Award-winning, in-depth reporting on faith and politics sent straight to your inbox!

A Public Witness is a newsletter from Word&Way, a Christian media company publishing since 1896. A Public Witness provides insights from professional experience in academia, advocacy, congregational leadership, and political campaigns. The longform journalism published here helps you understand what’s missed by misleading tweets and headlines.

Brian Kaylor, Word&Way president & editor-in-chief, leads A Public Witness. A Baptist minister with a Ph.D. in political communication, he is the author or co-author of five books on religion and politics. His latest book, co-written by A Public Witness contributor Beau Underwood, is Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism.

Join the more than 10,900 readers who receive A Public Witness in their email inboxes each week. You won’t find annoying pop-ups or distracting clickbait ads. That means we won’t treat you as a product for advertisers to reach, but instead invite you to support unique news and analysis you can’t find anywhere else. Join us today and support this quality journalism through a paid subscription.

Praise for A Public Witness

“Very much worth your time to give it a read.” —Adam Taylor, president of Sojourners

“An invaluable resource for the Church. … A potent combination of rigor, curiosity and humility.” —Lisa Sharon Harper, author of Fortune

“I’m excited by this intellectually turbocharged work. I’m an avid and loyal reader.” —David Gushee, author of After Evangelicalism

“Some very good pieces. … I recommend both their newsletter and their news and opinion website, Word&Way.” —Diana Butler Bass, author and writer at The Cottage

“Important … worth every word.” Sarah Posner, journalist

“Really excellent.” —Amanda Tyler, Respecting Religion

“Eye-opening.” —Don Byrd, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

“Insightful … Definitely worth some of your time today.” —Rob Boston, Wall of Separation

“A great Substack.” —Robert P. Jones, White Too Long

“Well worth the 10 minutes to read.” —Rob Schenck, president of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute

“You should consider subscribing … I already did.” — Ryan Burge, the Twitter ‘religion-and-politics data guy

“A bad actor.” —Jenna Ellis, a Trump attorney who sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election

Why Subscribe?

Subscribe to A Public Witness get immediate access to the next issue and past archives on the website. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox. The normal publication schedule is an issue on Tuesdays (free), an issue on Thursdays (paid), and a weekly round-up email on Fridays (free). Additional pieces are sent some weeks.

Your subscription helps sustain our award-winning journalism.

Subscribe to A Public Witness

An award-winning e-newsletter from Word&Way covering faith, culture, & politics.

People

President & Editor-in-Chief of Word&Way. Baptist minister with Ph.D. in political communication.
I'm a pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a senior editor with Word&Way, and a doctoral student in public affairs at Mizzou.
An award-winning e-newsletter from Word&Way covering faith, culture, & politics.
digital editor at Word&Way / phd from the Missouri School of Journalism + University of Chicago Divinity School alumn / member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) / Kansas City cyclist