Recently, my eight-year-old son has become mildly obsessed with the nineteenth-century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Inspiring my son to write his own illustrated last will and testament, upon his death Bentham bequeathed his body to science, requesting that following a […]
Archives for September 2023
Will evangelicals turn on Trump after his “Meet the Press” abortion comments?
The evangelicals and politics angle to the 2024 election just got more interesting! Essentially, Trump is throwing the pro-life movement under the bus. He and his team believe that they can win in 2024 with a more moderate pro-life view […]
“And Pharaoh hardened his heart”: Will Donald Trump’s abortion claims on “Meet the Press” open a new lane for Ron DeSantis?
During the August 2023 GOP presidential debate, Nikki Haley said that Americans “need to stop demonizing” the issue of abortion. Watch: Most conservative evangelicals I know side with Pence in this debate. Haley repeated this argument over the weekend at […]
A Prayer before Study
Creator of all things,true Source of light and wisdom,lofty origin of all being,graciously let a ray of Your brilliancepenetrate into the darkness of my understandingand take from me the double darknessin which I have been born,an obscurity of both sin […]
The Author’s Corner with Peter Thompson
Peter Thompson is Sydney L Mayer Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Heir through Hope: Thomas Jefferson’s Lifelong Investment in William Short (Oxford University Press, 2023). JF: What […]
Evangelical roundup for September 18, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? The splintering of Canadian Reformed evangelicalism. DeSantis continues to try to make a dent in Trump’s support among evangelicals. Rhyne Putnam reviews Thomas McCall, The Doctrine of Good Works: Reclaiming a Neglected Protestant Teaching. […]
LONG FORM: Remembering the University’s Mission
The theater of the absurd has moved from the stage to the quad. Must it stay?
A common fund of knowledge
This essay was originally published in February 2023. In conjunction with the forum on higher education that is taking place at Current this week, we are re-running it, as it addresses a topic significant for conversations about education right now. […]
Fact-checking Trump on “Meet the Press”
In case you missed it, NBC News journalist Kristen Welker began her new gig as host of the “Meet the Press” with a Donald Trump interview. This morning NBC News published a piece fact-checking Trump: “Former President Donald Trump made […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: The current state of the academic history job market. Right-wing House Republican Ken Buck will not go along with McCarthy’s impeachment plans. David French on the battle over abortion. Drew […]
Os Guinness keeps pushing his faulty American Revolution vs. French Revolution thesis
Watch Christian commentator and author Os Guinness at the Family Research Council’s “Pray Vote Stand Summit”: Guinness sounds like an old Federalist–a defender of order. He, of course, is free to take such a position. But his view of the […]
Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn at Family Research Council event: “We are at war.”
I was recently talking to a conservative evangelical Christian who has read all of Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn‘s books. Cahn has a huge following in the certain sectors of the evangelical world. Back in 2019, The New York Times ran […]
When it comes to the MAGA media infrastructure, Lauren Boebert can do no wrong.
Get up to speed here and here. Watch a clip of Boebert’s recent interview with Dan Ball of One America News:
Environmentalism as the next pro-life movement?
According to Harvard’s Chika O. Okafor, the next pro-life argument will be green. Here is his piece at Lebanon (NH) Valley News:
Happiness guru Arthur Brooks is writing books with Oprah
I remember Arthur Brooks as the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank that champions free market solutions to social problems. Back in 2011 he came to Messiah University (the school where I teach) to debate Jim […]
Steven Mintz on “the left”
Over at Inside Higher Ed, historian Steven Mintz helps us make sense of the American left. Here is a taste of his piece, “What Does It Mean to Be a Leftist in 2023?“: Today, the left takes many different forms. […]
Lauren Boebert apologizes
A follow-up to this story. Sometimes you need to apologize to save your political life. Let’s see if she will apologize to the pregnant woman who asked her to stop vaping.
75% of Americans side with the United Auto Workers. Why aren’t more Americans in the streets as a show of support?
When the George Floyd was killed, Americans took the streets in protest. When Donald Trump was elected president, the #MeToo movement took the streets in protest. Why don’t we see similar uprisings in support of working class Americans fighting for […]
What’s going on at Charlie Kirk’s MAGA pastorfest?
MAGA pastors are in San Diego this weekend as part of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Faith event. Get up to speed here. Here’s what has happened so far: Let’s begin with Charlie Kirk. He is suggesting that evangelicals missed out […]
A blessing of unicorns: a weekly roundup
Many unicorns in one civilized place form a blessing for your Saturday. Here is this week’s herd, corralled all together: *** Louise Perry’s latest for First Things, “We Are Repaganizing,” is the most important thing I read this week. A […]