Love big. Love hard. With risks intact.
Archives for June 2024
Cornerstone University fires tenured professors and terminates all humanities and arts programs
I recently finished Rick Ostrander’s memoir focused on his career in evangelical higher education. Among Rick’s many stops in Christian college leadership was Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served as provost at the university from 2009 to 2015. […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: George Packer visits Phoenix Regina Munch reviews Nathan Perl-Rosenthal’s The Age of Revolutions and the Generations Who Made It. What does J.D. Vance believe? The Joey Chestnut controversy The EP […]
CURRENT contributor Paul Luikart releases a new book of storiesĀ
From the J. New Books website: Paul Luikartās The Realm of the Dog is a collection of stories. Masterfully written portraits of life; the mundane, the dangerous, the stark light of revelation, the dead and dying, hatred, love, and laughter. […]
Evangelical blast from the past
Source: Lancaster (PA) New Era, November 19, 1976. And for those who clicked on this post, here is a bonus from Campolo’s 1976 Congressional campaign. A “‘good man that nobody owns”: Source: The Pottstown (PA) Mercury, November 1, 1976.
This may be the best thing I have read on Trump
Back in June 2017, I wrote a post that linked to Rebecca Solnit‘s piece on Donald Trump titled “The Loneliness of Donald Trump.” At the time I said that “this may be the best thing I have read on Trump.” […]
Is for-profit journalism sustainable?
The editors of Current talk about this all the time and we hope to make some of our own news on this front soon. In the meantime, Stephen Prager makes some good points in his recent piece at Current Affairs […]
Bill Russell International Airport?
I am completely on board with Mark Leibovich’s proposal to change the name of Logan Airport to Bill Russell Airport. Leibovich make’s his argument today at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: Naming the airport for Russell would send a […]
The 70th anniversary of “under God”
Happy Flag Day! Seventy years ago today–June 14, 1954–the words “under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Kaylor has the full story at Baptist News Global. Here is a taste: George Docherty was a progressive Presbyterian ministerĀ serving […]
The Author’s Corner with John K. Bardes
John K. Bardes is Assistant Professor of History at Louisiana State University. This interview is based on his new book, The Carceral City: Slavery and the Making of Mass Incarceration in New Orleans, 1803-1930 (University of North Carolina Press, 2024). […]
What is popular this week at CURRENT?
Here are the most popular features of the week atĀ Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week atĀ The Way of Improvement Leads HomeĀ blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week atĀ The ArenaĀ blog:
REVIEW: Manhood, Patriarchy, and Father Time
A new study reveals what evolutionary biology canāand canātāillumine about fatherhood
This summer: low in cost, high in fun
Yes, activities that are low-cost but offer much fun are possible this summer!
What was it like to be Joan Didion’s personal assistant?
Here is a taste of an excerpt of Cory Leadbeater’s memoir, The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: In the fall of 2013, my days and nights were wonderful and simple. I would wake in the morning to find […]
Rudy Giuliani to MAGA evangelicals: Fani Willis is a “ho”
Back in 2007, when Rudy Giuliani was a front-runner for the GOP nomination for President of the United States, evangelicals tried to stop him. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said that he could […]
Southern Baptists offer Trump advice on his VP pick
Politico reporters Adam Wren and Megan Messerly asked Southern Baptist messengers in Indianapolis who they think Trump should pick as his running mate. Here is a taste of their piece: āI think evangelicals will generally, by and large, vote for […]
Ishmael Reed to Cornel West: “Are you sure you want to help install a dictatorship?”
The work of Ishmael Reed got on my radar screen after he started criticizing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton. In fact, Reed was so critical of Hamilton that he wrote an entire play titled The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda (2019). […]
Rick Reilly wants to fly the American flag
The other day I got a letter in the mail from a Christian non-profit organization that included a tiny American flag on a stick. I took it outside and planted it in a small flower patch in front of my […]
Trump court evangelical Mark Burns advances to a runoff for the GOP nomination in South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District
Readers of this blog know pastor Mark Burns. In July 2016, he offered a prayer at the GOP National Convention. He asked God to defeat the “liberal democrats” and said that the Republican Party is the “conservative party under God.” […]
Anti-abortion advocates want to keep a federal ban on abortion in the GOP platform despite Trump’s views
Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, believes that the issue of abortion in a post-Roe v. Wade America should be decided by the states. In other words, he does not support a federal ban on abortion. But here’s […]