Early in Sophocles’s tragedy Antigone (ca. 441 BCE), the chorus of Theban elders, men well acquainted with the sorrowful history of the city and its divinely cursed royal house, take a brief breather from talking doom and gloom—this is, after […]
The Arena
Cultivating humility: reflections after the death of Tim Keller
When Benjamin Franklin was a young man, he decided to make a checklist of virtues to practice in order to complete the “bold and arduous task of moral perfection.” As an eighteenth-century deist, this seemed to be an imminently sensible […]
Academically Adrift: thirteen years later
As we just finished another academic year (congrats!), what did we learn? For some college students around the country, the answer may be… nothing. But, as it happens, this problem is nothing new. Thirteen years ago, a provocative book was […]
Chick-Fil-A and Waffle House: two halves of the same whole
Atlanta has given much to the world, including both Waffle House and Chick-Fil-A. You can visit the original Waffle House, which is now a museum, over at 2719 East College Avenue in Decatur. It dates back to 1955. You can […]
What I am reading: Kyle Harper on climate and deadly germs that made (and continue to make) history, Part II
“There have been about ten thousand generations of humans so far. For all but the last three or four generations, life was short, lasting on average around thirty years. Yet this average is deceptive, because life in a world ruled […]
Local history: Corey Brennan’s review of Paul W. Jacobs, The Lives of a Roman Neighborhood
Few cities have as richly multi-layered a history as Rome. Today, Corey Brennan reviews Paul W. Jacobs’s The Lives of a Roman Neighborhood in TLS. The neighborhood in question is “Known today as the Sant’Angelo rione, it is the smallest […]
What I am reading: Kyle Harper on climate and deadly germs that made (and continue to make) history, Part I
As historians, we display the same love of searching for agency as any mom who enters a really messy room with trepidation yet determination—every toy box has been emptied, and the Legos strewn across the floor dare you to walk […]
Current’s editor Eric Miller today on Doomer Optimism podcast
Doomer Optimism‘s Ashley Colby recently interviewed Current editor Eric Miller, and this podcast episode is live today. It really is a fascinating conversation about a wide range of topics, well worth a listen. And you should read Eric’s “Ideas in […]
Daniel Williams on evangelical religious conversion in Christianity Today
I would have posted this earlier, but the author doesn’t always tell me about these things when they appear in print (although I assure you I did get to read a draft). But I highly recommend Dan’s latest in Christianity […]
Ideas in progress: Andrew Jones on Scottish Presbyterians
Andrew Michael Jones completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2018 and is an incoming Assistant Professor of History at Reinhardt University near Atlanta, Georgia. His research focuses on religion, identity and race in modern Scotland and the […]
Humor in the classroom
A friend and colleague likes to say that the classroom is the last refuge of the bad comedian. Students, in general, don’t like learning. Learning is pain. Anything that goes on in the classroom that falls under the category of […]
The Americans: so funny
Who are the Americans? There are many serious ways to approach answering this question. But approaching it less seriously may also show us something. Americans are funny people, and not just metaphorically. They value humor and they almost all consider […]
Erika Bachiochi on the need for caregiver benefits, especially for mothers
With Mother’s Day approaching (this Sunday), Erika Bachiochi has a powerful essay in Plough today, arguing for better government support for caregivers, especially mothers, drawing on the analogy to veterans’ benefits. You want to go read her piece in its […]
Sex and womanhood: a person-first approach
A year or two ago a conservative college student, Katie, received her acceptance notice from a prestigious law school. While out celebrating, she was pulled aside by a disgruntled male classmate who been rejected by the same school. “You shouldn’t […]
Are local family ties worth the sacrifice of a career dream? Maybe so.
One of the students in my US history survey class this semester began his final family history essay by describing how close he feels to his extended family – and how close his relatives feel to him and to each […]
Ideas in progress: Jacob Hiserman on southern college chapel worship
Jacob Hiserman is a doctoral candidate in History at The University of Alabama. He received a B.A. in History from Christendom College and an M.A. in History from Baylor University. Jacob lives with his wife and two boys outside of […]
What does May 9th mean for Russia?
On this date seventy-eight years ago, Germany surrendered, officially ending WWII in Europe. So goes the official narrative. Textbooks and encyclopedias like to put a firm date on things like these, although in this case, historians can quibble that operations […]
Reflections on A.I. in the wake of David Brooks’s comments last week
“A.I. is 100 times more important” than any other subject we’re talking about today, says David Brooks in last week’s PBS interview. I came in thinking that A.I. was, like, it’s kind of important, and then maybe it’s as big as […]
The presence of mothers
The other day my friends and I were reminiscing about cartoons. We were talking about the Flintstones and the Jetsons and we realized that we could remember Barney Rubble, but who was his wife? We knew George Jetson and “his […]
Great reads in this week’s Fairer Disputations
In January, a new online journal launched: Fairer Disputations. The brainchild, in large part, of Erika Bachiochi, the journal is (to quote the official description): Fairer Disputations is an international community of scholars, public intellectuals, journalists, and advocates that aims to […]