spent the last 79 years as a museum. But it is now the latest structure to be converted back into a mosque by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, following the conversion of Hagia Sophia in 2020.
Muslim student protestors feel sense of purpose mingled with fear
Fahad Kiani knows he is making history by participating in the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses around New York. Over the past few weeks, Kiani, a graduate of the City University of New York, has demonstrated at his alma mater and at Columbia University. But while the heightened police presence and the 24-hour tent encampments dominate news headlines, Kiani found hope when a fellow protester decided to become Muslim just outside Columbia’s gates one night last week.
Turnovers Hurt Titans In Loss To Pioneers
PLATTEVILLE, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh football team struggled to get going offensively as they fell to UW-Platteville 22-7 on Saturday (Nov. 4) at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. The loss brought the Titans (5-4, 3-3 WIAC) all-time record against the Pioneers (5-4, 3-3 WIAC) to 54-49-4 and snapped a nine-game winning streak.
Images of Nature: Introduction to the Special Issue
1. Starting Point This Special Issue on ‘Images of Nature’ in the longue durée has its origins in a historical conference on ‘Nature’ at the University of Geneva in the summer of 2022 (6th Swiss History Days, 29 June–1 July 2022). The suggestion to organize a panel there came from Sophie Ruppel, who recently published a detailed study on ‘botanophilia’ in bourgeois Enlightenment society.
Historia de montaña: los Alpes y los Andes en una perspectiva a largo plazo
Historia de montaña: los Alpes y los Andes en una perspectiva a largo plazo [1] Università della Svizzera Italiana Localización: Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura, ISSN 0120-2456, ISSN-e 2256-5647, Nº. 32, 2005, págs. 277-292 Idioma: español Enlaces Texto completo Resumen español Los historiadores han comenzado recientemente a interesarse por una historia comparativa e internacional de las montañas.
A Pride Month Lesson from Ted Lasso
The hit show Ted Lasso recently concluded its third and final season on Apple TV+. I think the most valuable of the ambitious comedy’s accomplishments may be its image of non-toxic masculinity, lived out in community by the players, coaches, fans, and staff of the fictional soccer club AFC Richmond. A show that confronts toxic masculinity must inevitably also address homophobia, for each is the other’s evil cousin.
How Great Was the “Great Divide of Nature and Culture” in Europe? Philippe Descola’s Argument under Scrutinity
Open AccessEssay by Jon Mathieu Department of History, University of Lucerne, 6002 Lucerne, Switzerland Histories 2022, 2(4), 542-551; https://doi.org/10.3390/histories2040036 (registering DOI) Received: 2 November 2022 / Revised: 2 December 2022 / Accepted: 12 December 2022 / Published: 16 December 2022 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Images of Nature - From the Middle Ages to (Non-)Western Modernities) Abstract : In his much-discussed work Beyond Nature and Culture,...
The sacred relics of a lifetime of ministry
Sources images: Getty and Unsplash Two filing cabinets, one with three drawers and one with four. These seven drawers held John Zimmann’s 56 years of ministry—30 as a full-time minister and 26 more doing interim ministry and pulpit supply. Seven drawers. What was Marilyn supposed to do with these rusting, sacred cabinets? Inside were the treasures of a minister’s life: wedding and funeral liturgies, prayers, calls to worship, sermons organized by the liturgical calendar.
Ex-vangelicals are coming: How will mainline denominations welcome them?
Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash After a conversion experience in high school, I practiced evangelical Christianity for almost 20 years. For ten of those years, I served in full-time ministry, first as a missionary and then on staff at a megachurch. Six years ago, I began a long and painful breakup with the tradition that formed me — but I was not alone. Something is happening to white evangelicalism.
Why Are There So Many Toxic Pastors?
A recent podcast is making the rounds in the Christian world: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, from Christianity Today. It documents the meteoric rise of pastor Mark Driscoll and his church/brand Mars Hill, and then the thundering collapse of the whole empire. Now, this podcast comes from an evangelical outlet. So it is a deeply flawed exploration, in my opinion, because it bends over backward to point out the benefits of megachurches and Mars Hill despite all the patriarchy and harm.
Jesus in (Not Instead of) the Pandemic
The prophet Habakkuk, writing during the desolation of his people and homeland, asked two questions that haunt every believer in crisis: “How long, Lord, must I call for help … Why do you make me look at injustice?” Habbakuk 1:2-3 How long will this global pandemic spread, robbing us of health, freedom, resources and even life? Why does God allow catastrophes to visit towns and nations—or in this case, the entire world? Like the ancient prophets, we may not be able to respond to these questions.
Please stop posting that CS Lewis quote
By Jon Mathieu, Op-Ed Contributor | Monday, March 23, 2020 Portrait of CS Lewis, age 50. | [PHOTO:WIKIMEDIACOMMONS] If you’ve been on social media lately and you run in any sort of Christian circles, you’ve likely come across these words that C.S. Lewis wrote in 1948: “This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together.
OIL, POWER AND WAR: A Dark History
John D Rockefeller, who made a pretty penny out of oil, offered a predictably upbeat assessment of the energy source that defined the modern world: ‘what a blessing the oil has been to mankind... the whole process seems a miracle.’ The second part of that statement seems reasonable – the first part is a matter for debate.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TRAINS: A 45,000-Mile Adventure
At this moment in history, long-distance train travel is somewhere in between nostalgically quaint and futuristically revolutionary. It’s perhaps therefore the perfect time for a relentlessly curious and wonderfully descriptive writer such as Monisha Rajesh to delve into this oxymoronic notion of crossing countries and continents by rail – something that undeniably catches people’s attention, despite (or perhaps because of) the dominance of the global aviation industry.
THE ALPS - Geographical
The Alps comprise the great mountain system of Europe. The relatively low base level of these peaks emphasises the majesty of their summits and allows a great diversity of climate and vegetation on various levels. Many valleys contain large lakes, while above the timber line there is a wealth of characteristic plants, and still higher, vast glaciers and a perpetual mantle of snow. Jon Mathieu presents a modern history of this diverse landscape, from earliest times to the present.
THE LIBRARY OF ICE: Readings from a Cold Climate
Ice is the frozen state of water, one of the simplest forms in existence. ‘It is formed of two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom, in a shape that resembles the letter “v”.’ But, simple or not, ‘its behaviour bewilders me,’ writes Campbell. The Library of Ice is an exploration of that bewilderment, an exploration of solid water – heuristically, scientifically and culturally.
COMPANIONS IN CONFLICT: Animals in Occupied Palestine
In 2016, an animal charity relocated ‘the last tiger in Palestine’, Laziz, from the Gaza Strip’s zoo to his new home in South Africa. While many Palestinians came to the zoo to say a fond farewell, others made the cynical observation that it was better to be an animal than a person in Gaza, where even cancer patients often cannot receive permits to leave for treatment. ‘The worst zoo in the world imprisons humans as well as other animals,’ writes Penny Johnson.
THE PASSIONATE IMPERIALISTS
By the time they married in 1902, Sir Frederick Lugard and Flora Shaw had emerged as two of the most dynamic figures of the late Victorian era. Lugard had enjoyed – or, sometimes, endured – a spectacularly wide-ranging military and administrative career: embarking on any number of exploratory journeys and fighting battles from Sudan to Burma, and various points in between.
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