The Cold War Origins of a Christian Alternative to May Day

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 8:44 pm By Chris Gehrz

In May 1991 the Catholic Church marked the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the Industrial Age encyclical in which Pope Leo XIII insisted that “It is neither just nor human so to grind men down with excessive labour as to stupefy their minds and wear out their bodies.” Engaged in a “re-reading” of Rerum Novarum as Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, Pope John Paul II warned against celebrating an unfettered capitalism that could “achieve a greater satisfaction of material human... Read more

From Justice, Good Lord Deliver Us

Last updated on: May 2, 2018 at 9:56 am By Philip Jenkins

In my last post, I criticized the idea that Christians should not cooperate with the criminal justice system, to the point that churches refuse to call police. That does not mean that churches should accept every aspect of contemporary ideas of crime and punishment, as they assuredly have so much that is useful and innovative to bring from their own distinctive traditions. Historically, so much of our criminal justice system has been shaped by Christian views and attitudes. Among other... Read more

When Churches Don’t Call the Police

Last updated on: April 27, 2018 at 7:07 am By Philip Jenkins

The Washington Post recently decided to create a radical church-based social movement. According to the headline, “Churches Make A Drastic Pledge In The Name Of Social Justice: To Stop Calling The Police” (The story was by Julie Zauzmer). Now, further examination reveals that we are dealing with a tiny handful of churches, most of which are in the San Francisco Bay area, where normal rules of consensus reality do not apply. In no sense is this some kind of widespread... Read more

Book Review: The Way of Jesus

Last updated on: April 10, 2018 at 9:21 am By johnturner

An aspiring scholar of English literature once bumped into W.H. Auden on Oxford’s High Street. Jay Parini at the time was troubled. “I wondered if God existed,” he recalls, “or if he was simply a human creation.” Parini struggled not only with religious doubt, but anxiety and depression. He needed “courage to continue.” Auden helped him find it. The poet could tell that Parini “wasn’t in good emotional shape” and invited him to his home. He “suggested gently that few... Read more

Standing by Graves, Practicing Resurrection: History as Christian Vocation

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 5:12 pm By Chris Gehrz

After writing eulogies for three colleagues in the last three years, Chris reflects on what he has learned about death, resurrection, and his calling as a historian. Read more

Did Evangelicals “Kidnap” the Word Evangelical?

Last updated on: April 23, 2018 at 7:27 pm By Chris Gehrz

Did evangelicals kidnap the word "evangelical" from other Christians? If so, says Chris, they were repeating an old pattern. Read more

Does Everything Happen For a Reason?

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 11:41 am By Agnes Howard

Life is hard. Sometimes it is very hard, pain beyond the ordinary forecast for the walk through this vale of tears. A death warrant served by cancer on a 35-year-old professor, wife, and new mother. An ultrasound that predicts possible disability for an expected, beloved son. Such news makes two questions urgent: what could God be doing, and what am I supposed to do about it? Figures in the history of American religion have provided some answers, few more feisty than those... Read more

New Mormon Leadership: Initial Thoughts

Last updated on: April 20, 2018 at 10:43 am By johnturner

On April 1, 2018, the usually stolid hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints descended into upper room chaos not present since the 1877 death of Brigham Young. The cause was the addition of two men to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, men Latter-day Saints regard as prophets, seers, and revelators who hold the earthly keys to the Kingdom of God. I wrote about the changes to LDS leadership in a piece for the Wall Street... Read more

Forgetting the Thirty Years War

Last updated on: April 20, 2018 at 10:24 am By Philip Jenkins

Some of the greatest events in human history simply fail to register in popular consciousness. Last year, we rightly heard a terrific amount about the Reformation, or at least, about its early Lutheran phase. But the Spring of 2018 actually marks the 400th anniversary of the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, another critical event that was at least as significant as the Reformation. The war raged for a full generation, and claimed some eight million lives. As to its... Read more

The Church of James Dobson?

Last updated on: August 21, 2025 at 4:28 pm By Kristin Du Mez

Is Focus on the Family a church? It depends who you ask. And it depends when you ask, apparently. Back in 2016, Focus on the Family reportedly asked the IRS to classify the organization as a church, in order to dodge the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate and secure other regulatory exemptions. Understandably, the IRS was initially skeptical, according to documents obtained by RightWingWatch. But lawyers for Focus on the Family “insisted that the organization meets most of the tax... Read more

Who built an ark to survive the great flood?