Drew Swanson is Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt Distinguished Professor of Southern History at Georgia Southern University. This interview is based on his new book, A Man of Bad Reputation: The Murder of John Stephens and the Contested Landscape of North […]
Way of Improvement
Evangelical roundup for August 24, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? How Tim Keller influenced British evangelicals. White evangelicals and Vivek Ramaswamy. What are evangelicals thinking about as the 2024 election approaches. Shane is still chopping: White evangelicals trust Trump. Young evangelical climate activists. The […]
Tonight’s GOP debate: Winners, losers, and Vivek
My favorite tweet about Vivek Ramaswamy’s performance at tonight’s GOP debate came from conservatvie William Kristol: Vivek Ramaswamy has no political experience. Tonight it showed: Ramaswamy’s schtick works well on cable news, but tonight he made every candidate on the […]
The GOP candidates debate abortion tonight
The GOP presidential candidates came out swinging tonight: Once these candidates got their prepared zingers out of the way, they settled down to have a fairly civil debate on abortion. (This may be becacuse the loud-mouthed Vivek Ramaswamy was not […]
Jenna Ellis jumped on the Trump train. Now she has a mug shot.
Jenna Ellis is perhaps the best example of an evangelical Christian who built her entire career and public persona around Donald Trump. No one knew who she was before 2017,. She was homeschooled, attended Cedarville University (she later transfered to […]
The Author’s Corner with William Riddell
William Riddell is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. This interview is based on his new book, On the Waves of Empire: U.S. Imperialism and Merchant Sailors, 1872-1924 (University of Illinois Press, 2023). JF: What led […]
A right-wing intellectual takes on capitalism. Some socialists are fine with it.
Some of you may know the name Sohrab Ahmari from his 2019 argument with David French over the meaning of conservatism. Since that debate, Amari has co-founded Compact, a journal critical of liberalism of both the left and the right […]
Episode 116: “Historical Thinking for a Democracy”
If you’ve listened to this podcast over the years you know that we champion “historical thinking” as one of our best hopes for sustaining and preserving American democratic life. In this episode we talk with Zachary Cote, the Executive Director […]
Steve Bannon wonders how Russell Moore is incapable of seeing that Trump is an “instrument of divine providence”
In episode 2915 of Steve Bannon’s “War Room,” the Alt-right pundit, former Trump adviser, and convicted felon has some choice words for Christianity Today editor and evangelical anti-Trumper Russell Moore. Watch: Several things strike me about this video. First: Bannon […]
Fern Creek Baptist Church stands by its female pastor
Some of you may remember that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) ousted Fern Creek Baptist Church earlier this year because the church had a female pastor. The Louisville congregation, located in the same city as Albert Mohler’s complementarian Southern Baptist […]
The Author’s Corner with William Cossen
William Cossen is a teacher in the Social Studies Department at The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology​. This interview is based on his new book, Making Catholic America: Religious Nationalism in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Cornell University […]
Vincent Lloyd: It is time “to interrogate the received wisdom that says every activist cause needs an enemy to demonize.”
Some of you may remember Vincent Lloyd‘s essay, “A Black Professor Trapped in Anti-Racist Hell.“ In a recent piece at Plough, the Villanova Africana studies and theology professor tells the story of the students at Swarthmore College who demonized college […]
A conservative federal judge and liberal law professor say the Constitution prohbits Trump from ever being president again
I am guessing that Michael Luttig and Lawrence Tribe don’t agree on much about the law. But they do agree that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits Trump from running for public office, including the presidency. Lutting is a retired George W. […]
Smithsonian releases 590 reels of blues music
Here is NPR:
When governors and business leaders sought to protect natural resources and “conserve the foundations of our prosperity”
Over Zocalo Public Square, environmental historian Adam Sowards calls our attention to the 1908 Conference of Governors held in Washington D.C. Here is a taste of his piece “When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental Catastrophe”: At […]
New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu: Narrow the GOP field and beat Trump
A new presidential poll is out today. NBC News and the Des Moines Register show Trump with a 23 point lead in January 2024 Iowa caucuses: Yesterday CBS News dropped a national poll. It looks like this: New Hampshire governor […]
Evangelical roundup for August 21, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Jenna Riess reviews Sarah Stankorb’s Disobedient Women: How a Small Group of Faithful Women Exposed Abuse, Brought Down Powerful Pastors,and Ignited an Evangelical Reckoning. Costa Rican evangelicals against abortion. Christian colleges are offering majors […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Make college free, triple the number of tenure-track faculty, and hire teachers who can actually teach. Shohei Ohtani What is happening at the University of West Virginia? More here. Daniel […]
Are you listening to The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast?
We talk to authors, teachers, museum professionals, and historians. Over the years we have interviewed Jim Grossman, Daniel K. Williams, Yoni Appelbaum, Sam Wineburg, Tim Grove, Nate DiMeo, Paul Lukas, Annette Gordon-Reed, Peter Onuf, Marc Dolan, Steve Edenbo, Ann Little, […]
Eastern Nazarene College: An evangelical school doing evangelical things
Here is the the Eastern Nazarene College website: Eastern Nazarene College’s (ENC) mission is ‘to provide a transformational education that equips diverse students to lead and serve our world as agents of Christ’s love and truth.’ And our vision carries […]