What is going on at CNN? Jeffrey Toobin is out. Brian Stelter is out. And now John Harwood. Jeremy Barr at The Washington Post asks if there is a “purge” going on at the network. Read more here. In honor […]
Way of Improvement
Was Biden wrong to call MAGA Republicans “semi-fascists”?
Over at The Washington Post a scholar of fascism suggests that the phrase “semi-fascism” makes sense, historically, when applied to Trump. Here is a taste of Federico Finchelstein’s piece: President Biden has taken a firm stance on the modern-day threat […]
Will Bunch offers a “field guide” to Doug Mastriano’s world
Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer offers a guide to the “rouges’ gallery of religious zealots, election deniers and militia types surrounding Doug Mastriano’s gubernatorial campaign. The guide includes short bios of Abby Abildness, Grant Clarkson, Jenna Ellis, James Emery, […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Timothy Larsen, “REVIEW: How’s that Post-Christian Thing Goin’ for Ya?“ Antón Barba-Kay , “REVIEW: One Cheer for Purdy“ Michial Farmer, “LONG FORM: Treasure of the Broken Land“ Nadya Williams, “‘Joshua Was […]
Become a Current patron at our annual rate and get a 10% discount!
Did you know that Current patrons can now choose to support us annually or monthly? Click the red SUPPORT button to join us with an annual subscription, and get a 10% discount. Existing monthly subscribers who switch to an annual […]
The Author’s Corner with Michael Verney
Michael Verney is Assistant Professor of History at Drury University. This interview is based on his new book, A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic (University of Chicago Press, 2022). JF: What […]
Nyack College becomes Alliance University
In the mid-1990s I taught Western Civilization as an adjunct professor at Nyack College, a small Christian college in Rockland County, New York with a beautiful hillside campus overlooking the Hudson River. Recently the Christian Missionary Alliance school left Nyack […]
Evangelical roundup for September 1, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? An Assembly of God pastor and Christian Zionist is addressing evangelicalism in the age of Trump. The National Association of Evangelicals issues a “sweeping report on global climate change.” World Relief is on board. […]
The labor rights radical behind the 1963 March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place 59 years ago this week (August 28, 1963). Shawn Gude ofJacobin interviews historian William P. Jones about A. Philip Randolph, the Black socialist who spoke at the 1963 event and […]
Academic historians debate the legacy of David McCullough
Before the whole James Sweet presentism thing went down, American historians were on Twitter arguing about David McCullouugh. Over at History News Network, Rebecca Brenner Graham calls our attention to the debate that took place in the immediate wake of […]
A Chicago church closes its doors
A nice piece of reporting and stortytelling here from Bob Smietana of Religion News Service: Like so many pastors around the United States, the Rev. Amanda Olson has kept one eye on the Bible and another on the evolving religious […]
Current continues to grow and we could use your help!
Since we launched in April 2021, Current has continued to attract readers and high quality writers. Our editorial team is growing and we have some new things we hope to roll out in the near future. Thanks for reading. We […]
How critical race theory can help us serve our neighbors
Here is Baylor ethicist Jonathan Tran a The Christian Century: Perhaps most troubling about anti-CRT posturing is how often Christians are behind it and how much it has taken root in Christian educational institutions. Loving God requires loving neighbor, and […]
Doug Mastriano to a guy wearing a half-American, half-Confederate flag: “I can’t think of a better cape”
On July 4, 2020 Pennsylvania state senator–now GOP gubernatorial candidate–Doug Mastriano did a livestream at the Robert E. Lee monument on the Gettysburg battlefield. I will let Eric Hananoki of Media Matters take it from here: In one of his […]
Is Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan “populist”?
This is an interesting piece by Sebastian Milbank, online editor of The Critic. He argues that Biden is a better populist than many on the Right. A taste: What did (and does) populism consist of, outside of a vague rhetorical […]
Bernard Bailyn: “Historians know how it all came out, but the people of the time didn’t”
In this 2010 lecture, the late Harvard historian Bernardo Bailyn says: Historians know how it all came out, but the people of the time didn’t. The most important things in their lives was the uncertainty. We haven’t got a clue […]
“Doug [Mastriano] is laying down his life for you, for me, for the residents of Pennsylvania, and to God be the glory.”
The title of this post comes from a pastor who introduced Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano at a recent rally. Here is The Washington Post: At another rally east of Pittsburgh, two days later, Mastriano, flanked by an American flag […]
In search of a good 5th-grade American history textbook
A reader who teaches 5th grade American history at an evangelical elementary school is looking for a good textbook. This person is currently using a textbook published by a Christian conservative publishing house that is steeped in providential history and […]
Jim Wallis: Still “evangelical”
In my reflection on the life of the late evangelical activist Ron Sider I noted that he refused to abandon the word “evangelical” to describe his religious identity. Here is a taste of that post: White Christian nationalism is also […]
The Author’s Corner with Jesse Olsavsky
Jesse Olsavsky is Assistant Professor of History at Duke Kunshan University. This interview is based on his new book, The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism, 1835–1861 (LSU Press, 2022). JF: What led you to […]