What is happening in Evangelical land? A word about the Evangelical roundup: An evangelical anthropologist, who happens to also be my colleague, reflects on the meaning of life in an age of educational technology. Mike Johnson and the evangelical persecution […]
Archives for 2023
REVIEW: Commentary? Or Contempt?
Toward a better ecology of news
Let’s get cynical
What if cynicism is the dumb guy’s version of being smart? Unable to construct any positive vision or defend any normative claims, he contents himself with tearing things down.
Brownstein: Democrats are performing better “at the polls than in the polls”
Here is Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic: Democrats yesterday continued to perform better at the polls than in the polls. Even as many Democrats have been driven to a near panic by a succession of recent polls showing President Joe Biden’s extreme vulnerability, the […]
The Author’s Corner with Matthew Ward
Matthew Ward is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Dundee. This interview is based on his new book, Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023). […]
LONG FORM: They Fill the Role of Flowers
A classic fantasy speaks to our deepest needs—in just its first four pages
Pro-lifers’ needless defeat in Ohio shows the dangers of refusing to listen
Lasting legal protections for the unborn will never come by ignoring the wishes of voters and attempting to subvert the majority. Instead, a consensus-minded coalition-building that is open to dialogue and compromise is the only way that a culture of life in public policy can be created. Â
1 in 3 “evangelical” or “born again” Christians supported a right to abortion in Ohio; pro-choice governor wins in red Kentucky
An NBC news exit poll shows that 32% of white “evangelical” or “born again” Christians voted to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Ohio constitution. As expected, 68% of white evangelicals opposed the measure, but I was surprised […]
Springsteen at “Stand Up for Heroes”
Last night the Boss played acoustic versions of “Addicted to Love” (live debut); “Dancing in the Dark”‘; “Power of Prayer”; “Working on a Highway.” Here is Chris Jordan at the Asbury Park Press: The Boss is back. Bruce Springsteen surprised […]
The pro-life movement has been “co-opted by GOP anti-abortion politics”
Bernard Prusak is the Raymond and Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics at John Carroll University. Commonweal has published his piece, “The Pro-Life Movement: Less Popular Than Ever?“, on the eve of the Ohio 1 abortion referendum. Here is a […]
Wendell Berry on the difference between “training” and “education”
I was reading in my commonplace book this morning and ran across this quote from Wendell Berry. It come from his essay “Discipline and Hope” published in the 1972 collection: A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural: Training is a […]
Walzer: “Oppressed people can do no wrong” is an “old, bad argument”
Veteran political theorist Michael Walzer has a word or two for his fellow leftists. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: After the Hamas attack on Israel October 7, an old, bad argument resurfaced. In the streets of […]
The party of nihilism
Nihilism: “the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.” Here is a taste of Peter Wehner’s recent piece at The New York Times titled “Republicans Have Chosen Nihilism”: Mr. [Allan] Bloom believed a truly […]
Episode 122: “Springsteen, Joel, and the American Century”
In his new book Bridge & Tunnel Boys, historian Jim Cullen discusses how Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen represented what he calls “the metropolitan sound of the American century.” In this episode of the podcast, we talk with Cullen about how Joel […]
The Author’s Corner with William C. Harris
William C. Harris is Professor Emeritus of History at North Carolina State University. This interview is based on his new book, Confederate Privateer: The Life of John Yates Beall (LSU Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Confederate Privateer? WH: […]
Keep an eye on Kentucky tonight
I’ll have my eye on several elections and referenda tonight. I am interested to see what happens with abortion in Ohio and I will be voting in the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court race. But I am most intrigued by the […]
Neighbors
The Holocaust seems suddenly near
Book launch interview: Pity for Evil: Suffrage, Abortion, and Women’s Empowerment in Reconstruction America
In their new book, Klem and McDowell tell the story of the early women’s rights activists’ opposition to abortion.
“I want to keep politics out of schools”
I’ve been doing some last minute homework before I enter the ballot box tomorrow. As I was researching my local school board candidates I was struck by how many of them use their platforms to say something like this: “Politics […]
The Author’s Corner with Peter Radan
Peter Radan is Honorary Professor of Law at Macquarie University. This interview is based on his new book, Creating a More Perfect Slaveholders’ Union: Slavery, the Constitution, and Secession in Antebellum America (University Press of Kansas, 2023). JF: What led you to write […]