The 92-year-old political philosopher retired from Harvard’s government department last year. His students include Tom Cotton, Andrew Sullivan, Alan Keyes, Bill Kristol, Mark Lilla, and Francis Fukuyama. Mansfield recently talked with Tunku Varadarajan about progressivism, liberalism, and conservatism at Harvard. […]
Way of Improvement
Christian ministries go remote
The deck of Daniel Silliman’s Christianity Today piece reads: “Evangelical organizations including Wycliffe, CT, and Lifeway are giving up their buildings and developing new models for remote work.” Here is a taste: A lot of office workers are discovering that […]
Charlie Kirk and Eric Metaxas on the Trump conviction: “We are up against pure evil”
It seems that whenever the members of the Christian wing of the MAGA party suffer a loss, such as when their leader gets convicted on 34 felony charges–they turn to spiritual warfare. There is a certain logic to this move. […]
At least one Southern Baptist congregation might leave the denomination after Albert Moher’s recent opinion piece on the Trump felony conviction:
Earlier this week I said a few things about Albert Mohler essay on Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions. You may recall his piece–it is the one in which Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, calls Joe […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: James Hunter on the moral formation of democracy. Kate Lucky reviews Sarah McCammon’s The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church Should Trump get prison time? Physical bodies. […]
Based on this interview, Peter Brown would probably have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected president of the American Historical Association today.
Here is The New York Review of Books interview with scholar Peter Brown: Nawal Arjini:Â What are some of the difficulties and pleasures in researching the less documented aspects of the everyday people of the past? Peter Brown:Â I am fascinated by […]
Song of the Day
HT: Mets announcer Gary Cohen
“I am left to conclude from these opinions that our greatest problem …is with the people of this land! We have lost our ability to discern the difference between right and wrong.”
This September 1998 James Dobson letter to his Focus on the Family constituency is loaded. (See our last two posts.) I was also struck by this passage: At one point during the shocking revelations last month, Clinton’s public approval rating […]
“Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring (James 3:11 NIV)?”
I have been rereading James Dobson’s September 1998 letter to his Focus on the Family constituency in the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. It is an amazing primary source, especially in light of the evangelical embrace of Donald Trump, a […]
“There were other indications that [he] was untruthful and immoral. Why, then, did the American people ignore so many red flags”
This was James Dobson in a letter to his September 1988 newsletter to his Focus on the Family constituency. Read it here. By the way, the “he” in the title of this post is a reference to Bill Clinton. The […]
Mark Driscoll hopes Jesus will return before Election Day
The last time we wrote about Driscoll here, he was talking about Jezebel spirits and male strippers. Today we learn that the controversial megachurch pastor is not happy with either presidential candidate. Here is Leonardo Blair at The Christian Post: […]
Fox News on the evening of the Trump felony conviction
Juliet Jeske, a graduate of the City of New York’s graduate school in journalism, spends her time watching and “decoding” Fox News. She recently published a thread of tweets on how Fox News covered the evening of the Trump felony […]
Trump supporters–including Eric Metaxas and Todd Starnes–compare his felony convictions to a “lynching”
Kristina Karama, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, said that “we witnessed the political lynching of Donald Trump today.” She was not the only one. Evangelicals Eric Metaxas and Todd Starnes also played the lynching card in the wake […]
Charlie Kirk: “You will remember where you were on May 30th”
I think I was taking a nap when the Trump conviction was announced. I actually don’t remember. The leader of pro-Trump Turning Point USA compares Trump’s conviction yesterday to the JFK assassination and September 11th: There are actually three more […]
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wants the Supreme Court to “step-in” to change Trump felony conviction
Watch Johnson on Fox & Friends this morning: Nice try, Mike, but the Supreme Court doesn’t just “step in.” Could this case be appealed to the Supreme Court? Yes. But first it needs to go through the New Appellate Division […]
Eight pro-Trump U.S. Senators will oppose all Biden nominees and major Democratic legislation
Mike Lee (R-UT), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) just released the following statement. The White House has made a mockery of the rule […]
Four days after Memorial Day 2024 Trump says “we’re living in a fascist state”
On the Friday following Memorial Day, Donald Trump said the the United States is a “fascist state.” Here is his “press conference”: Watch: Anyone who has watched Trump over the years should not be surprised by anything he said in […]
New York newspapers on the Trump verdict
Joe Manchin leaves the Democratic Party
He is now an independent. Here is Politico: Sen. Joe Manchin is registering as an independent, according to a person familiar with the matter — a move that is sure to stoke speculation he could run for Senate or governor […]
The Senate responds to the Trump conviction
Yet another glimpse of the country’s political polarization. Here is the Senate response to the Trump conviction: Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): Katie Britt: (R-AL): Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): Nothing we can find Dan Sullivan (R-AK): This is a very sad day for […]