“Each one of us has his little communication to make, a restricted one, and from all these communications the readers can choose.”
Archives for March 2022
Report: Russian government tells its media to puff Tucker Carlson
David Corn of the progressive magazine Mother Jones is reporting that the Russian government has urged media outlets in the country to feature clips of Tucker Carlson. Here is Corn: On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities […]
The Author’s Corner with Gene Zubovich
Gene Zubovich is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Buffalo. This interview is based on his new book, Before the Religious Right: Liberal Protestants, Human Rights, and the Polarization of the United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). JF: […]
Evangelical roundup for March 14, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Christians who enabled Putin. Evangelical worship pastor Sean Feucht does not appear interested in a fourth COVID-19 shot: God and Trumpism unite at Trump’s new site, Truth Social: A call for Russian Bonhoeffers. Eric […]
Making The Great Resignation Great Again
The hope of better work requires radical reorientation
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Cancel culture, 1832 style. A writer talks about fear of professional exile if she writes about certain topics. A socialist critiques the U.S. National WWII Museum What can we learn […]
A critic of critical race theory says the campaign against CRT is “abhorrent and dangerous and deeply disturbing”
Randall Kennedy is a Harvard law professor and author. He recently talked with Nathan J. Robinson, editor of Current Affairs, about his new book Say It Out Loud : On Race, Law, History, and Culture. Here is a taste of […]
Episode 97: “In Search of George Washington’s Hair”
Using America’s obsession with Washington’s hair as his window, historian Keith Beutler examines how “physicality,” or the use of the material objects, was the most important way early Americans (1790-1840)–museum founders, African Americans, evangelicals, and school teachers– remembered the nation’s […]
Christian leaders write an open letter to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill
The letter, was initiated by Jim Wallis of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, asks the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to “use your voice and profound influence to call for an end to the hostilities and war […]
Andrew Sullivan on the post-liberal Right’s Putin problem
Earlier this week at Current I wrote about the conservative nationalists who love Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and (to a lesser extent to be sure) Russian president Vladimir Putin. These critics of American liberalism are in a tough spot these […]
Religion News Service covers the Grove City College CRT debate
Here is a taste of Kathryn Post’s piece: Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology who signed the second faculty letter, told Religion News Service that some faculty are unsure how to respond to the board’s rejection of critical race theory […]
Was West Ford the enslaved son of George Washington?
Who was West Ford? What was his relationship to George Washington? (Teaser: He was not his son). What role did Ford play at Mount Vernon? Jill Abrahamson covers it all in a recent piece at The New Yorker. Here is […]
Penn Today features Emma Hart, new director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies
We covered this back in June 2020, but Penn Today is finally getting around to covering the appointment of Emma Hart, the new director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. (She has also appeared at The Author’s Corner!) […]
What is happening these days on Russian TV?
A lot of pro-Putin propaganda. Olga Khazan is watching so we don’t have to. Here is a taste of her recent piece at The Atlantic: To get a sense of what Russians are told about the war, I fired up […]
Cornel West talks with The New Yorker
The noted moral philosopher talked with Vinson Cunningham of The New Yorker. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that covers seminary students, Harvard, public philosophy, his forthcoming Gifford Lectures, Barack Obama, Democratic Socialists of America, free speech, American imperialism, Ukraine, and grief. […]
Johann Neem “walks among the ruins” of the modern university
Some of you may recall our conversation with Johann Neem in Episode 54 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. In that episode we talked with the Western Washington University historian about his book What’s the Point of College. […]
Springsteen: The E Street Band will return “pretty soon”
Great news for Springsteen fans. Here is Eric Hillis at Nova: Bruce Springsteen has told fans they will see the return of the E Street Band “pretty soon.” On Wednesday Springsteen phoned the E Street Radio show and spoke about […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: John Fea, “American Evangelicals and Ukraine“ Robert Erle Barham, “Neighborhood Watch“ Jay Case, “Coca-Cola and Authenticity: What’s Not to Like?“ John Fea, “Putin’s Holy War and the Americans Who Like […]
Kenneth Jackson reviews Jon Butler’s God in Gotham
One of the late 20th-century’s foremost historians of New York City reviews one of the late 20th-century’s foremost religious historians. Here is a taste of Jackson’s review of Butler‘s God in Gotham: The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan: When […]
The Author’s Corner with David Sehat
David Sehat is Professor of History at Georgia State University. This interview is based on his new book, This Earthly Frame: The Making of American Secularism (Yale University Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write This Earthly Frame? DS: […]