Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam published his article “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” in 1995. (His book titled Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community appeared in 2000). Last Friday, we read and discussed Putnam’s seminal article in...
civic engagement
America and the Practice of Democracy
Yoni Appelbaum of The Atlantic believes that Americans aren’t practicing democracy anymore. He writes: “As participation in civic life has dwindled, so has public faith in the country’s system of government.” Here is a taste of his piece: The golden age of the voluntary...
Why Do So Many Catholics Align With Republican Evangelicals?
Matthew Walther‘s recent piece at The Week raises an issue I have been thinking about for a long time. What do evangelicals who affiliate with the Republican Party have to do with Catholic social teaching? Here is a taste: The...
The "Benedict Option" Versus "Confident Pluralism"
In his March 2017 Christianity Today cover story, conservative writer Rod Dreher introduces evangelicals to “The Benedict Option.” I like Dreher’s published works. I read his book Crunchy Cons at a time in my intellectual journey when I was also...
Houston Recap
I just got back from Houston where I gave a Land Center for Civic Engagement lecture at the Houston campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. It was a short but meaningful visit. It was also fun spending time with John...
Speaking Today at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
I am in Houston this morning preparing for a luncheon lecture to the MDiv students at the Houston campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am thankful to John Wilsey, the Associate Director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement,...
David Krueger From the AAR: "Religion Scholars, Public Voices, and Making a Living"
We are pleased to have David Krueger writing for us from the American Academy of Religion annual meeting (which ended today). Krueger is an independent scholar of history, religion, and American culture. He helps other scholars reach the public as […]
City Dwellers Tend to Be Parochial
Over at the Daily Dish Andrew Sullivan quotes Ethan Zuckerman’s book Rewire: Digital Cosmpolitans in the Age of Connection: Robert Putnam of Bowling Alone for years has been bemoaning how the Internet is going to separate us and how we’re losing the...
Liberal Arts and Civic Engagement
Jonathan Marks, a politics professor at Ursinus College, argues that we need to think more deeply about how liberal education and civic engagement education go together. For Marks, the place to begin this conversation is to “acknowledge the tension between...
Public Historians as Agents of Change
This video comes from a conference at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County called “Civic Innovations.” The entire video is worth a look, but definitely check out Denise Meringolo‘s talk on public history which begins at the five minute...
Universities and Civic Life
Over at the blog of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn discusses a fascinating new project from the Association of American Colleges and Universities called “Bringing Theory to Practice.” Here is a description of the project: The Bringing...