Congratulations to Nadya Williams for her selection as Center for Christianity & Public Life “Public Life Fellowship.” The Public Life Fellowship Program is a nine-month program serving an intergenerational class of Christians interested in intensive, community-based learning about the intersection […]
Way of Improvement
Commonplace Book #326
The trouble with anti-elitism is not that elites do not exist. It is that they exist everywhere, in every movement and party, on all sides. A mere revolt against elites makes a politics stupid. The important question is what the […]
The Author’s Corner with Matthew J. Tuininga
Matthew J. Tuininga is Professor of Christian Ethics and the History of Christianity at Calvin Theological Seminary. This interview is based on his new book, The Wars of the Lord: The Puritan Conquest of America’s First People (Oxford University Press, […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Left-liberal fractures David Brooks on stupidity William E. Leuchtenburg, RIP Steven Mintz on the struggle between populism and progressivism Siva Vaidhyanathan reviews Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation David Brooks on […]
Commonplace Book #325
If! Where are the believers who say if? In my own adventures in the religious life, nothing has disaffected me more than the certainty with which believers speak about occult entities and forces. The clarity is arrogant. But there is […]
Commonplace Book #324
I am talking with a former professor of mine. She is telling me that she believes that part of our job as teachers of undergraduates is to help our students, as she puts it, “instrumentalize” the things they learn from […]
Commonplace Book #323
“…Humanities departments have withered over the past two decades: smaller classes, fewer majors, and a shrinking faculty. A debacle. In part, it is owed to students voting with their feet: they think the jobs are elsewhere, so they gravitate to […]
Ibram X. Kendi moves to Howard University. His Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University is closing.
Here is BU Today: Ibram X. Kendi, the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research (CAR), says he has decided to leave BU to join Howard University in Washington, DC. CAR will close when its charter with the University […]
David French: “Trump’s cure for D.E.I. isn’t a true meritocracy, but rather affirmative action for the MAGA movement.”
If you read this blog regularly, you know that I am often critical of some of the stuff associated with the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” industry. (See, for example, recent Commonplace Book entries on Musa Al-Gharbi’s We Have Never Been […]
The Author’s Corner with Richard Carwardine
Richard Carwardine is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union (Knopf, […]
Commonplace Book #322
It can be a pleasure to learn from the Internet, but you best have acquired your basic knowledge from something that is not the Internet. A book is a good idea; five hundred (good) books is better. If you do […]
The Author’s Corner with Jeffrey Boutwell
Jeffrey Boutwell is a retired independent historian with a B.A. in History from Yale and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This interview is based on his new book, Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of […]
We are more than a week into the second Trump presidency. What are evangelicals saying?
The members of the Evangelical Immigrant Roundtable urge the Trump administration to respect religious freedom. Quotes from the leaders of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, World Relief, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. […]
Commonplace Book #321
How then, do you distinguish the sane members of the leftist tribe from the whackos? You start to recognize both versions–the sane and the pathological–by their voices. The sane speak with self-awareness and usually some self-doubt. Irony infuses what they […]
GOP House members submit resolution condemning Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s National Prayer Service sermon
Not familiar with this story? Get up to speed here. Some members of the House of Representatives were so upset with Budde’s sermon urging Trump to consider the human dignity of immigrants and members of the transgender community that they […]
World Relief responds to Trump executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program
In case you missed it, on January 20, 2025, the day he was inaugurated as president, Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program beginning January 27, 2025. World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National […]
The Author’s Corner with Eran A. Zelnik
Eran A. Zelnik is a Lecturer in the Department of History at California State University, Chico. This interview is based on his new book, American Laughter, American Fury: Humor and the Making of a White Man’s Democracy, 1750–1850 (Johns Hopkins […]
Commonplace Book #320
When we analyze how systems and institutions operate in concrete terms rather than just waving our hands at ‘”the system,” “history,’” or related abstractions, we can see that inequalities within institutions tend to be produced and sustained by everyday practices […]
I’m taking a blogging break
I will see you on Tuesday, January 28.
Inauguration day was Monday. Evangelicals are still talking about the new administration. What are they saying?
Lance wants to replace NPR: Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA will now have correspondent in the press briefing room: Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody: Brody seems to believe that the primary reason Americans voted for Trump was his promise to […]