Artificial intelligence threatens our capacity to listen to others—and ourselves
Archives for December 2023
Shirley Hoogstra will retire as president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
Here is the press release: WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2023—The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (“CCCU”), the leading national voice of Christian higher education, today announced that Shirley Hoogstra is retiring as the president, effective on or before December […]
Evangelical roundup for December 18, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Iowa Kingmaker Bob Vander Plaats on why so many Iowa evangelicals are sticking with Donald Trump. Trump’s 25-year-old director of faith outreach in Iowa. An evangelical pastor is trying to stop political polarization in […]
Italian Christmas
Our culinary traditions can sustain us—when we need it most
Going Infinite, part II. Caring is hard
The challenges of caring for and about others are not unique to socially awkward crypto-kings.
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Illiberalism at The New York Times. Peter Gordon reviews Christina Morina’s The Invention of Marxism. Why are Lefists turning to the Right? And here. Tech titans are “bending a mysterious […]
The Christian nationalist agenda in four minutes and 11 points
Last night CSPAN aired my conversation with Tim Alberta, author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. If you don’t have time to watch the entire interview, or read Alberta’s book (I hope you do both, but it’s the […]
Trump tonight in New Hampshire: Immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”
Here is CNN: Former President Donald Trump doubled down on language condemned for its ties to White supremacist rhetoric, saying at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Saturday that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” The comments […]
Song of the Day
I like this Amy Grant rendition of the Philips Brooks Christmas classic: ” No ear may his coming, But in this world of sin Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in”
Ben Sasse: “Harvard, Princeton, and Yale were originally founded as seminaries. They are seminaries once again.”Â
While I probably wouldn’t call early Harvard, Princeton, and Yale “seminaries,” I take Ben Sasse‘s point. As some of you recall, Sasse left the United States Senate earlier this year and became president of the University of Florida. Here is […]
Remembering the Virginia Squires
I am a sucker for all things American Basketball Association. (Listen to my interview with historian Theresa Runstedtler about her book Black Ball: Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA). I was […]
A library for joy, sorrow, and reflection: 2023 with Current book reviews
A summary of the year with Current book reviews. Find our top 23 reviews for ’23, and more.
Sports historian Paul Putz takes his talents to Substack
He’s the best historian of Christianity and sports in the business and now he is taking his talents to Substack. Here is Baylor University historian Paul Putz‘s introduction to “The Spirit of the Game“: Ten years ago I enrolled in […]
Historians and other intellectuals remember J.G.A. Pocock
One of the greatest intellectual historians of the post-war area, J.G.A. Pocock, died this week at the age of 99. During graduate school I devoured Pocock’s work. His commitment to reading texts in their historical contexts continues to shape me […]
“A Very Special Christmas” turns 35
Did you know that The Pointer Sisters, Eurythmics, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Pretenders, John Mellencamp, Sting, Run-DMC, U2, Madonna, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Alison Moyet, and Stevie Nicks […]
What is popular this week at Current?
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:
Whose Riot Is This?
The Boston Tea Party at 250 is a vindication of democracy over autocracy
The wretched scum and villainy of higher education
As I write, the pressing controversy in higher education is the uneasy status of three presidents of elite universities, Elizabeth Magill of Penn, Claudine Gay of Harvard, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT. They are in the hotseat due to the […]
Is bad history protected under the free speech clause of the First Amendment?
I mentioned this story in today’s Evangelical Roundup, but I thought it deserved its own post. In case you missed it, David Barton, the political activist who uses the American past to promote his Christian Right agenda, is suing the […]
The GOP impeachment inquiry may have just sealed the 2024 presidential election for Joe Biden
In case you missed, the House of Representatives just voted to advance a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Even Mike Huckabee thinks the attempt to impeach Joe Biden is a very bad idea. He called it a “political […]