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John Fea

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

Arizona State University hosts “Humanities Week”

John Fea   |  September 17, 2022

I love this! We do something similar at Messiah University, but not to this extent. Here is the ASU press release: This fall, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University will host a collection of inspiring and high-impact […]

“That’s September baseball when you’re in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization right now.”

John Fea   |  September 17, 2022

I’ve been watching baseball for half a century and have never seen anything like this. It happened in the Mets-Pirates game last night. I watched the entire game and never noticed this. The Pirates are 55-90 and are currently in […]

Bill Maher defends AHA president James Sweet and it is hilarious

John Fea   |  September 17, 2022

“Being woke is like a magic moral time machine where you judge everybody against what you would have done in 1066 and you always win.”–Bill Maher Yes, of course the past informs the present. But that is only part of […]

There is a historical precedent for Ron DeSantis’s sending of aslyum-seeking Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

John Fea   |  September 16, 2022

In case you missed it, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, as part of a political stunt, just put a group of Venezuelan migrants on a plane and sent them to Martha’s Vineyard. Here is CNN: Two planes carrying migrants were sent by Florida […]

What is popular this week at Current?

John Fea   |  September 16, 2022

Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Marvin Olasky, “LONG FORM: A Wrinkle in Journalism History“ Timothy Larsen, “Prayers Answered: God Saved the Queen“ Michael Feldberg, “The Traitors We Honor in Arlington“ Edward Song, “Conservatism 2.0: National […]

Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

John Fea   |  September 16, 2022

On the common agenda of Seven Mountain Dominionists and National Conservatives

Episode 47: What Are “Moral Issues?”

John Fea   |  September 15, 2022

And does the Christian Right have a sole claim on them? Episode 47: “What Are ‘Moral Issues?’” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you […]

Evangelical roundup for September 15, 2022

John Fea   |  September 15, 2022

What is happening in Evangelical land? Young evangelicals saving the planet. And here. Caribbean evangelicals remember Queen Elizabeth. UK evangelicals remember Queen Elizabeth. A Christian college committed to diversity. Swiss evangelicals urge “tolerance and respect” in abortion debates. Rich Mullins: […]

Priests in cars in Milwaukee

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Over JSTOR Daily, Livia Gershon, with the help of historian Peter Cajka, explains how the automobile changed Milwaukee Catholicism. Here is a taste: With the rise of cars, and especially after 1945, these boundaries loosened. Many Catholics moved out of […]

What can the United States learn from Italy’s abortion policy?

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Here is Massimo Faggioli at Commonweal: Legge 194 (or “The 194,” as Italians call it), which the Italian Parliament passed in 1978, allows women to receive abortions through the first ninety days of pregnancy, after getting counseling in a public […]

Queen Elizabeth as a religious leader

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Penn’s Anthea Butler reflects on Elizabeth’s legacy. Here is a taste of her piece at MSNBC: “As a religious leader, Queen Elizabeth II was consistent but willing to adapt.” In his first remarks after the death of his mother, Queen […]

How the British monarch defies modernity

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Here is Sebastian Milbank at the British website The Critic: In an increasingly secular and individualist world, it is very rare to see people who have given over their lives to a calling or vocation that swamps and overshadows their […]

Is an Article V rewriting of the U.S. Constitution in the near future?

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

It’s possible. Here is historian James Banner at The Bulwark: Radical conservative activists are working with Republican state legislators to trigger an extraordinary special convention to rewrite the Constitution of the United States. The possibility of it actually happening is […]

A Philadelphia man walks 400 miles to honor Harriet Tubman

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Over at NBC News, Claretta Bellamy tells the story of Kenneth Johnston. Here is a taste: Kenneth Johnston of West Philadelphia always had a deep appreciation for Harriet Tubman and her work of freeing enslaved Black people. But instead of […]

The FBI on the trail of Aretha Franklin

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Nina Corcoran and Jazz Monroe explain at Pitchfork: The FBI has declassified its file on the late Aretha Franklin. The document, which spans 270 pages and includes reports from more than a dozen states, shows that the FBI extensively tracked Franklin’s civil […]

How Lindsey Graham’s abortion bill is sure to backfire on the GOP

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Wait, I thought conservatives wanted the people in the states to decide abortion law. Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza of Politico explain: After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, most Republicans stuck to a simple message: The decision merely […]

“A love of reading.” Now there’s a college general education outcome we can all get behind.

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Here is community college dean Matt Reed at Insider Higher Education: Love of reading isn’t all puppies and unicorns, of course. We have a frightening number of books in the house, both on display and in boxes in the basement. […]

Removing the last vestiges of the Confederacy from the U.S. military will come with a price tag of $62 million

John Fea   |  September 14, 2022

Will that also include removing Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and former army colonel Doug Mastriano’s Confederate uniform? 🙂 Here is Alex Horton at The Washington Post; Removing the last vestiges of Confederate history from the U.S. military, including renaming nine Army posts, […]

Should we start preparing for a Ukrainian victory?

John Fea   |  September 13, 2022

While we were all watching coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the Ukrainian army was taking back towns occupied by Russian troops. Here is a taste of Anne Applebaum’s recent piece at The Atlantic: But even though the fighting may […]

Florida governor Ron DeSantis at Hillsdale College: “Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left’s schemes”

John Fea   |  September 13, 2022

It used to be just evangelical ministers and preachers who invoked spiritual warfare against “the Left.” Now politicians do it as well. Here is the Miami Herald ‘s Ana Ceballos on DeSantis’s recent visit to Hillsdale College, a liberal arts […]

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