Prayer and Pluralism at the RNC and DNC

Last updated on: August 27, 2024 at 12:19 am By Melissa Borja

Last month, Harmeet Dhillon, an Indian American Republican leader and a devout Sikh, recited the Ardas, a Sikh prayer, during the benediction on the first night of the Republican National Convention. The backlash against Dhillon from fellow Republicans was swift and intense. On X, for example, Lauren Witzke, the 2020 Republican Senate candidate from Delaware, reposted Dhillon’s benediction and said, “How about you get deported instead, you pagan blasphemer. God saves our president and the RNC mocks him with... Read more

Who Are Evangelicals, Again? Two Historians Weigh In

Last updated on: August 23, 2024 at 4:44 pm By Jacob Randolph

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In a recent, already field-defining, essay in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, historian Matthew Avery Sutton offers a historiography of American evangelicalism. As he explains: In the 1980s, in response to the rise of the Religious Right, prominent religious historians occupying influential chairs and possessing access to institutional resources, cultivated a historical “consensus” that defined evangelicalism broadly, abstractly and optimistically, and created an unbroken lineage of both orthodoxy and orthopraxy throughout American history. However, Sutton argues, this... Read more

American Empire: Settlers, Colonists, and Invaders

Last updated on: August 22, 2024 at 11:12 am By Philip Jenkins

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I have posted several items on the idea of empire as it applies to American history. Although a generation ago, even to speak of American empire was contentious and provocative, today it is an absolutely standard way of understanding national history from earliest times, and also – my particular interest – its religious history. But I should be more specific. Empires are by no means a one size fits all model, as they take various forms, and one of those... Read more

Pentecostals in Hong Kong: A Conversation with Alex Mayfield

Last updated on: August 20, 2024 at 8:53 am By David Swartz

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My conversation with historian Alex Mayfield about Pentecostalism in Hong Kong Read more

Lectio Divina and the Unchristian Assumptions of AI

Last updated on: August 20, 2024 at 5:46 am By Adam Renberg

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As teachers prepare for the approaching fall semester, questions surrounding artificial intelligence in the classroom are ramping up once again. Should we seek to integrate AI into assessments and assignments? How should we monitor its use? And how should we treat cases when students use AI on papers? While I have encountered numerous opinions about AI, both positive and negative, I must admit I have never been a fan of this technology in academic spaces—but I think there might be... Read more

The Beginnings of Becoming the Pastor’s Wife

Last updated on: August 17, 2024 at 12:17 am By Beth Allison Barr

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“I still do the bulletin.” She was the wife of a retired small-town pastor. We stood next to the booth sponsored by her church, watching as volunteers served hot dogs to children and firefighters at the summer festival. “Our new preacher is good, but he isn’t married. I’ll do the bulletin until he gets a wife,” she said. My husband was standing close behind me. I heard a muffled sound of laughter as he turned and walked away. The... Read more

Nuestra Señora de La Leche: A Holy Babe at the Breast

Last updated on: August 16, 2024 at 4:12 am By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” –Luke 11:27-28 When the visiting priest from Nigeria read this Gospel passage on Wednesday night during the Vigil Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, my children, standing beside me in... Read more

Jews and Christians in Roman Palestine

Last updated on: August 15, 2024 at 2:21 am By Philip Jenkins

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Sometimes you think you know a story very well, and then you come across a fact or a body of evidence that proves you have been wrong all along. Today’s blog concerns something called the Gallus Revolt, which has unsettled a number of my historical assumptions about both Jewish and Christian history in Late Antiquity. The immediate spark for this column is an important article by scholar Jacob Sivak, entitled “Forgotten Jewish Revolts Show Poor Historical Literacy In Jewish World.”... Read more

Hello Again, George W: Latino Politics and Pictures

Last updated on: August 14, 2024 at 12:44 am By Michael Jimenez

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This has been an active summer for me, one that I did not anticipate, and I have not even written yet about my family trip to Japan! Recently I have read some new books on Latino politics and Christianity that I would like to highlight and connect it to two events: a new paper that was published and a somewhat formative moment in my life. First, I worked with a couple of my students on a research project this summer... Read more

An Unexpected Friendship’s Influence

Last updated on: August 13, 2024 at 1:14 am By Wyatt Reynolds

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In the spring semester, I did a bit of research towards a project that while a bit outside my wheelhouse, is influencing my methodologies in ways I think are interesting and important. I’ll be presenting a version of this project at a conference this fall, and I thought I might introduce a bit of it here also. This will be part one of a series over the next couple months where I explain my process and introduce pieces of what... Read more