Maurizio Valsania is Professor of American History at the University of Turin. This interview is based on his new book, First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022). JF: What led you […]
Way of Improvement
“I think we have yet to find the limits, or the bottom, of who and what White evangelicals might justify in their allegiance to Trump and the Republican Party.”
The quote in the title is from Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. It comes from an interview with Jennifer Rubin […]
Evangelical roundup for October 24, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Baptized into Christian nationalism. I mean literally baptized. U.K. evangelicals weigh-in on the resignation of the Liz Truss. Matthew Milliner reports on a James Davison Hunter lecture: Happy Birthday to the president of the […]
Sunday nights odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Religion and authoritarian political figures British Marxist historians Is CRT being taught in schools? “Salvation Antiquarianism“ Gary Dorrien on Rafael Warnock Benjamin Wallace-Wells on Rafael Warnock Conservatives and baseball Du […]
Episode 104: “The Roots of American Public Education”
Are you an educator? An administrator? A school board member? Does your life intersect in some way with a public school? If so, this episode is for you. We talk about the religion and transatlantic roots of American public education […]
“What is the State of the Evangelical Mind on Christian College Campuses?”
In September 2017, the founders of Current (Jay Green, Eric Miller, and yours truly) participated in a conference in Indianapolis on the “State of the Evangelical Mind.” (This was 3-4 years before we launched Current). We spoke at a session devoted to the legacy of […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, “REVIEW: The Need to Be Whole“ Marvin Olasky, “LONG FORM: A Wrinkle in Journalism History“ Mark Schwehn, “Academic Humility“ John Fea, “I Think I Just Committed Treason Greg […]
“On the Evangelical Mind and Consulting the Faithful”
In September 2017, the founders of Current (Jay Green, Eric Miller, and yours truly) participated in a conference in Indianapolis on the “State of the Evangelical Mind.” (This was 3-4 years before we launched Current). We spoke at a session […]
The Author’s Corner with Alex Zakaras
Alex Zakaras is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont. This interview is based on his new book, The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myth in the Age of Jackson (Princeton University Press, 2022). JF: What led […]
“Anti-Intellectualism and the Integration of Faith and Learning”
In September 2017, the founders of Current (Jay Green, Eric Miller, and yours truly) participated in a conference in Indianapolis on the “State of the Evangelical Mind.” (This was 3-4 years before we launched Current). We spoke at a session […]
The Author’s Corner with Amanda Hendrix-Komoto
Amanda Hendrix-Komoto is Assistant Professor of History at Montana State University. This interview is based on her new book, Imperial Zions: Religion, Race, and Family in the American West and the Pacific (University of Nebraska Press, 2022). JF: What led […]
Evangelical roundup for October 20, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Lula says he will not persecute Brazilian evangelicals. Are evangelicals the only ones who “gloss over candidates’ sins? Celebrating Rich Mullins: A “state-of-the-art” Billy Graham archive is coming to Charlotte. The label “Christian nationalism” […]
The Author’s Corner with Jordan E. Taylor
Jordan E. Taylor is a writer and editor who has published in the Journal of the Early Republic, Early American Studies, and more. This interview is based on his new book, Misinformation Nation: Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary […]
Commonplace Book #223
The intellectuals’ self-image, it will be seen, had come to coincide with the popular stereotype of the intellectual. The popular stereotype, contrary to a widespread impression among intellectuals themselves, was not unfavorable. By the 1960’s it was a well-documented fact […]
The 4 New Jersey regions
Here’s a fun post for our New Jersey readers. Over at New Jersey 101.5, Bill Spadea moves beyond the “North Jersey” vs. “South Jersey” divide by suggesting that there are actually 4 New Jersey regions: North Jersey, Central Jersey, the […]
The battle for our public schools
Hannah Natanson, Clara Ence Morse, Anu Narayanswamy and Christina Brause explore 64 laws passed in the last three academic years that are “reshaping what students can learn and do in school.” Read the piece at The Washington Post. Here are a few of […]
Dispose of “very”
Benjamin Dreyer offers an important writing tip in a recent piece at The New York Times. A taste: …though I would never fault the supreme lyricist Johnny Mercer for the gorgeous “You’re much too much / And just too very very,” I […]
Commonplace Book #222
The most interesting think about the cult of the New Frontier was what it revealed about the changing conception not only of culture but of intellectual life in general. The downgrading of Kennedy’s political skill and the upgrading of his […]
Wehner: Herschel Walker is a “perfect candidate for a fallen party”
Here is Peter Wehner at The Atlantic on the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate from Georgia: There have been plenty of awful candidates in American political history; what sets Herschel Walker apart is that he’s a wreck in so […]
Doug Mastriano’s Christian nationalism
The guy running for governor of Pennsylvania on the GOP ticket says that he is not a Christian nationalist. But if I were to name one person who best embodies Christian nationalism in American politics right now I would pick […]