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Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary will sell Hamilton campus and move to Boston

John Fea   |  May 16, 2022

Here is the press release: May 16, (Hamilton, Massachusetts) – In a renewed effort to focus on its roots, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an evangelical seminary of more than 1,400 global students, announced today its intention to leverage the economic value...

What if Bruce Springsteen did a song about public transportation?

John Fea   |  November 25, 2021

“Baby We Can Take the 1” Learn more about this video here....

WBCN (Boston) and “The American Revolution”

John Fea   |  November 16, 2021

Coming to a PBS station near you:...

Slavery at Boston’s Old North Church

John Fea   |  August 18, 2021

Here is Artemis Moshtaghian at CNN: On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that the Old North Church Foundation was awarded a $75,000 grant. Stewart says the foundation plans on creating a program that reinterprets the church and its congregation’s...

Who was Prince Hall?

John Fea   |  February 10, 2021

Here is Danielle Allen at The New York Times: Massachusetts abolished enslavement before the Treaty of Paris brought an end to the American Revolution, in 1783. The state constitution, adopted in 1780 and drafted by John Adams, follows the Declaration of...

What early Americans could teach Donald Trump about this pandemic

John Fea   |  July 21, 2020

Check out historian Andrew Wehrman‘s piece at The Washington Post: Thomas Paine, who had helped shift public opinion with “Common Sense” in the spring of 1776, wrote a new book weighing in on the French Revolution from London, titled “The Rights...

“Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes?”

John Fea   |  June 25, 2020

Who said it? Over at the Journal of the American Revolution, historian J.L. Bell (of Boston 1775 fame) answers this question for us. Here is a taste of his piece: Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” is...

The Boston Public Library needs your help transcribing anti-slavery documents

John Fea   |  June 24, 2020

The Boston Public Library has an impressive collection of anti-slavery documents and they are looking for volunteers to help them bring the collection online in a digital format. Here is a taste of the project: The Boston Public Library’s Anti-Slavery...

Politically Motivated Violence Was Wrong During the Stamp Act and It Is Wrong Today. The Christian Right “Historians” Must Reckon With This

John Fea   |  June 5, 2020

Everyone knows that the American Revolution was born through violent protest. Yes, the colonies fought a war that secured their liberty, but they also engaged in civilian violence in major British-American cities well before the outbreak of war. Here is...

Episode 66: The Boston Massacre

John Fea   |  March 29, 2020

What happened when British soldiers and their families arrived in Boston in 1768? In Episode 66 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast, we talk with Carleton College history professor Serena Zabin about her new book, The Boston Massacre:...

Darryl Hart on Boston’s Park Street Church, Evangelicalism, and the “Ghost of Harold John Ockenga”

John Fea   |  January 10, 2020

Harold John Ockenga was the pastor of Boston’s Park Street Church from 1936 to 1969. He was one of the early leaders of the neo-evangelical movement in the 1940s and 1950s.  We normally associated the rise of neo-evangelicalism with people...

When Paul Revere Got the Scoop

John Fea   |  October 19, 2019

Many of us use Paul Revere’s image of the Boston Massacre when we teach the American Revolution.   But over at the blog of the New York Historical Society, we learn that Henry Pelham was the first person to produce...

A Writing Group of Boston-Area American Historians Gets a Story in *Publishers Weekly*

John Fea   |  August 10, 2019

Check out Alex Green’s piece at Publishers Weekly.  The writers group, known as “The Squad,” includes historians Kevin Levin, Liz Covart, Sara Georgini, Megan Kate Nelson, Heather Cox Richardson, and Nina Silber.  (Covart and Georgini have been guests on the The...

Mapping 1648 Boston

John Fea   |  August 3, 2019

Who lived in Boston in 1648?  History professor Chris Parsons and his team at Northeastern University have initiated the “Birth of Boston” project.  The centerpiece of the project is an interactive map of Boston in 1648 that allows users to...

On the Road in Late July

John Fea   |  July 20, 2019

I am in the at the midpoint of two weeks of work with the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History.  As some of you know, this last week I was in Mount Vernon, Virginia and Boston filming a 12-week lecture course...

What If Your Faith Makes You “Unpatriotic?”

John Fea   |  July 18, 2019

I am in Boston this week filming a series of lectures for an on-line course on colonial America produced by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History.  We have been shooting short introductions at places like the Long Wharf, Old South...

The Bachelorette and American History

John Fea   |  June 5, 2019

OK, I confess, I put the word “Bachelorette” in the title of this post just to garner a lot of hits. 🙂 But as an American historian I can’t pass up the opportunity to call your attention to Hannah Brown’s...

The Author’s Corner with Mark Peterson

Annie Thorn   |  May 2, 2019

Mark Peterson is Edmund S. Morgan Professor of History at Yale University. This interview is based on his new book, The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power (Princeton University Press, 2019). JF: What led you to...

Why Did God Allow the Great Boston Fire of 1760?

John Fea   |  February 11, 2019

Not familiar with the Great Fire of 1760?  J.L. Bell of Boston 1775 fame offers a short introduction here.  One the Bostonians who tried to make sense of the fire was Rev. Jonathan Mayhew.  Here is a taste of Bell’s...

James Taylor Sings the National Anthem in Fenway

John Fea   |  October 27, 2018

Game 1 of the World Series: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNveVwCPR9E&w=560&h=315]...

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“Turns out the Roman Catholic Church has nothing on the Southern Baptists when it comes to covering up sexual misconduct”

May 27, 2022 By John Fea

What we have said about guns and gun control over the years

May 27, 2022 By John Fea

On abortion, the Trump court evangelicals need the Supreme Court. On gun violence, all they have are “thoughts and prayers.”

May 27, 2022 By John Fea

Episode 37: “Christian Trumpism Before Trump”

May 27, 2022 By John Fea

A lot has changed since Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams met in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race

May 27, 2022 By John Fea

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