What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? It looks likes COVID-19 was present at Robert Jeffress’s Sunday morning political rally at First Baptist-Dallas. Newt Gingrich is on the Eric Metaxas Show today talking about his new book Trump and the American […]
city on a hill
An Introduction to the Winthrop Family Papers
Peter Olsen-Harbich, a Ph.D Candidate at William & Mary, reflects on his experience working with the Winthrop Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Here is a taste: Among the austere manuscripts of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s collection resides an […]
Episode 45: A City Upon a Hill
One of the most enduring phrases at the heart of American exceptionalism is John Winthrop’s famous proclamation that the Puritan colonists were establishing a “city upon a hill.” But the story of this lay sermon is much more complicated, and, […]
The Author’s Corner with Daniel Rodgers
Daniel Rodgers is Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. This interview is based on his new book As a City on a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon (Princeton University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to […]
Was America Born Capitalist?
We are working hard to get Princeton University historian Daniel Rodgers on the podcast. He is the author of As a City Upon a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon. (He will be featured on the Author’s […]
The End of American Exceptionalism?
Today I will be teaching John Winthrop’s sermon A Model of Christian Charity to the teachers in the Princeton Seminar. You may know this as the famous “city upon a hill” sermon. Winthrop’s words have been used by several U.S presidents […]
Barton: God Brings Bad Weather Because of Abortion
In 17th-century New England, the Puritans set out to forge a “City on a Hill,” a society based upon the teachings of the Bible as they understood them. They believed that they were a new Israel and thus lived in […]
What Do Eric Metaxas and Hillary Clinton Have in Common?
They both believe that America is a “shining city on a hill.” Some of you may remember that I questioned the way Eric Metaxas used this phrase in his book If You Can Keep It. You can read the criticism here. […]
My Review Series on Metaxas's "If You Can Keep It": A Wrap-Up at RNS
Six posts are enough. I could say a lot more about Eric Metaxas’s book If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty, but I decided, for a variety of reasons, to bring the series to an end yesterday. […]
Review of Eric Metaxas, "If You Can Keep It: Part 6
We are in the midst of a short series on Eric Metaxas’s new book If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty. This post, our final one in the series, examines Metaxas’s understanding of American exceptionalism, an idea […]
When Faith Meets Presidential Politics: Some Problems with Marco Rubio's Debate Performance Last Night
Earlier this month Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign introduced us to an impressive list of believing scholars and thinkers—many of them evangelical Christians—who agreed to be part of his newly formed religious advisory committee. If last night’s debate is any indication, […]
The Author's Corner with John D. Wilsey
John D. Wilsey is Assistant Professor of History and Christian Apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. This interview is based on his new book, American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea (IVP Academic, 2015). JF: What led […]
What Is American Exceptionalism?
As I have noted here before, I am looking forward to the release of John Wilsey’s book American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea. Wilsey, a professor of history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes from […]
John Kasich Invokes the “City on a Hill”
John F. Kennedy invoked the phrase in a speech to Massachusetts General Court in January 1961 before he headed off to Washington D.C. to be inaugurated President of the United States. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaXt7GE0aUo] Ronald Reagan invoked the phrase in the […]
Reflecting on the American Redemption Script
The United States is a nation of second chances. Or is it? Shadd Maruna and Charles Barber, experts on prison rehabilitation and reform, discuss the ebbs and flows of the American ideal of “redemption.” Here is a taste of their […]
Moral Reflection vs. Moral Judgment
I have been enjoying Tracy McKenzie‘s reflections on moral judgment and the American idea of manifest destiny. I think I approach the question of moral reflection in historical inquiry a little bit differently, but we both seem to end up […]
George McGovern, 1972, and the “City on a Hill”
Over the past few days I have been working my way through Jefferson Cowie’s riveting and deeply satisfying Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class (The New Press, 2010). I must confess that I am […]