Eric Foner reflects on his life as a historian in this interview with Nawal Arjini at New York Review of Books. A taste: Nawal Arjini: How did you come to specialize in Civil War history? Eric Foner: When I was in college in […]
Way of Improvement
The Author’s Corner with Holly A. Mayer
Holly A. Mayer is Professor Emerita of History at Duquesne University. This interview is based on her new book, Women Waging War in the American Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Women Waging War […]
Evangelical roundup for September 19, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Philip Yancey tells his story. Bolsonaro rallies Brazilian evangelicals. The Olasky-less World magazine take on the matter. As evangelicals continue to prop-up the MAGA movement, people are exiting the pews. Shane remembers the 1963 […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Queen Elizabeth II and white evangelicals John McWhorter makes clear his views on race in America What do National Conservatives want? Michael Bobelian reviews Nicole Hemmer’s Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries […]
Where’s the praying Bremerton football coach?
Back in June the U.S. Supreme Court said Joseph Kennedy, an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in the state of Washington, could pray with his team on the field. Kennedy was on paid leave until, I presume, the […]
When “Heil Hitler!” meets a Christian worship service and the preacher is Jim Jones
Watch this from last night’s Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio. From what I understand the music you hear was played in the arena as Trump spoke. Sociologist Sam Perry gets it right:
Larry Schweikart: activist historian
Back in 2002 I met Larry Schweikart. He was a professor of history at the University of Dayton. I was interviewing for a job in the history department at the University of Dayton. He may have even been on the […]
Arizona State University hosts “Humanities Week”
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.”
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
“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
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?
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 […]
Albert Mohler is “taking names,” preparing for “war,” and telling evangelical voters that they are “unfaithful” Christians if they don’t vote GOP
He spoke last night at the Family Research Council’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit in Atlanta: Watch: Recently Mohler said he was a Christian nationalist. Now we have him saying that anyone who doesn’t vote his way is an unfaithful Christian. […]
Episode 47: What Are “Moral Issues?”
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
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
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?
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
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
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?
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 […]