Nature knows the secret of rejuvenation. Can we learn it, too?
Archives for September 2021
Why were Springsteen and Mellencamp wandering around Bay Head?
Last Sunday Joy and I took a day trip to Island Beach State Park, a state beach located on the southern tip of Jersey Shore’s Barnegat Peninsula. We decided to take the scenic route to our destination, driving down Route […]
Roosevelt Montas’s “heartfelt defense of the Eurocentricity of a Great Books curriculum”
Historian Steve Mintz‘s recent column at Inside Higher Ed reviews Roosevelt Montas‘s forthcoming book Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Here is a taste: For far too long, he […]
Are the culture wars in schools worse than ever before?
Historian of education Jonathan Zimmerman thinks so. Here is a taste of the University of Pennsylvania professor’s recent piece at Politico: Steve Bannon is right: The road to saving the nation runs through our schools. The real question is which […]
Catholics and Evangelicals Together—Again!
If libertarianism has recently united these old foes, maybe opposition to it can, too
Pastor Kate tells pastor Penny to mask up. Pastor Penny responds by turning her Sunday morning service into a political rally.
Kate Murphy is pastor of The Grove Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church-USA congregation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Penny Maxwell is Senior Pastor of Freedom House Church, a non-denominational megachurch with multiple campuses in the Charlotte area. She co-pastors with her […]
Tweet of the day
From University of Pittsburgh historian Marcus Rediker, author of The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist.
Belgians play for Bruce
What is “Waiting for sunny days”? It is the collaboration of 3 Belgian music schools: 1234asbl, Music Factory & the “Rock’s cool”. For the first time these schools came together around the same project: that of gathering more than 200 […]
The Author’s Corner with Brian Ogren
Brian Ogren is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Rice University. This interview is based on his new book, Kabbalah and the Founding of America: The Early Influence of Jewish Thought in the New World (New York University Press, 2021). […]
Evangelical roundup for September 20, 2021
What is happening in Evangelical land? Critical race theory helped a Wheaton College professor draw closer to God. More on Trump followers embracing the “evangelical” label. Josh McDowell on critical race theory: McDowell apologized. Faith helped evangelicals get through the […]
The Right to Discriminate?
Beneath the Claremont Institute’s turn to Trumpism lie yet more troubling turns
Episode 91: “Providential History and the Pacific Northwest”
Did Marcus Whitman “save” Oregon? In this episode we talk with Sarah Koenig, author of Providence and the Invention of American History. She tells the story of a Protestant missionary to the Pacific Northwest and how his story provides a […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Eric Rauchway reviews Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s Peril. The N-word in class Is Djokovic the greatest tennis player of all time? Chris Gerhz reviews Ethan Schrum, The Instrumental University: […]
MAGA: 1980 version
The Gazette of Cedar Rapids (IA), January 18, 1980.
Vaccines work
WellSpan Health is a health care system that covers South-Central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland. The WellSpan hospitals released this statement yesterday: As of today, at WellSpan Health hospitals we are now treating over 200 patients for COVID-19 once again and […]
The real Tammy Faye
A lot of people are talking and writing about The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a new film on televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. I hope to see this soon. I am particularly interested in Vincent D’Onofrio‘s portrayal of Jerry Falwell. Over […]
More on that blasphemous pro-Trump bulletin board
We posted about this blasphemous billboard last week. Heather Greene at Religion News Service has more: The billboard is situated on a well-traveled commuter route in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, near the border of Tennessee. Historically known for being the site […]
What happened to Tucker Carlson?
Alex Shephard of The New Republic writes: “He once craved responsibility and tried to give a right-wing audience real news. They didn’t want it. And he adjusted with a vengeance.” Here is a taste of his piece, “How Tucker Carlson […]
What do white evangelicals think about the January 6, 2021 insurrection?
I got some time today to look at the recent survey on January 6 conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey found that 57% of white evangelical Christians believe that liberal or left-wing activists such as Antifa were […]
1200 Covid-19 cases later, Liberty University returns to in-person classes without an indoor mask requirement
Here is WSLS News: Liberty University resumed in-person classes Monday, following a two-week mitigation period to slow the spread of COVID-19. On September 8, the university reported 463 active cases, with more than 1,800 people instructed to quarantine. “I think it’s too little and late. […]