Here is the Associated Press: The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor. The vote by the convention’s Executive Committee […]
Archives for 2023
Randall Balmer on the closing of his alma mater
On Monday we called your attention to the closing of Trinity College, the undergraduate college of Trinity International University. In that piece I noted that Randall Balmer, a religion professor at Dartmouth College and one of our best chroniclers of […]
Asbury University revival roundup: February 21, 2023 (7:55PM)
Read all of these posts , including the original post (covering Day 1 to Day 3 of the revival), here. Asbury’s director of strategic communication: A reminder that Asbury University is an institution of higher education: The president of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary […]
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”: An annotation
Over at JSTOR Daily, Ed Simons offers an annotation of the famous 1741 sermon. A taste: Often remembered as the prototypical “fire and brimstone” sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” reflects the complicated religious background of eighteenth-century […]
Abraham Lincoln: Working class hero?
Everyone wants to claim Lincoln. Even socialists. Here is University of Arkansas history professor Matthew Stanley at Jacobin: Would Lincoln’s sincere hatred of the Slave Power have translated after the war to a critique of the Money Power and other […]
We now know that Fox News lied to its viewers about the 2020 election
I included this story in Sunday night’s odds and ends, but I wanted to call attention to it again. Here is Brian Stelter at The Atlantic; The other crucial metric Fox leaders were watching, of course, was the Nielsen ratings […]
The Author’s Corner with Kathleen M. Brown
Kathleen M. Brown is David Boies Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. This interview is based on her new book, Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race, and Rights in the Age of Abolition (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). JF: What […]
REVIEW: What Would Adam Smith Do?
There may be no satisfying answer to this question, says Glory Liu
Historical reflections on civilians and war one year into the invasion of Ukraine
Eleven years ago this month, I had the privilege of co-organizing (with the amazing Nicola Foote, a historian of Latin America and the Caribbean) a conference on civilians and warfare in world history. We eventually published an edited collection of […]
Asbury University revival roundup: February 20, 2023 at 11:05PM
Read all of these posts , including the original post (covering Day 1 to Day 3 of the revival), here. Christian influencer Alisa Childers: More from Samford University. And here: Krystle, a Pennsylvania resident, with a testimony: I hesitate to try and encapsulate […]
Trinity College in Deerfield, IL ends residential, in-person undergraduate education.
My first teaching job at a four-year college was at Trinity College in Deerfield, IL (now the undergraduate college of Trinity International University). Then history department chair Rick Pointer invited me to teach a course on European history from 1945 […]
Asbury University revival roundup: February 20, 2023 at 11:58AM
Read all of these posts , including the original post (covering Day 1 to Day 3 of the revival), here. Asbury University president Kevin Brown announces the new schedule change: Asbury University’s director of communication: The local NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky published […]
What is going on at Marymount University?
Marymount, a Catholic university in Arlington, Virginia, is eliminating degrees in theology and religious studies, philosophy, mathematics, art, history, sociology, English, economics, secondary education, and M.A. programs in English and the humanities. Ouch. Marymount University should now be considered a […]
Is Nikki Haley a Christian?
If she is not, she certainly wants to appeal to conservatives Christians. We’ve already discussed her decision to have John Hagee pray at her announcement rally. And we included these videos in today’s evangelical roundup. They are part of an […]
The Author’s Corner with Stephen Longenecker
Stephen Longenecker is Professor of History, Emeritus at Bridgewater College. This interview is based on his new book, Pulpits of the Lost Cause: The Faith and Politics of Former Confederate Chaplains during Reconstruction (University of Alabama Press, 2023). JF: What […]
Evangelical roundup for February 20, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical Land?: For those interested in the Asbury Revival, we are covering it extensively here. More on Latino evangelicals in Florida who are trying to get Ron DeSantis to take a man off death row. Charlie […]
FORUM: Bring on the Bazaar
Thanks to books, fascination and satisfaction are nearer than you think
The war in Ukraine and the struggle over cynicism
This Friday, February 24th, will mark the one-year anniversary since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Several posts on this blog this week, therefore, will reflect on different aspects of this war. It’s very curious how negatively some […]
Asbury University revival roundup: February 19, 2023 (9:30pm)
Read all of these posts , including the original post (covering Day 1 to Day 3 of the revival), here. Asbury President Kevin Brown. Live streaming will begin. He also addresses claims that Asbury is trying to end the revival. Here is the […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: African American historian Henry Louis Gates has a word for Ron DeSantis. Mary Wollstonecraft on marriage. Inside Fox News on the night of the 2020 presidential election. And here. And […]