This morning I am trying to reconcile two parts of a CNN story on Paul Ryan and the January 6, 2021 insurrection. First there is this: Former House Speaker Paul Ryan was “sobbing” as he watched the January 6, 2021, attack […]
Archives for July 2022
Michael Kazin compares the backlash to the overturning of Roe with the backlash to prohibition.
The Georgetown University historian of the American Left compares the backlash to Dobbs vs. Jackson with the backlash against prohibition in the 1920s. Here is a taste of his piece at The New York Times: Once the dry movement got […]
Michael Moore’s proposal for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Here is the documentary film maker’s proposal for a 28th Amendment. XXVIII AMENDMENT SECTION 1. The inalienable right of a free people to be kept safe from gun violence and the fear thereof must not be infringed and shall be protected by the Congress […]
Evangelical roundup for July 10, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Do evangelicals believe the Bible is “literally true?” Former World editor Marvin Olasky on Trump and evangelical journalism. Shane is heading to the White House. I hope he is careful about the power of […]
Nostalgia, Wokeness, and Fraggle Rock
If the world is full of change, should our childhoods remain the same?
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Why write? Where are all the first-generation academics? 19th-century quack medicine Make birth free All history is revisionist history The most pathetic men in America The history we need to […]
Albert Mohler: Christian nationalist
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently interviewed Israeli philosopher Yoram Hazony on his podcast. Hazony is the author The Virtue of Nationalism (2018) and the more recent Conservatism: A Rediscovery. Watch: Some highlights: 7:50ff: Hazony defines a […]
How you can support Current
We hope you have been enjoying Current this summer. If you haven’t done so already, check out our forum on the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I think the diversity of voices in this forum represents well the type of […]
Commonplace Book #220
Do you visualize the Italians of today as nurturing the traditions of Ancient Rome? Don’t delude yourself. A few years ago some Italian historians were arguing about the period in which the origin of their nation should be set. Some […]
Mets retire Keith Hernandez’s number
Number 17 goes up in the rafters alongside the numbers of Jackie Robinson (42), Casey Stengel (37), Gil Hodges (14), Tom Seaver (41), Jerry Koosman (36), and Mike Piazza (31). You know this is a big moment in the New […]
Commonplace Book #219
From the moment when the spark is struck that identifies the leader with the masses the dictator feels his strength increase at dizzying speed. Social identification is precisely that discriminatory process that causes the chosen to emerge from the flock […]
What is popular this week at Current
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: FORUM: The End of Roe, Day One John Fea, “My Grandmother’s Patriotism“ FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Four David Tucker, “Should We Be Impolite? FORUM: The End of Roe, […]
Notes from a Lurker
Think avoiding social media is wise? Try lurking instead.
Never Mastrianos
Here is a taste of a recent piece at The Philadelphia Inquirer: A group of Pennsylvania Republicans with long records in government and politics will form a super PAC Wednesday to support state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee […]
Commonplace Book #218
A man born with a political vocation cannot succeed in adapting himself to normal life, and sooner or later he will fund his predestined way. As he pushes forward, everything else will become a matter of indifference to him and […]
Are Supreme Court justices, in their capacity as Supreme Court justices, praying with evangelical pro-lifers?
Here is Kara Vought and Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone: At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell […]
Evangelical roundup for July 7, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Will Wheaton College remove J. Oliver’s Buswell’s name from its library? An evangelical on why evangelicals need to care more about inequality. The Anxious Bench blog gets a new editor Tim Keller is a […]
The Crisis of the Self-Made Catholic
Edicts from above are not sufficient. But they may be necessary.
Commonplace Book #217
The sight of me with my sister tapped one of their deepest feelings: that of a blood relationship which was all the more intense since they had so little attachment to either religion or the State. It was not that […]
I am truly humbled that you are reading Current
Don’t get me wrong–I am humbled that you are reading our work here at Current. I would be even more humbled if you became a patron. But the title of this post plays off of David Brooks’s recent piece at […]