I read with interest fellow Anxious Bencher Jacob Randolph’s excellent recent post on the issues facing the United Methodist General Conference 2024. My interest arose from the fact that just over four years ago I wrote an analysis of the issues facing the United Methodist General Conference 2020. As Jake noted, that conference never happened. COVID postponed it all the way until this year. What struck me is how similar the issues still are–even after the possible split I wrote... Read more
The Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 was supposed to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. In the summer of 2022, jubilant pro-life advocates eagerly forecast an increase in the number of childbirths and encouraged churches to be prepared to help care for all the extra children in their communities who would be born to women in crisis situations who would otherwise have had abortions. And advocates of abortion rights issued dire predictions... Read more
This year marks one hundred years since the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, popularly known as the Johnson-Reed Act. Reflecting the nativism, xenophobia, and scientific racism of the early twentieth century, this law drastically reduced immigration to the United States, excluded non-white immigrants who were racially ineligible for citizenship, and created a permanent national origins quota system that prioritized immigrants from northern and western Europe. In creating these new discriminatory barriers to immigration, the Johnson-Reed Act transformed... Read more
I think Taylor Swift, J. J. Abrams, and pre-critical exegesis share something in common. They have mastered the method of employing “mystery” to foster enduring curiosity and interest in discovering the riches that their stories contain. When I chat with my family about a new Taylor Swift album, the pull of Swift’s music that keeps my family members listening is that they want to unlock the secrets of the stories that she tells. They want to know what they “really”... Read more
Two of the largest Protestant denominations in the US are holding international meetings in April/May and June. The United Methodist Church will hold its General Conference in late April and early May, and the Southern Baptist Convention will gather in early June. I grew up a Southern Baptist and lived my early adulthood in Southern Baptist life, and I am currently a faculty member at a United Methodist Church seminary. I figured I was as well positioned as any of... Read more
Through the years, I have been much engaged studying the topic of sexual abuse by clergy – usually Catholic clergy – and have served as an expert witness in litigation. In such settings, I often encounter historical arguments and debates which raise for me some really significant questions about how we can know some important things in the past, and how far we can prove a negative. The implications run far beyond the specific issue at stake, and affect how... Read more
A few notes before jumping into this interview, which I am delighted to present to you. Francis Spufford is the author or editor of nearly a dozen books spanning an array of genres and fields including memoir, popular history, fiction, and alternative history. I have reviewed his most recent novel, Cahokia Jazz and found it both delightful and poignant. I hope you’ll read it. After my encounter with the book, I reached out in the hopes of chatting with him... Read more
I have several Bibles on my shelf—some in ancient languages, some translations that I use for devotion, and some for study. My reading is often paired with commentaries or devotional literature, but even when I am reading without additional sources, I am never reading the bare text. In fact, each Bible we have has extrabiblical material therein, what we might call paratextual devices, which change the way we read and engage with the Scriptures. A paratextual device is an apparatus... Read more
Hi! I am a cultural sociologist on a tour of Texas Megachurches. Check out my first post here! Megachurches are pretty influential in the culture of US evangelicalism, but their influences are often left out of landscape conversations about the state of religion in public life. Polling outfits, like PRRI, often rely on numbers provided by denominations to build their data sets. But megachurches, which are comprised of at least 2k attendees and bring in an average of 5 million... Read more
Los Reyes Magos, ca. 1875-1900, carved and painted wood with metal and string. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection CASPAR: I have been looking around for quite a while. I no longer see the wonderous star, our wonderous guide, that has been leading us the whole time. What I really think, what I reckon, is that we have reached the place where the wonderous child whom we are seeking was born. Truly indeed, here is the great altepetl of... Read more
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