Pelicans Revisited

Last updated on: August 14, 2019 at 11:47 pm By johnturner

Several years ago, I wrote a post about the way that early modern Christians understood pelicans as a symbol of God’s mercy. I’m reposting my original piece below, drawing from the Anxious Bench archives. I’ve been reflecting on the piece recently. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the symbol of the rooster in early Christianity. And I noticed that my fellow blogger Chris Gehrz remembered my post when watching a documentary this past spring. Perhaps a reminder that Christians sometimes try... Read more

Yoder School: An Interview with Phyllis Miller Swartz

Last updated on: August 12, 2019 at 10:32 pm By David Swartz

David interviews his mother Phyllis Miller Swartz about her just-released memoir Read more

The Impossible, Necessary History of the Hymnal

Last updated on: August 13, 2019 at 12:28 am By Chris Gehrz

Chris finds that a recent book helps bring to life not just the history of hymnals, but the histories of reading, of women in the church, and of childhood. Read more

Seeking the Spirit in the Desert

Last updated on: August 11, 2019 at 4:27 pm By Agnes Howard

Sedona, Arizona, is full of vortexes, as they call them locally, spots where the earth is supposed swirl out life-force energy. “Find out what a vortex is and how it can help you,” the town’s promotional literature invites. My husband and I learned this when we, this summer, had time to make a day trip. One can’t help but think: what is it with us, with Americans, that the way this luxe locale gilds its lily is to promise the... Read more

America’s Last Witches?

Last updated on: August 16, 2019 at 9:52 am By Philip Jenkins

I have two themes today: one about the history of witchcraft; and another about an illustration of media ignorance of religion that has even stunned me. Through the years I have written on the history of witchcraft, in many aspects – the historical realities, but also the popular culture elements, and the abundant mythologies. Recently I have been intrigued by one question, namely how and when classic witchcraft persecutions faded and ceased in North America. The answer is: a great... Read more

Presbyterians, Politics, And American Society: A Conversation With Historians In The PCA

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 9:33 am By Beth Allison Barr

Today we welcome Otis W. Pickett and his colleague Brian Franklin as they share their thoughts on a history panel held at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Otis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Mississippi College. Brian Franklin is Associate Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. Photo Credit to Rev. Jeff Jordan. Historians have long engaged in spirited discussions about the ways in which we... Read more

How Evangelicals Forgot Women’s History

Last updated on: April 27, 2021 at 4:45 pm By Beth Allison Barr

A country church burned to the ground last week. Flames billowed over its wooden spires in a scene reminiscent of Notre Dame. But while stone defended the Parisian cathedral, the timber walls of the Church of the Visitation in Westphalia, Texas, didn’t stand a chance. Winds blustered that morning, fanning the fire and ensuring total destruction. I only visited the church once. It was pure chance. My son plays football, and one of games last year was played on a muddy... Read more

Baptists (and Other Christians) Against Christian Nationalism

Last updated on: August 6, 2019 at 12:47 am By Chris Gehrz

How Baptists, Lutherans, Quakers, and other Christians are drawing on American religious history to make the case against Christian nationalism. Read more

Rethinking a Nation

Last updated on: August 4, 2019 at 4:44 pm By Philip Jenkins

Actually seeing a new book in print is a nerve-racking experience. Dare you open it, or will you see a typo? Oh Lord… But with that caveat, I am delighted to announce the appearance of my new book, Rethinking a Nation: The United States in the 21st Century (Macmillan/Red Globe). That’s a wide-ranging history of the US since 2000 – political, cultural, social, economic.As a period in American history, the years since 2000 have been at least comparable to any... Read more

Losing the Faith? Japan’s Hidden Christians

Last updated on: July 22, 2019 at 9:21 am By Philip Jenkins

I have been posting about apostasy in a Christian context, and how some believers maintained their secret faith through long periods of persecution, as crypto-Christians, or as Nicodemites. The classic example of this comes from Japan, and I will here adapt and update a column I offered here some years ago. I was describing the Japanese campaign against Christianity, which peaked in the early seventeenth century, and which became famous in recent times with the 2016 film of Silence. That... Read more