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The Arena

The text "The Arena" superimposed over a stylized image of the Roman Coliseum.

Ideas in progress: Joseph P. Slaughter on Christianity and gun culture

Joseph P. Slaughter   |  March 22, 2023

Joseph P. Slaughter is Assistant Professor of the Practice in Religion and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Guns and Society at Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut). The Arena caught up with him to pose some questions… What...

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Celebrating the book launch of Current contributing editor Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt: Redeeming Vision

Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt   |  March 21, 2023

Today is book launch day for Current Contributing Editor, Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt. Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning from Art, is now out from Baker Academic. Below, Dr. Weichbrodt tells us about her aims in writing...

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Freedom, financial and otherwise

Elizabeth Stice   |  March 20, 2023

These days, there are a lot of people pursuing “financial independence.” They want to retire at 40, they want to build “generational wealth,” they want to “never work another day in my life.” The spirit is everywhere, with inspiration from...

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The best mid-semester email you aren’t sending

Nadya Williams   |  March 17, 2023

The flowering pear tree in my driveway is in bloom, and the back deck of the house has turned yellow overnight from the pollen. This means that we have just passed the mid-semester point, and this week was time for...

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The fragmentation of evangelical politics

Daniel K. Williams   |  March 16, 2023

This week I traveled to Wheaton College to deliver a lecture titled “The Fragmentation of Evangelical Politics: What Happened – and How Can We Pick up the Pieces?” Here’s a brief excerpt from my presentation. Evangelicals are divided in their...

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Ideas in progress, Ides of March edition: featuring the work of four cutting-edge women ancient historians

Nadya Williams   |  March 15, 2023

So far, these “Ideas in progress” posts have been interviews. Today, however, in honor of both the Ides of March and Women’s History Month, I would like to do something different and highlight the exciting work of four different women...

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The unspoken vows of friendship

Nadya Williams   |  March 14, 2023

As the Roman Republic was facing its death throes and he himself was only months away from ignominious death, the legendary Roman politician and orator Cicero wrote what would become one of his most influential essays since antiquity: On Friendship....

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Different worldviews or different vantage points?

Elizabeth Stice   |  March 13, 2023

It can be incredible what a difference vantage points can make in our views of certain subjects. Consider differing opinions on the extent and significance of structural inequity versus the impact of individual choices. Some people believe that we generally...

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What I am reading: reflections on Vodolazkin and the joys of communal reading

Nadya Williams   |  March 10, 2023

Perhaps the first sensation you experience as you walk in is the smell. One way to describe it is musty, but that is not entirely it. It is not entirely unpleasant. The wooden walls of the old cabin have absorbed...

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Josh Butler’s TGC article was a failure for cultural apologetics — but it doesn’t have to be the last word

Daniel K. Williams   |  March 9, 2023

Amidst all of the commentary on Josh Butler’s now-withdrawn article on “God’s Vision for Sex” for The Gospel Coalition (TGC), one question has received little attention: What did the leaders of TGC hope to accomplish by promoting Butler’s book? Clearly,...

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How we talk about human life matters

Nadya Williams   |  March 8, 2023

What is a human life worth? And whose life is important? The news are filled with stories that reveal a callous and utilitarian worldview, one that instead of engaging with suffering and pain, judges the lives of the sufferers worth...

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Two new articles from Elizabeth Stice on higher education crises

Nadya Williams   |  March 7, 2023

Elizabeth Stice, whose blog posts you can read every Monday here, has two essays elsewhere this week that highlight two separate crises in higher education. The first piece ran at History News Network on Sunday. A few excerpts as a...

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Ideas in progress: Eric Miller on Wendell Berry and localism

Eric Miller   |  March 7, 2023

What is the focus of your current book project? What are the big questions that you are investigating and the main stories that you hope to tell in this book? My book’s working title is “A Strange and Abiding Hope:...

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Everything in season: why you will love and likely sometimes hate your alma mater

Elizabeth Stice   |  March 6, 2023

College is an interesting time. You get constant social approval for Chili’s and Taco Bell. Staying up all night to read Beowulf isn’t all that weird. You worry about “printer money” and parking and what you’re doing for spring break....

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What I am reading: Dixie Dillon Lane

Dixie Dillon Lane   |  March 3, 2023

My first year of parenting was terrifically hard. It was not just because I had had a difficult pregnancy (though I had) and a colicky, sleepless dear little baby (though I did), but because I thought that the hard parts...

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The moral consciousness of a chatbot

Daniel K. Williams   |  March 2, 2023

Artificial intelligence seemed to behave badly this past month. Tesla had to recall 362,000 of its self-driving cars for a software update after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that these AI-controlled vehicles were speeding through yellow lights, failing...

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Ideas in progress: William Thomas Okie

William Thomas Okie   |  March 1, 2023

What is the focus of your current book project? What are the big questions that you are investigating and the main stories that you hope to tell in this book? The book project is called Wayside: The Hidden Histories of...

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A new series of ancient biographies offers yet another reason to love the genre

Nadya Williams   |  February 28, 2023

In the mid-second century BCE, Cato the Elder, Rome’s most conservative politician of his day, published his Origines, the first Roman history in Latin. Only fragments of the work survive, but we know that Cato’s history featured an unusual approach...

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Kansas City at the center of the American experience

Elizabeth Stice   |  February 27, 2023

The Kansas City Chiefs just won the 2023 Super Bowl earlier this month. This is a moment in the sun for Kansas City. But it’s also a good opportunity for me to bring up a pet theory I have. I...

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What I am reading: Brian Scoles

Brian Scoles   |  February 24, 2023

How did I become a quirky reader? In large part, I blame it on the World Book Encyclopedia. I can only imagine how many hours I joyfully wasted on my guilty pleasure. This probably tells you something about the social...

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