Sean Parnell is out. Dr. Mehmet Oz is in. Here is The Washington Post: Mehmet Oz, who rose to fame as “Dr. Oz” on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” said Tuesday he is launching a Republican campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania, […]
Another evangelical anti-vaxxer dies of COVID-19
His name is Marcus Lamb. Here is Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post: Marcus Lamb, founder of the large Christian network Daystar, died Tuesday after contracting the coronavirus. Lamb’s network during the pandemic has made the virus a huge focus, calling […]
Historian Lizabeth Cohen on why Americans love to shop
Here is the Harvard historian‘s recent interview with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly: KELLY: We’re glad to have you with us. I want to go back and try to figure out how this started that Americans became such champion consumers. And […]
How members of Congress used violence to silence their political adversaries
Joan E. Greve of The Guardian interviews Yale historian Joanne Freeman about violence in Congress. If any of my U.S. history survey students are reading this post, this is what we talked about in class yesterday. Here is a taste […]
Yet another student sues Liberty University for failing to investigate her rape
Last summer twelve former students and employees of Liberty University sued the school for “creating a campus environment where sexual assaults and rapes are forseeably more likely to occur than they would in the absence of Liberty policies.” Today we […]
Jill Lepore on the state of “society”
Here is a taste of the Harvard historian’s recent piece at The Guardian: In March 2020, Boris Johnson, pale and exhausted, self-isolating in his flat on Downing Street, released a video of himself – that he had taken himself – […]
Tweet of the Day
Andrew Wehrman nails it:
It’s “Giving Tuesday”! Why not consider joining Current‘s community of patrons?
In a recent survey of Current patrons we learned that some folks support the site in the way they would buy a subscription to a magazine or newspaper. Indeed, as a so-called “little magazine,” Current is a small business. (We […]
Current Associate Editor Felicia Wu Song publishes Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age
Congratulations to Felicia Wu Song, Professor of Sociology at Westmont College and Associate Editor of Current on the publication of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age (InterVarsity Press). Here is the IVP Press: We’re being […]
Lauren Boebert shows us what “Christian” politics looks like these days
Sadly, Lauren Boebert was elected to the Congress with the help of evangelical Christians. She loves God: She hates her neighbor: In case you haven’t heard, “Let’s Go Brandon” is code for “F— You, Joe Biden.”: And don’t forget this:
Pro-life feminism
Here is Tish Harrison Warren at The New York Times: We need to broaden the tent of feminism. If, in order to be a feminist, one cannot simply be against the oppression of women but also must affirm abortion or […]
Evangelical roundup for November 29, 2021
What is happening in Evangelical land? The old Trump court evangelicals are divided over vaccine mandates for soldiers. It looks like “Elite Evangelicalism” is now “Big Evangelicalism”: https://twitter.com/soli_Jesum/status/1464447507266682880 Chik-fil-A and the National Prayer Breakfast. Agreed: https://twitter.com/DeeringDyer/status/1464611534550745091 Kristin responds to her […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: A book banned in China and Texas. Thomas Jefferson and women The New Yorker interviews Allen Guelzo on Robert E. Lee AOC and “The Squad” vs. James Madison The benefits […]
What do we know about the Omicron variant?
“Almost nothing.” But it still warrants attention. Here is Katherine Wu at The Atlantic: Scientists around the world are still scrambling to gather intel on three essential metrics: how quickly the variant spreads; if it’s capable of causing more serious […]
How climate change is threatening the National Museum of American History
Some of the strongest critics of climate change policy are also some of the people most concerned about how our kids learn American history. Here is Chrisopher Flavelle at The New York Times: Nearly two million irreplaceable artifacts that tell […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Ellen Tucker, Good Teachers Don’t Preach Critical Race Theory Alan Jortner, I Can’t Believe McAuliffe’s Fundraising Emails Didn’t Win the Election Calvin Cummings, No Adults in the Room Daniel G. […]
Commonplace Book #201
I argue that the rhetoric of prophetic indictment is best understood as a sort of moral chemotherapy, a reaction to a potentially life-threatening distortion in ordinary, day-to-day moral discussion. Deliberative discourse is, in fact, that ordinary form of moral discussion. […]
What if Bruce Springsteen did a song about public transportation?
“Baby We Can Take the 1” Learn more about this video here.
The forgotten virtue of gratitude
Our annual Thanksgiving tradition here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. I wrote this Inside Higher Ed piece on gratitude in November 2008. I have had to remind myself of this piece a lot in the last couple of years.–JF It was a typical […]
Nick Saban rips on “self absorbed” Alabama fans
In case you haven’t seen this yet: Saban is probably right. But as far as “self-absorption” in college sports is concerned, I think there is enough to go around right now.