They were rude, their words were crude. Occasionally, a few went nude. The Quakers reached New England in July 1656. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher arrived from Barbados and were promptly arrested. Their persecutors “stripped them stark naked, not missing head nor feet, searching betwixt their toes, and amongst their hair, tewing [pulling] and abusing their bodies more than modesty can mention.” (This is not I meant by “a few went nude.” Several Quakers went naked in imitation of the... Read more
What makes us think that this week’s version of white evangelical "racial reconciliation" will be any different? Read more
Too often, writes guest blogger Sara Shady, "Christians want [Martin Luther] King’s words, but not the actions they prescribe." Read more
Lately I have been re-reading Benedict Anderson’s classic, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, first published in 1983. It is the most cited book in the modern social sciences and Anderson’s phrase “imagined community” as a descriptor of the modern nation-state is well-nigh ubiquitous. In reading the book again, I have been struck by the global nature of Anderson’s reach; he freely draws samples from Latin America, the Habsburg Empire, China, and the Middle East in... Read more
A few days after another black Minnesotan, George Floyd, was killed by police, Chris considers the history of racial prejudice in his home state. Read more
This post offer a translation between British and American English, and suggests why you really should know about “Whitsun.” Although the name does survive in parts of the USA, it is no longer anything like as common as it once was in this country. I see my spellcheck identifies Whitsun as a likely error for something else, presumably an actual English word. This coming Sunday, Christians around the world celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the origins of which can be... Read more
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and in many ways, it has been a particularly somber one for Asian Americans. Tensions between the U.S. and China continue to rise, and Asian and Asian American people continue to be blamed for the coronavirus and targeted in an alarming number of hate incidents across the country. And yet there is still reason to feel hope and possibility—even celebration—in this fraught moment. Earlier this month, PBS released its groundbreaking docu-series,... Read more
Today’s guest post is by my friend and colleague Dr. Adina Kelley. Dr. Kelley earned her Ph.D. in 2019 from Baylor University, where she won the university’s Graduate Student Teaching Award. She then served as a full-time instructor in Baylor’s history department 2019-2020. This fall Dr. Kelley will begin a new full-time position as instructor of history at University of Northwestern – Saint Paul. Congratulations, Dr. Kelley! As a college history instructor, the end of a semester brings a combination... Read more
Donald Trump's recent praise of the "good bloodlines" of Henry Ford got Chris thinking about Ford's friend, Charles Lindbergh, who shared the auto maker's enthusiasm for eugenics. Read more
The Book of Acts reports that on the day of Pentecost, the apostles were in Jerusalem at the time of the great pilgrim feast of Shavuot, or Weeks, which occurs fifty days after Passover. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for that fifty day period. Jews still celebrate Shavuot, which this year begins on May 28, but they no longer use the term Pentecost, as the Christian connotations are now so strong. (Christian Pentecost this year falls on... Read more
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