Archives for August 2023

What is popular this week at Current?

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Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:

What I am reading: how Gloria Mark broke my heart

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Ben Christenson writes from Virginia where he lives with his family and four pets. His writing has appeared in Front Porch Republic, The Federalist, and The Symbolic World among others. More at: benjaminchristenson.com I am a sucker for self-help books. You know the type: punchy […]

The Author’s Corner with Drew Swanson

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Drew Swanson is Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt Distinguished Professor of Southern History at Georgia Southern University. This interview is based on his new book, A Man of Bad Reputation: The Murder of John Stephens and the Contested Landscape of North […]

Evangelical roundup for August 24, 2023

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What is happening in Evangelical land? How Tim Keller influenced British evangelicals. White evangelicals and Vivek Ramaswamy. What are evangelicals thinking about as the 2024 election approaches. Shane is still chopping: White evangelicals trust Trump. Young evangelical climate activists. The […]

Who’s to blame?

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Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;They shall not be ashamed,But shall speak with their enemies in the […]

Tonight’s GOP debate: Winners, losers, and Vivek

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My favorite tweet about Vivek Ramaswamy’s performance at tonight’s GOP debate came from conservatvie William Kristol: Vivek Ramaswamy has no political experience. Tonight it showed: Ramaswamy’s schtick works well on cable news, but tonight he made every candidate on the […]

The GOP candidates debate abortion tonight

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The GOP presidential candidates came out swinging tonight: Once these candidates got their prepared zingers out of the way, they settled down to have a fairly civil debate on abortion. (This may be becacuse the loud-mouthed Vivek Ramaswamy was not […]

Jenna Ellis jumped on the Trump train. Now she has a mug shot.

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Jenna Ellis is perhaps the best example of an evangelical Christian who built her entire career and public persona around Donald Trump. No one knew who she was before 2017,. She was homeschooled, attended Cedarville University (she later transfered to […]

The Author’s Corner with William Riddell

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William Riddell is  Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. This interview is based on his new book, On the Waves of Empire: U.S. Imperialism and Merchant Sailors, 1872-1924 (University of Illinois Press, 2023). JF: What led […]

Historicism vs. Darwinism: which was more dangerous?

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This essay previous ran on The Anxious Bench on 08/22/2023. Historicism was a greater challenge than Darwinism to some late 19th-Century evangelicals’ Christian faith. If you ask the average educated American Christian what new academic idea presented the greatest challenge […]

Episode 116: “Historical Thinking for a Democracy”

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If you’ve listened to this podcast over the years you know that we champion “historical thinking” as one of our best hopes for sustaining and preserving American democratic life. In this episode we talk with Zachary Cote, the Executive Director […]

Fern Creek Baptist Church stands by its female pastor

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Some of you may remember that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) ousted Fern Creek Baptist Church earlier this year because the church had a female pastor. The Louisville congregation, located in the same city as Albert Mohler’s complementarian Southern Baptist […]

The Author’s Corner with William Cossen

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William Cossen is a teacher in the Social Studies Department at The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology​. This interview is based on his new book, Making Catholic America: Religious Nationalism in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Cornell University […]