As I have said a few times here at this blog, I am not a soccer fan. But I enjoyed watching this year’s World Cup. After viewing the final match between Argentina and France I texted my daughter, a student […]
Evangelical roundup for December 19, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical Land? The Church of England Evangelical Council gives thanks. More on the National Association of Evangelicals support for an expanded child tax credit. Jim Walls on it here. Roger Olson on fundamentalism. Evangelical Christianity is […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Fatigue Philip Rieff, therapeutic culture, and illiberalism We need more book reviews. Democracy depends on it. George Will on the University of Austin and intellectual diversity Will the Trump-era end […]
Goodbye Roger Taney
Earlier this week my U.S. history survey students answered a final exam essay question on the short-term causes of the American Civil War. I haven’t graded their essays yet, but if their blue books do not contain something about Roger […]
The original message behind the American Christmas was not very evangelical
Historian Daniel K. Williams, a Current contributing editor, explains in a recent piece at Christianity Today. A taste: Conservative evangelical Christians have sometimes been eager advocates of the modern campaign to “keep Christ in Christmas” and preserve the traditional religious meaning of […]
Remembering Grant Wahl
As I said in an earlier post, I had not read much of Grant Wahl’s soccer journalism until after his death last week. Over at Jacobin, journalist Abe Asher offers a tribute. Here is a taste of “For Grant Wahl, […]
Christopher Hitchens: “an Ă©migrĂ© from England come to the New World to tell us what the universal words of our Declaration meant, and hold us to them.”
Check out Matt Johnson’s piece on the late Christopher Hitchens at The Bulwark. The piece is excerpted from Johnson’s forthcoming book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment. Here is a taste: In […]
“Sing a Song!” Bob McGrath and American music
I lost myself last night following every link in historian Kathryn Ostrofsky‘s essay on the late Sesame Street actor Bob McGrath. (It was a wonderful distraction from grading blue books!) Ostrofsky shows how McGrath brought “old music” to a new […]
What is popular this week at Current?
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:
Trump trading cards are here!
Do your kids want baseball cards for Christmas? Why get them sports cards when you can get them Trump cards instead? And they are only $99.00.! (Granted, these cards cost twice as much as a 2022 complete factory set of […]
What to expect in the new JFK files
New files will release today. Here is Philip Shenon, the author of a book on the JFK assassination, at Politico: For this nation’s army of conspiracy theorists, few long-secret government documents have whipped up so much suspicion in the 59 […]
Claudine Gay will be the 30th president of Harvard University
Here is The Harvard Crimson: Claudine Gay will serve as the 30th president of Harvard University, becoming the first person of color to hold the school’s top post, the University announced Thursday, concluding a five-month search. Gay, the current dean […]
Evangelical roundup for December 15, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical Land: Evangelicals and celebrity. Megan Lively, the woman who called out Southern Baptist sexual abuse. The evangelical megachurch pastor who attended the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act. The National Association of Evangelicals on […]
Respecting the Respect for Marriage Act
Evangelicals should stop trying to legislate morality for the nation and tend to their own house
The A.P. Hill statue near Richmond comes down
The statue of the Confederate general was Richmond’s last city-owned Confederate statue. Here is a taste of Paul Waldman’s piece at The Washington Post: The Lost Cause is dying with a whimper. For that, thank the committed activists who made […]
Bookforum will cease publication
I checked Bookforum a couple times of week to prepare for our weekly “Sunday Night Odds and Ends.” The editors didn’t cover much history, politics, or religion, but I often found something worth reading. Sad to see it go. Here […]
Did George Washington fear he would be buried alive?
I saw this tweet today from presidential historian Michael Beschloss: So I looked it up. Here is a taste of the entry on Washington’s death from the Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington, published by The Fred W. Smith National Library […]
Christianity Today announces its 2023 book awards
Here you go: Book of the Year: Uche Anizor, Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care Apologetics and Evangelism: Glen Scrivener, The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality […]
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If you read our mission statement you will learn that: Current is an online journal of commentary and opinion that provides daily reflection on contemporary culture, politics, and ideas. We seek to ground ourselves in the broad tradition of American democracy—a tradition […]
Eugene Robinson on sportswashing
I am not much of a soccer fan, but I have enjoyed following the World Cup. I was skeptical about holding the event in November and December (it was held at this time because of the excruciating Qatar heat), but […]