Britain during the 1960s and 1970s suffered from a Prime Minister named Harold Wilson. Once, when Wilson was to read the lesson at Westminster Abbey, the clergy involved asked him which version of the Bible he would like to use – King James, Revised, which one? Flustered, Wilson replied that he would read from the Word of God. We should sympathize with his problem. When we say that the Bible is the Word of God, it surely helps to ask... Read more
“I distrust folks who have ugly things to say about Karl Barth. I like old Barth. He throws the furniture around.” Flannery O’Connor One of the astonishing things about contemporary U.S. Christianity is the continuing popularity of C.S. Lewis. If you might have grown up in a Christian (evangelical) cultural bubble, then the fact that Christians read Lewis is not so shocking. For instance, it is almost guaranteed that if you attended Christian school then you probably read The Lion,... Read more
The emergence of mid-twentieth century evangelicalism, often referred to as “New Evangelicalism” or “Neo-Evangelicalism,” created an influential conglomerate for the purpose of regaining cultural and political power, and it was nothing short of a re-branding effort of conservative, reformed, protestant Christians, who had witnessed how the “Fundamentalist” brand power had been diminished in the public’s eye by modernist pastors like Harry Emerson Fosdick and journalists like H. L. Mencken. I have come to refer to this turning point in the... Read more
A month ago on this site, in “The Crisis of the Evangelical Heart” Joey Cochran said he was “flummoxed” by John Fea calling Jesus and John Wayne and The Making of Biblical Womanhood “woefully flat” examples of “evangelical history” in a recent Atlantic article because he had also previously heard Fea praise both authors’ books. Regardless of the fact that Fea also praised these books in his article, something else that caught my attention that I want to try to... Read more
This is a click-bait question, but over the last few weeks it is one that has been on my own mind as I’ve been helping my students contextualize the Adventist denomination within the larger story of Christianity in the United States. What groups we think we are part of matters, and Seventh-day Adventists have managed to spend most of their history talking about evangelicals without really feeling part of that community. Asking “are Seventh-day Adventists evangelicals?” allows us to consider... 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 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 as I... Read more
If you’ve been following the news this past week, you’ve likely seen something about the “God Bless the USA Bible”– a $60 KJV Bible with United States government documents interlaced throughout, marketed and sold by Donald Trump in what he described as a way to celebrate Holy Week. The problems with launching a Bible associated with and promoted by a political figure (particularly during Holy Week) are hopefully obvious to us all (Esau McCaulley’s piece in the New York Times... Read more
by Janine Giordano Drake When Woodrow Wilson ran for president in 1912, he called himself a “Christian.” The man was a Southern Presbyterian aristocrat, accustomed to a world where wealthy churchgoers had to own expensive suits, dresses, and hats, as well as pay an annual pew rent, in order to attend church regularly. By 1890, the date of the map below, Southern Presbyterians represented some of the wealthiest, most well-connected people in every county in the South. Some Presbyterians contributed... Read more
A passage in the Alexandrian writer Philo casts a curious light on Christian origins, and specifically Easter, and I wish I understood it better. Let me put it out there for discussion. It’s particularly appropriate for precisely today – for Maundy Thursday, as we segue into Good Friday. 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 rioting was always a... Read more
A couple weeks ago I saw the classic 1962 Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance for the first time. It made me think of grad school. Before you get too concerned, specifically it made me think of a book I read in my twentieth-century history seminar: The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement. First, some background, in case you too are behind on your consumption of Westerns. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—intentionally shot in... Read more
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