Out of the Backlands

Last updated on: July 1, 2018 at 6:41 am By Philip Jenkins

I recently renewed an acquaintance with an old friend – a very old friend. For many years, I have been an enthusiastic advocate of the Brazilian work Os Sertões, or Rebellion in the Backlands (1902), by Euclides da Cunha. Despite its early date, it is a wonderful source for understanding modern day Global South Christianity, and especially Pentecostalism. The problem was that the best available translation was dated, and quite difficult. Recently, though, I read a more recent (2010) version,... Read more

Christians and the Death Penalty

Last updated on: July 4, 2018 at 10:14 pm By johnturner

From the Anxious Bench archives: Why should Christians (and other Americans) oppose the death penalty, at least as currently practiced in the United States? Not because it is unbiblical. A few years ago, Mark Tooley rather helpfully corrected a post of mine on this point. Prior to the particular laws given to Moses, God told Noah and his sons: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” One could debate the extent... Read more

Unexpected Sites of Christian Pacifism: Pentecostal Edition

Last updated on: June 16, 2018 at 5:49 pm By David Swartz

I’m on a blogging break while conducting research in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I hope you find this post from 2014 to be an intriguing counter-narrative on this July 4 holiday. –David *** In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Attorney General of the United States John Ashcroft, a prominent advocate of the war in Iraq, wrote a song called “Let the Eagle Soar” (you can listen to it here). It is a deeply patriotic song, one he liked... Read more

“A Christian Country”: Debating America in 1939

Last updated on: July 2, 2018 at 9:33 pm By Chris Gehrz

Nowadays, we tend to associate the notion of the United States as a “Christian nation” with politically and theologically conservative evangelicals, like those analyzed in John Fea’s new book. But as I’ve continued my research on Charles Lindbergh, I’ve come across a very different kind of “Christian nation” argument — one made by a political and theological progressive who was horrified by the racialized language Lindbergh used to oppose American participation in World War II. Embed from Getty Images A... Read more

Vatican II as Experienced at the Local Level

Last updated on: July 1, 2018 at 10:41 pm By Thomas Albert Howard

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) is widely recognized as one of the most important religious events of the twentieth century—even if its reception has often proven polarizing among Catholics. Called into being by Pope John XXIII (r. 1958-63) and regarded as the twenty-first ecumenical council by the Catholic Church (the first was Nicaea in 325AD), the council ushered in major theological and liturgical modifications. Too often, however, the Council is narrated and analyzed only at the elite level, i.e., from... Read more

Faith, Fertility, and the Fate of American Religion

Last updated on: June 29, 2018 at 10:21 am By Philip Jenkins

The United States just passed a critical statistical landmark, one that I think – I fear – has immense implications for the nation’s religious life. If I am right, and we are dealing with early days, we might seriously be looking at the opening stages of a large scale process of secularization. After being reported and speculated about for decades, that secularization might finally be happening. As I will argue, the term “secularization” over-simplifies the process, but let that stand... Read more

Immigration Exclusion as Religious Exclusion

Last updated on: June 27, 2018 at 5:50 pm By Kristin Du Mez

Melissa Borja, assistant professor in American Culture at the University of Michigan, returns today to the Anxious Bench. This week the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to uphold President Trump’s travel ban, on the grounds that it was within the President’s power to restrict immigration in the interest of national security. The decision met harsh condemnation and protest. Most notably, Justice Sonia Sotomayor offered a fiery dissent. Beginning by saying that “the United States of America is a... Read more

The Value of Failure in Graduate School

Last updated on: June 26, 2018 at 4:46 pm By Beth Allison Barr

This is from my Anxious Bench archives. I currently am leaving for a research trip in England (until end of July) and am gathering more material for future posts! In the meantime, this post continues to resonate with so many, so I thought it could help some more graduate students this summer. My husband suggested once that I have lunch with a friend. She was a graduate student, and struggling in the program. “Did you tell her I almost quit?”... Read more

The Half-Year in Review

Last updated on: June 25, 2018 at 8:19 pm By Chris Gehrz

Counting down your favorite Anxious Bench posts from the first half of 2018 Read more

After the Age of Aquarius

Last updated on: June 23, 2018 at 4:19 am By Philip Jenkins

I’m returning here to a theme I have raised in this blog in the past, namely whatever happened to the occult and esoteric in modern America? Where did the New Age go? You may think that this question has nothing much to do with Christians, and it should certainly not concern them. But it really should. Recently, the New York Times published a column by Krista Burton, about visiting a “crystal store,” the kind of New Age establishment that deals... Read more

Which book of the Bible ends with "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord"?