A tough start to 2026

Around the turn of the year a couple weeks ago, I heard quite a few people say—and I may have said in my own heart—“Here’s hoping 2026 is better than this past year.” I think I heard a couple folks test fate with the retort, “Well, it can’t get any worse.”

Famous last words. In this very short span of the new year, the US has kidnapped a foreign leader in a fairly naked play for Venezuelan oil, and an ICE agent has been recorded on video shooting a protestor in the face. In times like these, when news stories fill me with dread, sorrow, or anger, I am grateful for the work of the Century. While this magazine can’t fix the problems, it can help me think clearly about them, approaching them from new angles with lenses of faith. This week, I am happy to share with you a deeply insightful reflection on why ICE agents wear masks, along with an editorial from our team that wrestles with the nature of Trump’s foreign policy.

Plenty of other great new content below, too. Our video of the week features Mac Loftin, who chats with me about why every single nativity scene makes a political statement. Also scroll down for a history of Islamophobia in US churches and seminaries, a book review about the complex African context of Augustine, and more.

Jon Mathieu
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Why ICE agents hide their faces

“An ICE agent, like Adam and Eve, hides and seeks never to be found. He hides and thus avoids the ethical obligation summoned by standing before another, vulnerable to them as they are vulnerable to him.”

by Colton Bernasol

The new GOP hawks

“Within their own framework, Trump and Putin are neither adversaries nor allies but simply counterparts, emperors in parallel.”

by the CC editors

Video: Why every nativity scene is political

Mac Loftin chats with Jon about why every nativity scene in every lawn and on every mantle makes a political statement.

In the Lectionary for January 18 (Epiphany 2A)

Who is Jesus? The first chapter of John’s Gospel offers many answers.

by Christine Chakoian

The making of Islamophobia

“In the United States, Islamophobia has deep roots in anti-Blackness. When the transatlantic slave trade began, Islam was already well established across West Africa, so the first Muslims to come to North America were enslaved Africans—about 900,000 of them. ”

by Anna Piela and Michael Woolf

Augustine’s African heritage

“Catherine Conybeare paints a skillfully nuanced picture of the ‘constantly renegotiated’ Christianity in North Africa in Augustine’s era.”

review by by Margaret R. Miles