Scriptures: Lost, Found, and Forged

Last updated on: May 13, 2026 at 9:05 am By Philip Jenkins

I have been posting about the loss and rediscovery of venerated ancient texts, including Scriptures. In a textual-based religion, such as Christianity, it is easy to attach a special significance to such rediscoveries, to suppose that they are destined to play a special Providential role at a special moment. Traditionally, what carried more weight than gospels? Therefore, clearly, a lost gospel must be a very special thing. But by the same token, it is tempting for anyone wishing to make... Read more

Has-been (You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby)

Last updated on: May 13, 2026 at 1:28 am By Michael Jimenez

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I have to admit that I am a little bit obsessed with Taylor Swift’s song “Elizabeth Taylor.” The fascination began with the simple fact that I just enjoy the song, probably listening to it at least once a day on my daily walk. Then the music video came out, which features scenes from Taylor’s movies (Elizabeth’s not Taylor Alison’s) and from her personal life: The video is like a time machine taking the viewer back to the age of classic... Read more

White Whales and Early Republic Indian Rights Petitions

Last updated on: May 11, 2026 at 11:29 pm By Wyatt Reynolds

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“Your Petitioners believe in the Republican doctrine that all men are born free and are entitled to protection by Law, in person and property —” ~Citizens of Plympton, MA “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” ~Herman Melville, Moby Dick I’ve been joking with friends recently that I’m hunting a white whale. My whale though is an enormous scroll of paper that may or may not have survived to today. If it has, it would... Read more

Protestant-Catholic Reconciliation in Europe?

Last updated on: May 11, 2026 at 8:41 pm By Thomas Albert Howard

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Review of Udi Greenberg, The End of Schism: Catholics, Protestants, and the Remaking of European Christian Life, 1880s-1970s (Harvard University Press, 2025) The Dartmouth historian Udi Greenberg has taken on an important and ambitious topic: the evolution of Protestant-Catholic relations in continental Western Europe from the late nineteenth century through the 1970s. Few would deny that relations between the two confessions improved markedly over this period. Whether this progress amounts to anything like an “end of the schism,” however, is... Read more

¡Que Viva Cristo Rey! La Cristiada martyrs 100 years later

Last updated on: May 8, 2026 at 1:33 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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The 5 first-class relics of Cristero martyrs displayed during Mass on a table with the blood-red tablecloth, April 17, 2026. Photo by author. The visiting priest, originally from Jalisco, intoned the final prayers of the Mass in his soft Spanish and we made the Sign of the Cross, standing expectantly in our pew. I glanced at my youngest son, just weeks away from making his First Holy Communion, and I could feel his anticipation. The moment had arrived! Everyone began... Read more

Books, Epics, and Scriptures, Lost and Found

Last updated on: May 7, 2026 at 5:54 pm By Philip Jenkins

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My recent posts have explored various lost texts, mainly in the context of ancient Greek epics. But I have a long-standing interest in that theme of loss and rediscovery, and particularly in the context of sacred writings and scriptures, which will be the subject of my (probable) next book. Lost texts are intriguing in their own right, but they also raise fascinating questions about our attitudes to knowledge and our quest for authoritative written justifications for what we think, or... Read more

Bad Sermons, Political Violence, and Evil May Day of 1517

Last updated on: May 5, 2026 at 9:33 pm By Lynneth Renberg

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Anyone who has spent much time in the church has probably heard a bad sermon or two (or three). Today, as we enter into May, I’d like to talk a bit about a very bad sermon from 1517, one that completely missed the point of Easter week and inspired a wave of political violence. It’s also one that has some resonances with our own moment and political debate– so come learn about perhaps the worst May Day celebration ever, sparked... Read more

7,000 Lines of Homer, and Only One Survived

Last updated on: May 1, 2026 at 9:36 pm By Philip Jenkins

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The Lost Epics of Thebes Last time I discussed just how distressingly much of ancient culture and literature is now lost, in whole or in part, and that fact gives us a distorted idea of those worlds. Today, we think of the ancient Greeks as being obsessed with the whole saga of Troy and the warriors who overthrew it, and what happened to them on their return. But there were whole other epic stories which in their days exercised just... Read more

An Epilogue to Our God Is an Awesome Brand

Last updated on: April 27, 2026 at 2:37 pm By Joey Cochran

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I turned in my manuscript to Our God Is an Awesome Brand on the twilight of Eastertide earlier this month. When I sent in the manuscript to my editor at Brazos Press, I didn’t include a conclusion outside of the concluding chapter of the book. Since turning in the manuscript, I’ve spent some considerable time thinking about what an epilogue to the book would have looked like. I’ve tried to demonstrate restraint in providing too many spoilers about the book, over the... Read more

Conversion from Below

Last updated on: April 23, 2026 at 10:09 am By Lisa Clark Diller

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I’m researching Catholic families in seventeenth century England. Catholicism was outlawed and its practice could be punished with death—and from time to time there were indeed outbursts of violence against the small Catholic community. In spite of this oppression and suppression, Catholics still tried to share their faith and convert Protestants around them, even though such proselytizing could result in prosecution. Missionary efforts and attempts at conversion are key to Christian history. In many ways, Christian history over the last... Read more

What kind of bird brought Noah a sign of dry land?