A few things online that caught my attention this week: Stained glass American history at the National Cathedral. Josh Hawley: America is a Christian nation. Fareed Zakaria: Is Israel’s war in Gaza “proportionate?“ John McWhorter on the resignation of Claudine […]
Way of Improvement
Evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem is backing Ron DeSantis because he’ll pardon Trump and was a college athlete (among other things)
Wayne Grudem is at it again. Late last year the evangelical theologian, defender of a complementarian view of men and women, and 2016 and 2020 Donald Trump supporter called on Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race to […]
Does history really help us decide if Trump should stay on the ballot in Colorado?
Over at his blog, historian William Hogeland reminds us that history can only take us so far in debates like the one currently raging over whether Donald Trump can stay on the ballot in Colorado. The original intent of Section […]
Current contributing editor Adam Jortner battles Britney Spears for top spot on Audible
Adam Jortner is the Goodwin Philpot Eminent Professor of Religion in the History Department at Auburn University and contributing editor here at Current. He is also an Audible rock star. His “The Hidden History of the Boston Tea Party” is […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
Evangelical roundup for January 11, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical land? The “new” Trump evangelical voters. Tim Alberta on Biden’s speech at Mother Emanuel AME: Is Donald Trump a “man of faith? The National Association of Evangelicals is sharing the dream: Lecrae’s “Deconstruction“ Milligan University […]
On the “perpetual panic” of liberal individualism
Shadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post and a research professor of Islamic studies at the Fuller Seminary. Here is a taste of his moving piece on the limits of liberal individualism: I can imagine being both more […]
Will Nikki Haley pull off a Gary Hart-style upset in New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire primary–the first of the primary season–is scheduled for January 23, 2004. Sometimes strange things happen in the New Hampshire primary. Remember when: Henry Cabot Lodge beat Barry Goldwater in 1964? Edmund Muskie beat George McGovern in 1972? […]
The Author’s Corner with Jennifer M. Black
Jennifer M. Black is Associate Professor and Program Director of History at Misericordia University. This interview is based on her new book, Branding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in Nineteenth-Century America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]
As Current enters 2024, we’d love your support!
Our book review editor Nadya Williams recently described Current as “the little engine that could.” It’s a fitting way to describe our work at this little magazine. We have no full time employees (in fact, we only have a couple […]
Current editor Eric Miller on “The Instructed Imagination”
Listen to Eric Miller‘s address at the recent Front Porch Republic conference. His tour-de-force engages with Wendell Berry, Mark Heard, St. Augustine, Walker Percy, and Flannery O’Connor. Listen: Or watch it here:
“Investments, like saplings, do not yield immediate fruit”: Biden deserves more credit
Binyamin Appelbaum makes the case: President Biden has planted a lot of trees during his first three years in office, pushing through Congress bills that direct the investment of billions of dollars into infrastructure, research and subsidies for domestic manufacturing. […]
The old court evangelicals were mostly silent on the third anniversary of January 6th
Saturday was the third anniversary of the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. We continue to deal with the fallout of this dark moment in American history. Next month the Supreme Court may decide if Trump was an insurrectionist […]
Evangelical roundup for January 8, 2024
What is happening in Evangelical land? Russell Moore on evangelicals criticizing evangelicals. Do Anglican evangelicals want to split the Church? Richard Ostling reviews Tim Alberta’s The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory. Swiss evangelicals produce a new Bible dictionary for […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: The cult of Michigan football The Chronicle of Higher Education lists the ‘best scholarly books” of 2023. How Zionism mixed with colonialism What is critical theory? History tour guides Why […]
Randall Balmer on the resignation of Claudine Gay at Harvard
Here is the American religious historian‘s column at Valley News: In the late 1980s, while I was teaching at Columbia University, I received an urgent request to attend a meeting at Union Theological Seminary. I don’t recall everyone who was […]
The Supreme Court will take up the Colorado-Trump ballot case
Here is CBS News: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a politically explosive decision from Colorado’s top court that found former President Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency and would leave him off the state’s primary ballot, stepping into a […]
David Brooks on populism, Trump, and the “zero-sum mind-set”
Interesting observation from his recent New York Times column: Populism thrives on a zero-sum mind-set. The central story that populists tell is: They are out to destroy us. Populist leaders invariably inflame ethnic bigotry to mobilize their own supporters. America’s populist in chief, […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
David French: “Enough! It’s time to apply the plain language of the Constitution to Trump’s actions and remove him from the ballot”
In his New York Times column today, David French argues that worrying about the “consequences” of keeping Trump off the ballot is not a legal argument. Here is a taste: It’s been just over two weeks since the Colorado Supreme […]