I think Taylor Swift, J. J. Abrams, and pre-critical exegesis share something in common. They have mastered the method of employing “mystery” to foster enduring curiosity and interest in discovering the riches that their stories contain. When I chat with my family about a new Taylor Swift album, the pull of Swift’s music that keeps my family members listening is that they want to unlock the secrets of the stories that she tells. They want to know what they “really”... Read more
Two of the largest Protestant denominations in the US are holding international meetings in April/May and June. The United Methodist Church will hold its General Conference in late April and early May, and the Southern Baptist Convention will gather in early June. I grew up a Southern Baptist and lived my early adulthood in Southern Baptist life, and I am currently a faculty member at a United Methodist Church seminary. I figured I was as well positioned as any of... Read more
Through the years, I have been much engaged studying the topic of sexual abuse by clergy – usually Catholic clergy – and have served as an expert witness in litigation. In such settings, I often encounter historical arguments and debates which raise for me some really significant questions about how we can know some important things in the past, and how far we can prove a negative. The implications run far beyond the specific issue at stake, and affect how... Read more
A few notes before jumping into this interview, which I am delighted to present to you. Francis Spufford is the author or editor of nearly a dozen books spanning an array of genres and fields including memoir, popular history, fiction, and alternative history. I have reviewed his most recent novel, Cahokia Jazz and found it both delightful and poignant. I hope you’ll read it. After my encounter with the book, I reached out in the hopes of chatting with him... Read more
I have several Bibles on my shelf—some in ancient languages, some translations that I use for devotion, and some for study. My reading is often paired with commentaries or devotional literature, but even when I am reading without additional sources, I am never reading the bare text. In fact, each Bible we have has extrabiblical material therein, what we might call paratextual devices, which change the way we read and engage with the Scriptures. A paratextual device is an apparatus... Read more
Hi! I am a cultural sociologist on a tour of Texas Megachurches. Check out my first post here! Megachurches are pretty influential in the culture of US evangelicalism, but their influences are often left out of landscape conversations about the state of religion in public life. Polling outfits, like PRRI, often rely on numbers provided by denominations to build their data sets. But megachurches, which are comprised of at least 2k attendees and bring in an average of 5 million... Read more
Los Reyes Magos, ca. 1875-1900, carved and painted wood with metal and string. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection CASPAR: I have been looking around for quite a while. I no longer see the wonderous star, our wonderous guide, that has been leading us the whole time. What I really think, what I reckon, is that we have reached the place where the wonderous child whom we are seeking was born. Truly indeed, here is the great altepetl of... Read more
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
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