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John Fea

John Fea is Executive Editor of CURRENT and the author of The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog.

Can liberal professors save the GOP by teaching the best of the conservative tradition?

John Fea   |  March 23, 2023

Check out Claremont-McKenna College political scientist Jon Shields New York Times piece on conservative thought in American colleges and universities. A taste: Every year I ask my students, most of whom are quite liberal, to read books in this conservative […]

Is the MAGA movement really populism?

John Fea   |  March 23, 2023

Grove City College historian Gillis Harp asks this question and provides some historical context today at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Here is a taste: Is Donald Trump’s “MAGA” movement real populism? Is it a genuinely democratic movement that truly works to benefit common […]

Evangelical roundup for March 23, 2023

John Fea   |  March 23, 2023

What is happening in Evangelical land? D.G. Hart on the Asbury revival. Evangelicals and Lent Coming soon: George W. Bush sends Bible verses to his kids. What is happening at Northern Seminary? More here. Who will win the CCM March […]

Ron DeSantis is heading to Liberty University

John Fea   |  March 22, 2023

A visit to the Liberty University convocation has become a rite of passage for GOP presidential candidates. (Remember Donald Trump’s “Two Corinthians” blunder?) Florida governor Ron DeSantis is obviously aware of this. He will be at Liberty next month. Here […]

“Prophet” Lance Wallnau: Steve Bannon should speak in tongues and the Trump family should be “Charismatic Pentecostals”

John Fea   |  March 22, 2023

Lance Wallnau has been on a roll of late. Some of you know Wallnau. He’s the guy who: He now wants to win MAGA “thought leaders” to Pentecostalism: Wallnau recently spoke at the “Fire and Glory Live” event. Here is […]

Trump calls into the “Pastors for Trump” prayer call

John Fea   |  March 22, 2023

Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and Donald Trump participated in a “prayer call” Monday night with Jackson Lahmeyer and the Pastors for Trump movement. Some of you may remember Lahmeyer as the 2022 Senate candidate who tried to unseat Jim Lankford […]

“It’s possible that up to a third of students at evangelical colleges are not physically at their schools.”

John Fea   |  March 22, 2023

Michael Wear gets it right: Some of us are taking it seriously–very seriously. But as I have said over and over again, most Christian colleges are now in the business of making sure that they keep the doors open. This […]

On the privileged progressives who preach anti-racism

John Fea   |  March 21, 2023

Over at Christian Century, a liberal Protestant magazine, Baylor University ethicist Jonathan Tran argues that “privileged progressives have turned their attention from structures and systems to sentimentalism.” Here is a taste of his piece: Detached from practiced commitments and practical […]

The men who may have sabotaged Jimmy Carter’s re-election

John Fea   |  March 21, 2023

In 1980 former Texas governor and presidential candidate John B. Connally, and former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes, traveled to Middle Eastern capitals urging the region’s leaders to tell Iran not to release the American hostages until after that year’s […]

George W. Bush saved 25 million lives

John Fea   |  March 21, 2023

Watch this video atThe New York Times.

Michael Walzer on “liberal” as an adjective

John Fea   |  March 21, 2023

Close readers of this blog will recall that I recently added some quotes from Michael Walzer to my commonplace book. The quotes come from Walzer’s latest book The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective. Walzer is […]

Sunday night odds and ends

John Fea   |  March 19, 2023

A few things online that caught my attention this week: Lincoln’s hair Robert Kaiser reviews Benjamin Carp, The Great New York Fire of 1776 The local paper The social significance of the Harlem Globetrotters The “new, new” social conservatives don’t […]

Commonplace Book #250

John Fea   |  March 18, 2023

Debs’s call for united political action and, to a limited degree, unified economic organization…in no way reflected a growing class awareness on his part. Rather, his increasing anger drew strength and justification from a specific American tradition that stressed economic […]

A massive blob is coming for Ron DeSantis!

John Fea   |  March 18, 2023

But is it “woke”? 🙂 OK, the blob is not coming specifically for DeSantis. But it is coming for Florida. Here is Jackie Wattles at CNN: A gargantuan mass of seaweed that formed in the Atlantic Ocean is headed for […]

When Billy Sunday came to town…

John Fea   |  March 17, 2023

Grocers closed: So did “Ready-Pay” stores: Tea-rooms stayed open: Automobiles were needed: So were special trains: People climbed through roofs and windows: Lumber was sold: New bleachers were erected at fair grounds: Executions were witnessed: Ice cream was named: Labor […]

On the “fuzzy border” between history and journalism

John Fea   |  March 17, 2023

As a trained historian who serves as the co-founder and executive editor of an online website of opinion, I resonated with New York Times reporter Clay Risen’s recent piece at Perspctives on History: “Professional Crafts: The Fuzzy Border between History […]

How U.S. history textbook publishers are catering to Florida’s “anti-woke” laws

John Fea   |  March 17, 2023

Here is a taste of Sarah Mervosh’s piece at The New York Times: In an attempt to cater to Florida, at least one publisher made significant changes to its materials, walking back or omitting references to race, even in its […]

Why were so many cows mutilated in the 1970s?

John Fea   |  March 17, 2023

Head over to Livia Gershon’s piece at JSTOR Daily to learn more about the 1970s “cow mutilation mystery” and the work of historian Michael J. Goleman. Here is a taste: In the 1970s, ranchers all over the country began reporting […]

What is popular this week at Current?

John Fea   |  March 17, 2023

Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:

Can Republicans beat Biden in 2024?

John Fea   |  March 16, 2023

Rich Lowry, the editor in chief of the conservative National Review, thinks Republicans are “delusional if they think Biden will be easy to beat.” Here is a taste of his piece at Politico: At this juncture, no one else in […]

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