Everyone is on Substack these days. People like Heather Cox Richardson and Andrew Sullivan are making hundreds of thousands of dollars on the platform. Early in the brainstorming process, we chose not to launch Current on Substack. Perhaps I will […]
Archives for July 2021
Doug Mastriano is at it again
The Christian nationalist Pennsylvania senator with a hotline to Trump is initiating something called a “forensic investigation” of the 2020 election. Here is Mastriano at his website: A forensic investigation of our election results and processes for the 2020 General […]
Evangelical roundup for July 8, 2021
What is going on in Evangelicalland? Is evangelicalism an “ethos“? Do evangelicals have a theology of the church? A good reminder: Ask an Evangelical! Latino evangelicals turn toward Trumpism: A conservative website doesn’t like that McLean Bible Church pastor David […]
The Challenge of Graven Images
A life may not merit a statue. But it does require a story.
Why we need a new Federal Writers Project
Scott Borchert is the author of Republic of Detours: How the New Deal Paid Broke Writers to Rediscover America. Here is a taste of his recent piece at The New York Times: Opponents will complain about excessive spending or subversive […]
The Trump intellectuals who despise their fellow citizens, but love America
Historian Joshua Tait calls-out the so-called “Trump intellectuals”–many of them connected to Hillsdale College and the Claremont Institute–who claim to be “ardent patriots” who are “at odds with real America, but remain committed to the rhetoric of patriotism.” These Trumpers […]
Who were the evangelical Christians who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021?
I have already introduced readers to Tyler Ethridge, a Seven Mountain Dominionist trained at Charis Bible College’s David Barton School of Government. But Ethridge was not the only evangelical Christian at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Here is Michelle […]
President Joe Biden on the 6-month anniversary of January 6, 2021
In case you missed it yesterday: Not even during the Civil War did insurrectionists breach our Capitol, the citadel of our democracy. But six months ago today, insurrectionists did. They launched a violent and deadly assault on the people’s house, […]
Well, I guess the University of North Carolina blew that one
Did you hear that the University of North Carolina finally gave tenure to former New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones? Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the controversial 1619 Project. After North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media […]
“What Hath God Wrought?”: Why It’s Time to Add Infrastructure to the Pro-Life Agenda
In 2007 a Minneapolis bridge fell into the Mississippi River killing thirteen people and injuring 145. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the bridge’s metal gusset plates were too thin to support the weight of the span. Last month […]
Ed Ayers: The history classroom is a “community of trust”
University of Richmond historian Ed Ayers recently visited a high school history classroom. He reflects on what he saw here. A taste: I recognized in those two sessions what I had learned four decades ago when I started teaching history: […]
“Anti-critical race theory laws are un-American”
A diverse group of writers–Kmele Foster (libertarian), David French (conservative evangelical), Jason Stanley (Yale philosopher and scholar of propaganda), and Thomas Chatterton Williams (liberal) have weighed-in at The New York Times. We, the authors of this essay, have wide ideological […]
Member of Congress: “We are an army for everything that Jesus has purchased for us and our children, and our children’s children”
I might not pay attention to this kind of idolatry, blasphemy, and heresy if it wasn’t coming from a member of the House of Representatives. According to the Christian nationalist theology of Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Jesus died to redeem […]
Episode 12: “Defending Traditional Marriage”
The Christian Right’s preemptive defense of marriage Episode 12: “Defending Traditional Marriage” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: Listen to Episodes 0, 1, and 2 here. If you like […]
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Covid in Retrospect
In early America, storytelling accompanied suffering. That legacy can help us today.
What did evangelicals say this weekend about July 4th?
I was going to add this to today’s Evangelical Roundup, but I thought I would include it in a separate post. Now if we can get this kind of tweeting on Easter or Pentecost Sunday. David French offers a lesson […]
Trump 4th of July boat parades serve as a useful metaphor
Here is Tom Boggioni at Salon: Supporters of Donald Trump who have taken to the lakes and waterways to hold boat parades honoring the former president are being hammered by fellow boaters and maritime experts for literally leaving destruction in their wake after swamping […]
They are coming:
July 23 to August 8, 2021. Tokyo
Evangelical roundup for July 5, 2021
What is going on in Evangelicalland? Some evangelical pastors are afraid to recommend the COVID-19 vaccination because they don’t want to divide their congregations. The big takeaway at the Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly was an overture on gay […]