Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: FORUM: The End of Roe, Day One John Fea, “My Grandmother’s Patriotism“ FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Four David Tucker, “Should We Be Impolite? FORUM: The End of Roe, […]
Never Mastrianos
Here is a taste of a recent piece at The Philadelphia Inquirer: A group of Pennsylvania Republicans with long records in government and politics will form a super PAC Wednesday to support state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee […]
Commonplace Book #218
A man born with a political vocation cannot succeed in adapting himself to normal life, and sooner or later he will fund his predestined way. As he pushes forward, everything else will become a matter of indifference to him and […]
Are Supreme Court justices, in their capacity as Supreme Court justices, praying with evangelical pro-lifers?
Here is Kara Vought and Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone: At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell […]
Evangelical roundup for July 7, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Will Wheaton College remove J. Oliver’s Buswell’s name from its library? An evangelical on why evangelicals need to care more about inequality. The Anxious Bench blog gets a new editor Tim Keller is a […]
Commonplace Book #217
The sight of me with my sister tapped one of their deepest feelings: that of a blood relationship which was all the more intense since they had so little attachment to either religion or the State. It was not that […]
I am truly humbled that you are reading Current
Don’t get me wrong–I am humbled that you are reading our work here at Current. I would be even more humbled if you became a patron. But the title of this post plays off of David Brooks’s recent piece at […]
The Washington Post calls for a criminal investigation into Trump’s role on January 6th
Here is the July 2 editorial: After another week of riveting testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee, it is natural to wonder: How many laws were broken, by whom, and will there be prosecutions? Some argue that former president Donald Trump […]
Episode 42: “The Culture of Life”
Abortion and the final days of the 2004 election Episode 42: “The Culture of Life” 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 like what […]
The impending disaster
Yascha Mounk, a political scientist at The Johns Hopkins University and defender of liberal democracy, lists five reasons why the United States may be heading for disaster. They are: “Trump is Anti-Democratic” “A Second Trump Term Would Be More Dangerous […]
Abortion, the Supreme Court, and the uses of history
Below is a taste of Carlos Lozado’s piece at The Washington Post. It is one of the better things I have read on Dobbs. …One of the sharpest divides in the Supreme Court’s abortion rulings is over history — what […]
Commonplace Book #216
To the peasants of Lucania Rome means very little; it is the capital of the gentry, the center of a foreign and hostile world. Naples has more right to be their capital, and in some ways it is; it is […]
“So many guns…people are reeling.” Thoughts on Highland Park
The shootings are getting closer to “home.” I live nearly 700 miles from Highland Park, Illinois, but I resided in this Chicago suburb for two important years of my life. From 1992-1994 I lived at a now defunct synagogue in […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Historian Robert Caro and his editor Michael Brenes reviews Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and Its Discontents Historians and creative liberties. A trip to an antiquarian book fair The responsibility of pro-lifers […]
Thomas Jefferson: hero or villain?
The title of this post is not, primarily, a historical question. It is primarily a moral question. We should keep the complexity of the past in mind as we celebrate Independence Day. Check out early American historian’s Jack Rakove‘s recent […]
How private interests led the way on urban segregation in America
Historian Colin Gordon argues that the federal housing policies contributed to segregation in cities, but private interests led the way. Here is a taste of his piece at Dissent: Recent scholarship and reporting on racial disparities in the United States […]
Understanding the Supreme Court’s recent prayer in schools decision
The case is titled Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Here are the facts of the case for those who are just getting up to speed: Joseph Kennedy, a high school football coach, engaged in prayer with a number of students […]
“Slavery” or “involuntary relocation?”
Here is Brian Lopez at The Texas Tribune: A group of Texas educators have proposed to the Texas State Board of Education that slavery should be taught as “involuntary relocation” during second grade social studies instruction, but board members have […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: FORUM: The End of Roe, Day One FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Two FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Three FORUM: The End of Roe, Day Four John Fea, […]
It appears that Jerry Falwell Jr. was using Liberty University as a personal ATM
The 990 is an IRS tax form that provides the public with financial information about a nonprofit organization. Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Dan Bauman read Liberty University’s recent Form 1990 with a fine-tooth comb. Here is a taste of what […]