How Diversity Drives Sanctification After Easter

Last updated on: April 14, 2026 at 5:50 pm By Paul Thompson

Diversity and Sanctification A week ago we celebrated Easter, Christ’s victory over death, hell, and the grave. Without debate, Christ’s bodily resurrection is the most central and consequential event — and doctrine — of the Christian faith. The apostle Paul makes this clear in I Corinthians 15:14 when he writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” During my Good Friday morning devotions, I compared the crucifixion accounts of Luke and... Read more

Cracking Cascarones in a Cemetery

Last updated on: April 10, 2026 at 2:06 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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Author’s children cleaning their grandfather’s headstone We walked gingerly over the browning grass and the clumps of disturbed desert clay, careful not to disrespect the dead buried below. At our designated plot, we unfurled a blue outdoor blanket onto which two of my children knelt, spray bottle and dust rag in hand. As they cleaned my father’s dusty headstone, my older son guided my mother onto her knees, then held open an umbrella over her to block the sun. I... Read more

Exit, Pursued by Theosophists

Last updated on: April 4, 2026 at 5:58 am By Philip Jenkins

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Shakespeare has the legendary stage direction “Exit, pursued by a bear.” My own version of that in my scholarly work has been, “Write, pursued by Theosophists.” In my last few books, I have found Theosophy and Theosophists cropping up in so many different topics, and often, unexpectedly central to that subject, and above all in the era from roughly 1875 through 1940. Among other areas, that includes the Western encounter of South Asian religion; the modern rediscovery of alternate scriptures... Read more

The Fall of the American Gideon

Last updated on: April 8, 2026 at 9:08 am By Michael Jimenez

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“It became a snare to Gideon and to his house” Judges 8:27 I debated for a couple of weeks whether or not to address the startling allegations against UFW labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez, who I have written about multiple times in the last two years at the Anxious Bench and in other essays. In fact, I was recently interviewed about the impact of these allegations. I figured with the interview that I have said what I wanted to... Read more

Updating the Readings: Recent Books on Women and the Church

Last updated on: April 3, 2026 at 12:30 am By Lynneth Renberg

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I’ve not been thinking a lot about teaching this year– while in Norway on a grant, I’ve been immersed in reading, learning, and writing for my third book. But I got an email this week that reminded me that while the fall semester might still feel distant, it will be here before I know it. It is indeed time to choose books for fall classes. One of my classes this fall is a course on Women in the Church. This... Read more

Ray Bradbury’s Great Christian Story

Last updated on: April 9, 2026 at 10:53 am By Philip Jenkins

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I have a dilemma. I want to share my enthusiasm for a literary work that I regard as a really significant piece of Christian writing, which might even be a key piece of evangelism in its own right, but I can’t do that properly without revealing major spoilers, which concentrate heavily in the last few lines. Bear with me as I try to navigate the problems here. I will also address the mystery of just how this particular story came... Read more

Letters of Recommendation: The Last of the Correspondence?

Last updated on: March 27, 2026 at 7:31 am By Lisa Clark Diller

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I wrote recently about the importance of letters as a form of evidence for historians. Letters allow for someone to decide reflectively what to say and how to say it their particular audience. There is a time delay that forces a bit more narrative. Of course, letters make assumptions about what the recipient knows and as a scholar I wish more of the people writing these letters would talk about their topics in more detail. Still, they require the... Read more

The Foundations of Re-Enchantment

Last updated on: March 26, 2026 at 7:03 am By Philip Jenkins

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I recently came across a book that resonated with so many of my interests! This was The Foundations of Re-Enchantment: Freemasonry, Theosophy, and the Occult Revival, by Christopher Coome. Those Masonic and Theosophical themes have been of interest to me for a great many years, but especially right now with my work on America in the 1890s. See my last post here! Important stuff, with an endlessly fascinating roster of characters. Chris kindly agreed to write this guest post for... Read more

Preserving the Past

Last updated on: March 23, 2026 at 12:05 am By Joey Cochran

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I love working with primary sources. I love collecting primary sources. On my current book project, Our God Is an Awesome Brand (Brazos, 2027), I have had the pleasure of collecting and preserving a handful of books (some pictured below). When I first started collecting antiquarian sources, I didn’t really know a whole lot about what I was getting into. Fortunately, one of my mentors, Ken Minkema, took a half-hour to chat with me about talking, meeting with, and purchasing... Read more

Why Doing History in Seminaries (and Everywhere) is Hard

Last updated on: March 20, 2026 at 5:36 pm By Jacob Randolph

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“I sat in my car and cried for ten minutes before driving home.” That’s what a student in my class said while recounting their time at the Baptist church down the road from her house. They’d attended a worship service as part of an assignment for my class. Students were meant to observe a Christian worship setting in a tradition unfamiliar to them. Most of my students are from mainline traditions, so many of them ended up attending Catholic masses,... Read more

True or False: Paul instructed Titus that the grace of God teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions.