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anti-intellectualism

Mark Lilla on “beautiful souls” and democracy

John Fea   |  December 24, 2022

What is a beautiful soul? In 2020 essay at Liberties, cultural critic and humanities professor Mark Lilla defines it this way: What is a beautiful soul? For Schiller, who coined the term, it was a person in whom the age-old...

“On the Evangelical Mind and Consulting the Faithful”

John Fea   |  October 21, 2022

In September 2017, the founders of Current (Jay Green, Eric Miller, and yours truly) participated in a conference in Indianapolis on the “State of the Evangelical Mind.” (This was 3-4 years before we launched Current). We spoke at a session...

“Anti-Intellectualism and the Integration of Faith and Learning”

John Fea   |  October 20, 2022

In September 2017, the founders of Current (Jay Green, Eric Miller, and yours truly) participated in a conference in Indianapolis on the “State of the Evangelical Mind.” (This was 3-4 years before we launched Current). We spoke at a session...

The anti-Catholicism of some “Catholics” (and Marjorie Taylor Greene)

John Fea   |  April 30, 2022

America contributing editor Bill McCormick S.J. writes on a recent Marjorie Taylor Greene interview with Michael Voris from an organization called “Church Militant.” A taste: For many Catholics, there was no real story in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent interview with Michael Voris...

How one small Eric Metaxas comment sums-up the current state of evangelical thinking

John Fea   |  July 16, 2021

In yesterday’s Evangelical roundup I posted and commented on evangelical conspiracy theorist Eric Metaxas’s interview with fellow evangelical conspiracy theorist and Pennsylvania state senator Doug Mastriano. Here is the interview: At the 1:25 mark, Eric Metaxas says: There was just...

Should the first 50 pissed-off people to get to the microphone at a school-board meeting be running our schools?

John Fea   |  July 12, 2021

Rich Lowry of The National Review writes: To paraphrase Bill Buckley, it’d be better if the schools were run by the first 50 pissed-off people standing in line to get to the microphone at a contentious school-board meeting than by the...

Robert Jeffress introduces Eric Metaxas as the “Francis Schaeffer of our generation”

John Fea   |  March 16, 2021

Eric Metaxas spoke at First Baptist Church on Sunday. Jeffress introduced him as “one of the premiere Christian thinkers of our day” and “the Francis Schaeffer of our generation.” Jeffress has always been prone to hyperbole, but his comments about...

Why some evangelicals won’t take the COVID-19 vaccine

John Fea   |  March 9, 2021

Last week I told Yonat Shimron of Religion News Service that I was not surprised so many evangelicals are wary of taking the COVID-19 vaccine: “There’s a long history of anti-science within American evangelicalism…It goes back to the Scopes trial...

Evangelical pastor, author, and theologian Timothy Keller published a tweet on critical race theory. Look what happened:

John Fea   |  February 22, 2021

On Friday, Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, wrote a post about critical race theory: Critical race theory is not the Gospel, but it can certainly help Christians understand our current moment. It has been useful...

Franklin Graham “shames” the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump

John Fea   |  January 14, 2021

Evangelicalism is an activist faith. Historically, evangelicals have preached a life-changing gospel. They have done amazing acts of service and justice in the world. We can’t ignore these things. Evangelicals have been a source of good. At the same time,...

The debate over critical race theory in the Southern Baptist Convention (and beyond) is heating up

John Fea   |  December 8, 2020

Who is afraid of critical race theory (CRT)? The Southern Baptist Convention is. A denomination founded on racism, slavery, and white supremacy has become the center of opposition to a theory that helps us to better understand the consequences of...

How John MacArthur politicizes science

John Fea   |  September 1, 2020

Last Sunday John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, told his congregation that “there is no [COVID-19] pandemic.” The congregation cheered. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI4X7svEhlw&w=560&h=315] Notice that MacArthur says that he is not giving a “political speech.”...

Watch the “My Pillow” guy try to defend his miracle cure for COVID-19

John Fea   |  August 18, 2020

Just watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHtC4KIXmEk&w=560&h=315]...

What COVID-19 exposed about the United States

John Fea   |  August 4, 2020

All of these points come from Ed Yong’s recent piece at The Atlantic: “How the Pandemic Defeated America.” We under-fund public health. Our health-care system is weak. Too much of what we do spend on healthcare is wasted. We have not...

Sean Wilentz on Richard Hoftstadter

John Fea   |  July 28, 2020

In the Sean Wilentz interview I posted about yesterday, the Princeton historian told Bill Kristol that mid-20th-century historian Richard Hofstadter may have been one of the few Americans who understood the populism, paranoia, and anti-intellectualism that we see today on...

Are white evangelicals equipped for a conversation on race?

John Fea   |  July 16, 2020

Robert Vischer is dean of the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis. His piece at Religion News Service is titled “Will the death of George Floyd sway white evangelicals on race?” I like this piece because Vischer points...

Should we believe Dr. Anthony Fauci or former gameshow host Chuck Woolery?

John Fea   |  July 14, 2020

Chris Cuomo sums it up pretty well: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGHTfSmmbQ&w=560&h=315] Read this....

As November approaches, Trump releases his “greatest” hits album

John Fea   |  June 27, 2020

The coronavirus is spiking again. The country is in the midst of what might be an unprecedented conversation about race. And polls show that Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden by a considerable margin. Trump is desperate. If he loses...

How Many Have Died Because of These Voices?

John Fea   |  April 3, 2020

This reminds me of Kara Swisher’s recent piece. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAh4uS4f78o&w=560&h=315] And it doesn’t stop.  Here is Laura Ingraham, TODAY: The “experts” are routinely wrong on issues big and small—on wearing masks, on reusable grocery bags…virus modeling and treatments. For years...

Is the Christian Right to Blame for the Coronavirus?

John Fea   |  March 27, 2020

As some of you know, earlier this week I participated in a conversation with Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationism.  I think you can still watch the conversation here. Today at The New York...

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