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Archives for January 2022

Joe Biden got ice cream yesterday. Fox News went nuts.

John Fea   |  January 28, 2022

What if you replaced “Joe Biden” in the following clip montage with “Donald Trump” and replaced “ice cream” with “golf” or “executive time”? Hmm…

What is going on with Tony Evans?

John Fea   |  January 28, 2022

Last summer we called attention to Dallas-area megachurch pastor Tony Evans’s efforts at racial reconciliation. He called it “Kingdom Race Theology.” As I wrote then: “First, Evans clearly believes in systemic racism and the value of critical race theory. Second, […]

What is popular this week at Current?

John Fea   |  January 28, 2022

Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Jeremy Sabella, The Tower of Babel and The American Experiment John Fea, Stop Wasting Your Time Trying to Define Evangelicalism Adam Jortner, Have Mercy John Fea, Why Evangelicals Need More […]

Is Postsecularism Enough?

Chad Schrock   |  January 28, 2022

The deeply religious know they need more

The GOP’s main job right now is to break with Trump

John Fea   |  January 27, 2022

Conservative columnist Gary Abernathy calls for a break-up. Here is a taste of his piece at The Washington Post: So, “What are Republicans for?” Fair question. But before the Republican Party can redefine itself, it must first divorce itself from […]

The Senate needs to confirm Biden’s choice to replace Stephen Breyer. Don’t expect much drama.

John Fea   |  January 27, 2022

Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement yesterday. A political battle over the confirmation of his yet-to-be-announced successor is unlikely. Meridith McGraw and Hailey Fuchs of Politico explain: Top officials at conservative judicial groups said they viewed the current […]

Evangelical roundup for January 27, 2022

John Fea   |  January 27, 2022

What is happening in Evangelical land? How the backlash to the Christian Right is reshaping evangelicalism. Timothy Keller on the “decline of evangelicalism“: Georgia gubernatorial candidates are fighting for the evangelical vote. Evangelicals still love Trump (and Pence): Are evangelicals […]

Why Evangelicals Need More Secularism

John Fea   |  January 27, 2022

The government’s role in regulating the relationship between itself and religious citizens is good for both the church and the nation

Episode 32: “Platforms and Fortune Cookies”

John Fea   |  January 26, 2022

The Christian Right shapes the 2004 Republican Platform. Episode 32: “Platforms and Fortune Cookies” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you like what you hear, and […]

All the growth in the music market is coming from old songs

John Fea   |  January 26, 2022

Here is Ted Gioia at The Atlantic: Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market, according to the latest numbers from MRC Data, a music-analytics firm. Those who make a living from new music—especially that endangered species […]

Professional Disrespect

Eric Miller   |  January 26, 2022

It runs both ways

When conservatives loved Francisco Franco

John Fea   |  January 25, 2022

Today it is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. In the 1950s it was the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Here is Joshua Tait at The Bulwark: Prominent conservatives have discovered Hungary and its “twenty-first century dictator,” Viktor Orbán. This week, Tucker Carlson will […]

Is there a case for impeaching Clarence Thomas?

John Fea   |  January 25, 2022

In the wake of The New Yorker piece on his conservative activist wife Ginni, Michael Tomasky, editor of The New Republic, makes a case for the impeachment of Clarence Thomas. A taste: In a sane world, Jane Mayer’s excellent piece on […]

The bridge from Reaganism to Trumpism

John Fea   |  January 25, 2022

Here is a taste of Jonathan Chait’s New York Magazine piece, “New Gingrich Invented Donald Trump’s Lock-Them-Up Politics”: A popular belief, especially among political centrists, holds that Trump is the antithesis of the old Republican ethos. On one side of […]

So what exactly did the House January 6th Select Committee get from the National Archives?

John Fea   |  January 25, 2022

According to The New York Times, the committee received: Proposed talking points for Mr. Trump’s press secretary and documents related to allegations of voter fraud (629 pages) Presidential activity calendars and a handwritten note concerning Jan. 6 (11 pages) A […]

Old Problems, New Times

Daniel Cole   |  January 25, 2022

In the midst of our civic crisis, Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion still speaks

Nyquil is “Baptist wine” and more things I learned from the recent Vanity Fair piece on the Falwells.

John Fea   |  January 24, 2022

Check out Gabriel Sherman’s piece on Jerry Falwell Jr. at Vanity Fair. Here are a few of the new things I learned from it: Falwell Jr. claims that he is not religious: “Subconsciously, yeah, I believe that’s true,” he said, […]

Evangelicals talk abortion: round 2

John Fea   |  January 24, 2022

Yesterday I posted a video of evangelical Christians Lisa Sharon Harper, Shane Claiborne, Randall Balmer, Ron Sider, Andrew Lucado, Rob Schenk, and others discussing abortion. Today I realized that this conversation took place just before the 2020 elections. Some of […]

Jordan Peterson is retiring from the University of Toronto.

John Fea   |  January 24, 2022

I am sure the 59-year-old psychology professor and critic of the “radical postmodern left” doesn’t need his University of Toronto salary. I imagine he can live a pretty comfortable life on speaking-fees alone. What does Peterson’s decision to leave his […]

What is going on with NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton?

John Fea   |  January 24, 2022

Gonzaga University suspended Stockton’s season tickets because he will not wear a mask to games. Next to Bing Crosby, Stockton is the most famous graduate of the Jesuit school in Spokane, Washington. Here is ESPN: Gonzaga has suspended John Stockton’s men’s […]

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