American Empire, Voodoo, and Black Religion

Last updated on: August 2, 2024 at 5:09 am By Philip Jenkins

Empires affect religions and religious life in many ways, often unintentional, and the American empire was no different from its counterparts. I have described how, on occasion, metropolitan populations are influenced by the religions of subject peoples, and actually adopt them. But a quite different response was also possible, namely that ruling groups are appalled and disgusted by what they encounter on the frontiers of empire, and that reaction affects their attitude to quite separate kinds of religious behavior. Stereotypes... Read more

Evangelical Outrage Over Olympic Opening Ceremony

Last updated on: July 31, 2024 at 2:44 am By Joey Cochran

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Outrage aptly describes the evangelical response to the Paris Olympic Opening Ceremonies this past week. I, like many, did not have the luxury to watch the opening ceremonies on live TV. Rather, I found out about the purportedly offensive and objectionable content second-hand through social media. Evangelical Leaders Respond to Living Art The first evangelical response I saw to the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony was a strident condemnation that came from Ed Stetzer’s X account. The account accompanied the post... Read more

Joseph H. Jackson and Christian Unity

Last updated on: July 30, 2024 at 5:52 pm By Guest Contributor

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In October 1962, the New York Times ran an article entitled “U.S. Negro Baptist Hails Council.”[1] The “U.S. Negro Baptist” in question was Joseph Harrison Jackson, pastor of Olivet Church in Chicago and president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. (NBC). The “council” referred to the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican held in Rome. Whereas the World Baptist Alliance declined to pursue an invitation to Vatican II, Jackson was the only Baptist observer invited by Pope John XXIII.... Read more

What Black Women Bloggers Can Teach American Evangelicals

Last updated on: July 29, 2024 at 1:02 am By Guest Contributor

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A series of overlapping internal crises and a steep decline in church membership over the past decade has led to much handwringing in American Evangelicalism. Sexual abuse cover-ups, the public fall of several megachurch pastors and controversial decisions regarding COVID-19 have grabbed headlines, dominated Twitter feeds, and resulted in a broad feeling of burn-out among American pastors. To make matters worse, these pressing crises took place against the backdrop of a precipitous decline in the percentage of Americans who call... Read more

How The American Empire Created Prophets and Messiahs

Last updated on: July 25, 2024 at 2:10 pm By Philip Jenkins

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I have been working on the religious dimensions of American empire, and particularly some of the unintended consequences of that story. We all know about empires sponsoring missions among conquered peoples, but on occasion ideas spread from colonized and subjugated peoples to infiltrate the metropolis, where they might even establish a kind of spiritual bridgehead. I have mentioned this in the context of the New Age and esoteric ideas as they developed during the twentieth century. Native Prophets Spreading official... Read more

What 3 Conservative Denominations Decided About Women

Last updated on: July 24, 2024 at 2:31 am By Andrea L. Turpin

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This summer three theologically conservative Protestant denominations held their annual conventions. All three made news for their decisions regarding women. But the three have radically different polity, which is to say they govern themselves differently. I’m fascinated by how polity seems to affect deliberations on the role of women in the church, even among churches that share a similar belief in the veracity of the Bible. All three denominations believe the Bible to be accurate according to what they understand... Read more

The Catholic Conversion of J. D. Vance

Last updated on: July 22, 2024 at 9:04 pm By Daniel K. Williams

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This blog post is reposted from Current: Now that he is the Republican vice presidential nominee, J. D. Vance is one of the most famous Catholic converts in the United States. He is now the tenth Catholic to win a place on a presidential ticket. But of these ten Catholic nominees, Vance is the only Catholic convert – the only one who did not grow up in the faith. As soon as his selection was announced, I read over his conversion... Read more

The ’24 Election Has Changed. Here’s What We Need To Do Now.

Last updated on: July 22, 2024 at 8:28 pm By Melissa Borja

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From an assassination attempt on a former president to the suspended campaign of a current president, Americans have faced a firehose of political news over the past few weeks. Many of knew that the 2024 election would be wild. But I personally didn’t imagine that it would be filled with so many plot twists that Aaron Sorkin himself would be writing about the connections between the political drama he scripted for The West Wing and the one we’re currently... Read more

Pastors Complaining About Church Attendance: A Tradition

Last updated on: July 21, 2024 at 11:22 pm By Jacob Randolph

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I’m old enough to remember going to Sunday evening services at my Baptist church growing up. Sunday mornings were the big event, of course, but Sunday evenings were for the die-hard church-goers, the hardcore Sabbatarians. Of course, it was a truism that church attendance was no sure indicator of eternal status. “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.” At the same time, pastors emphasized church attendance was a... Read more

Kingdoms Of This World

Last updated on: July 12, 2024 at 6:48 am By Philip Jenkins

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I’m delighted to announce the publication of my new book, Kingdoms of This World: How Empires Have Made and Remade Religions (Baylor University Press, 2024). Here is the catalog description: Throughout history, the world’s great religions have been profoundly shaped by their encounters with successive empires. Secular empires have provided the means by which religions achieve their global scale, and any worthwhile historical account of those religions must reckon with that imperial dimension. In some cases, empires have favored and... Read more