As I sit down in the local library to write this post, I can see the ocean extending beyond the tree tops and red tiled roofs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Following the curve of the coast, I can see beach towns, most notably a collection of tall white buildings that must be Santa Monica, where I lived when I moved to SoCal in 2004. But then the buildings stop. Sweeping my eyes to the left there is an eerie... Read more
I offer a column on themes of deception, false identity, and the utter unreliability of all forms of external authority, including (apparently) the divine. I have been working on a truly odd text called the Gospel of Barnabas, which purports to be a secret gospel revealed to the early Christian figure of that name. The more I get into it, the more intriguing ideas and insights I find. Growing directly from that, I will explore one truly weird story from... Read more
“Nature is beautiful because it comes to my eyes before death.” Kawabata Yasunari Recently David Vernon, who has a new book on Japanese writer Yukio Mishima coming out soon, posted a comment on X (formerly known as Twitter) that I couldn’t agree with more: “Whatever we lose in translation, we lose far more by not reading at all.” It reminded me of an earlier article I wrote about my own literary journey years ago reading Latin American literature, and another... Read more
David Blight, the eminent Civil War historian, begins every class he teaches in the same way: by quoting from Herodotus’s histories. “This is the display of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, so that things done by man not be forgotten in time, and that great and marvelous deeds, some displayed by the Hellenes, some by the barbarians, not lose their glory, including among others what was the cause of their waging war on each other… I am bound to... Read more
I hope I might be forgiven for using this post to make known two publications (one out already and another forthcoming) that I think (hope!) will be of interest to Anxious Bench readers. The first is an essay, “Armenia Sighs,” based on a trip I made in March to the country of Armenia, which remains locked in conflict with its neighbor, Azerbaijan, due to the latter’s invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani province predominantly peopled with Armenians—that is until recently. Here... Read more
When I first was asked to be the editor of the Anxious Bench, I was astonished. I had been following this site since its beginning and well before I knew I’d become a historian. I had long depended upon the Bench to be a source for thoughtful and smart engagement with current issues in society, from a historical perspective. My decision to step away from this role is quite simple. I have a pressing deadline to meet with a writing... Read more
After the recent horrors in New Orleans, we have heard a huge amount about lone wolf terrorism and self-radicalization, with many debates about when and whether a seemingly isolated act of extreme violence can properly be categorized as terrorism. I have been publishing and teaching on lone wolf terror at least as long as any other expert in the field – thirty years or so – and I have things to say on the topic that are still not widely... Read more
For me, the days off around the holidays traditionally include many things: more baked goods than wisdom says should be consumed, football, family time, and books. This year, one of those books was Jennifer Powell McNutt’s The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today. Released this fall, McNutt’s book is a beautiful mix of theological reflections, Scripture analysis and exegesis, history, and pastoral musings. She seeks, like someone restoring a painting, to uncover a... Read more
It’s the beginning of the year and all over social media the pros and cons of “Dry January” are being discussed. After a season of feasting, a season of fasting is appropriate. I come from a Christian denomination with a history of anti-drinking lobbying, and whose statement of beliefs includes prohibitions on alcohol. I don’t drink myself, though perhaps for different reasons than I was given as I grew up. So, I found myself listening with interest to the latest... Read more
In the wave of obituaries for Jimmy Carter, the common theme is that as president, he was a decent and honorable man who faced near-impossible circumstances at home and abroad, which made his time in office a failure in many respects. Arguably, the Camp David agreements marked a bright spot, but there is plenty to debate about even that. Only after he left the White House did he come into his own, as the best ex-President we ever had. Such... Read more
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