Believe it or not, there is another GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday night. This one is at the University of Alabama. Are people still watching these things? (I mean people other than political junkies like me?) The field is […]
Archives for December 2023
Liz Cheney, one of the most conservative politicians in the United States, is pulling for Democrats in 2024
Here is Kelly Garrity at Politico: Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney would rather cede power to Democrats than see members of her own party win in 2024, she said, calling a Republican majority a “threat,” and warning of an existential […]
Calvin University turns to football to help enrollment
The strategy appears to be working. Check out Liam Knox’s Inside Higher Education piece on small liberal arts colleges that are trying to “bet on new athletics programs” to attract students: Here is the section on Calvin University: Calvin University […]
History News Network is back with a new look and a new partner
Here is the formal announcement: History News Network (HNN) was founded in 2001 to help put current events into historical perspective. Its original mandate, as articulated by founder Rick Shenkman, was to create a space for historians to offer deeper […]
Here are the free national park days for 2024:
Learn more here.
Current contributing editor Vince Bacote asks, “how many sermons are people hearing” about “national idolatry?”
In his chapter on Wheaton College in his book The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, journalist Tim Alberta spoke with Wheaton theologian and Current contributing editor Vincent Bacote about evangelicalism, politics, and […]
PREVIEW: Conspiracy for Dinner
Aaron Burr recruits for an uprising in the West
A grim anniversary: John Brown’s execution
Brown’s legacy is complicated, to say the least. Men of the time who whole-heartedly approved his hanging just as sincerely revered his memory.
Is socialism undemocratic?
French philosopher Étienne Balibar does not think so. Here is a taste of his interview with Jacobin: The idea of liberty has itself been contested and challenged since its very origins in modern times because the very notion of “liberty” […]
Current contributing editor Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt receives a 2024 Christianity Today book award
Congratulations to Current contributing editor Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt! She received a Christianity Today “Award of Merit” in the “Culture and Arts” category for her book Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art. Here are the […]
“If Trump Wins”
The January/February issue of The Atlantic includes a forum titled “If Trump Wins.” It includes pieces by David Frum, Anne Applebaum, McKay Coppins, Caitlin Dickerson, Barton Gellman, Sophie Gilbert, Zoe Schlanger, and George Packer. Here is a taste of editor […]
The Author’s Corner with Zachary Brodt
Zachary Brodt is the University Archivist and Records Manager for the University of Pittsburgh Library System. This interview is based on his new book, From the Steel City to the White City: Western Pennsylvania and the World’s Columbian Exposition (University of […]
Chad Connelly: Those who criticize David Barton do not possess true Christian wisdom and “hate freedom.”
Over at Politico, Tim Alberta, author of the new book The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals In An Age of Extremism has published an excerpt from his book exposing “bogus historians” Chad Connelly and David Barton. Here […]
Evangelical roundup for December 4, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Tim Alberta on David Barton Red Letter Christians host a forum for evangelical pastors to ask “imperfect” questions about Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. Evangelicals support Biden on Israel, but disapprove of just […]
Useful fiction, practical literature?
War and literature weren’t only paired in the past, they co-exist in the present and may even be presently collaborating for the future.
The Case for Biden
Wisdom matters
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week 3 books on the therapeutic mindset Sandra Day O’Connor, RIP. And here. Five books to read about Sandra Day O’Connor. What is the value of the humanities? The world’s only […]
Episode 123: “Drew Gilpin Faust on Growing-Up at Midcentury”
She was a privileged baby boomer who grew up on a horse farm in segregated Virginia. By her twenty-first birthday she had worked for peace in Communist Europe, traveled the country in the cause of racial justice, marched for voting rights […]
It is dangerous “when the side that loses the debate cannot accept the result”
Yale historian David Blight from a 15-year-old lecture on the Dred Scott case and John Brown:
A Blessing of Unicorns: a weekly roundup
This week’s links roundup from the Arena blog at Current features the contest for Latin word of the year, Advent, and the many tragedies of war.