“a fire burnt the whole parish of St. Alkmund’s starting at daybreak on the eve of Pentecost….anno. 1312.” I was in a meeting with my fellow graduate deans when I first saw the pictures. My colleague just handed me his phone. He said something, but I don’t remember his words as the image drowned out everything else. The small screen connected me to people all over the world and we watched, together, in silence and shock, as fire ravaged Notre... Read more
In this Easter season, I will be thinking a lot about coal fires, anthrax, and anthracite. The coal fires, especially, are critical to our understanding of the New Testament accounts of the Resurrection. Like all good fires, they shed light – specifically, on how the Gospel of John was composed and edited. As a guide to where I am going in all this, I am going to explore the idea that early Christians believed that Jesus appeared to his disciples,... Read more
I have a literary dilemma. I want to rave about a piece of writing – a short story – that I would claim as a first rate masterpiece. It is also the best argument you will find for Biblical literacy as an essential aspect of Western culture. The problem is that I can’t tell you exactly why that is the case without giving away the key to the plot. I abhor spoilers. So let me tread as delicate a path... Read more
“American religious history is women’s history,” Ann Braude argued in an essay published nearly two decades ago. She pointed to a fundamental problem with the field. Most churchgoers throughout most of American history have been women, yet most historians narrate the history of men. Most leaders have been men, and archives are full of sources written by and about men. Even those scholars who have observed the imbalance in the pews, Braude noted, have reflected more on the absence of... Read more
Prayers shaping politics--or politics shaping prayer? Read more
Chris recommends an article surveying the religious history of the early Internet: both how Christian critics responded to it, and how its advocates used religious language. Read more
1965 represents a major turning point in American religious history. The Immigration and Nationality Act of this year marked a radical shift from the immigration policies of the past. Previous laws curtailed immigration from Asia and Africa, and gave preference to northern and western Europeans. Not surprisingly, the new immigrants brought with them their faiths: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and more. And today there are more Muslims in the United States than there are Episcopalians, Jews, or Presbyterians. Los Angles is... Read more
A passage in the Alexandrian writer Philo casts a curious light on Christian origins, and I wish I understood it better. Let me put it out there for discussion. It’s particularly appropriate as we approach Holy Week. Philo reports on the violent and confrontational politics of the Egypt of his day, particularly the 30s AD. Alexandria was sharply divided between Jewish and anti-Jewish factions, and riooting was always a risk. When King Herod Agrippa visited Alexandria in 38, the Jews... Read more
Last month marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the four-month, student-led strike at San Francisco State University. This strike–along with a similar protest at the University of California, Berkeley, that began in early 1969—captured national attention as student activists from the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front occupied buildings and organized sit-ins and other demonstrations. Hundreds of students were arrested, and clashes with police were violent. African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latina/o activists... Read more
Cancer is terrible. It steals life. We have so many more treatment options available now and so much progress has been made (my father who has been a family physician since 1972 keeps reminding me that medicine miracles are just right around the corner), yet cancer treatments still wear down the body and exhaust the mind. I think maybe because cancer is so terrible and still seems so elusive, we—the family and friend bystanders–don’t handle it well. We always want... Read more
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