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December 2021

December 24, 2021
As any Bible reader knows, the infant Jesus was visited by Magi, who brought gold,...
December 23, 2021
Chris explains the history of a war memorial that's "both more ephemeral and more enduring...
December 22, 2021
Today we welcome Katie Heatherly to The Anxious Bench. Katie is a first year student...
December 21, 2021
Chris explains why It's a Wonderful Life is both his favorite Christmas movie... and yet...
December 20, 2021
'Tis the year's midnight, which is an excellent time to discuss themes of decline, contraction,...
December 17, 2021
I have been reading the sizable new book The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber...
December 16, 2021
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade next June – which is a likely...
December 15, 2021
The third and final part of David's series on evangelicals, immigration, and the 2020 Census
December 14, 2021
In a figurative sense, I stand by gravesides most of the time I teach, write,...
December 13, 2021
The dazzling lights and the decadent feasts all delight me, but the Christmas tradition that...
December 10, 2021
“What are you laughing so much about?” asked my wife in puzzlement. “I’m reading Thomas...
December 09, 2021
Chris pays tribute to his friend and mentor, Kevin Cragg (1945-2021), who taught ancient history...
December 08, 2021
I love Advent. It is the season in the church calendar that I have observed...
December 07, 2021
Joel Lawrence, executive director of the Center for Pastor Theologians, talks to us about reconstructing...
December 06, 2021
Last time I wrote about the amazing ecstatic behavior of followers of a radical Catholic...
December 03, 2021
This blog concerns a complaint I often have when I read Christian history, which in...
December 02, 2021
Guest blogger Angela Tarango shares some of her research on the material culture of Tejano...
December 01, 2021
In 164 BCE, the Maccabees, the Jewish priestly family that would go on to found the...

November 2021

November 30, 2021
This blog serves a number of purposes. It helps Christians think more deeply about the...
November 29, 2021
While religious Americans might have exaggerated the “godlessness” of communism during the Cold War, they...
November 26, 2021
In the opening years of the eighteenth century, England experienced an outbreak of spiritual excitement,...
November 25, 2021
Today we're happy to welcome back to the Bench Janine Giordano Drake. A faculty member in...
November 24, 2021
My daughter told a joke this week. "What do you call a priest who becomes...
November 23, 2021
Two recent biographers argue that Jimmy Carter was actually a significant U.S. president, in part...
November 22, 2021
One of the greatest popular culture events in Early Modern London was Bartholomew Fair, a...
November 19, 2021
Last time, I talked about the overwhelming climate shock that befell Europe in the year...
November 18, 2021
Supposedly, the split among American evangelical Protestants over slavery in the Civil War era reduced...
November 17, 2021
The jarring result, after centuries of Christian expansion to the East, is a burgeoning phenomenon...
November 16, 2021
Why Chris thinks that historians have a role to play in improving evangelical catechesis — the...
November 15, 2021
  Recent acts of violence and racism – most notably, the murders of George Floyd...
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