The Medieval Counsel of Biblical Womanhood

Last updated on: April 27, 2021 at 5:26 pm By Beth Allison Barr

The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood exploded my twitter feed last week. As a Texan with both friends and family in Houston, I really just wanted to see the update on Hurricane Harvey. But the Nashville Statement dominated my news feed. I confess after scrolling through headline after headline I mostly just felt tired, One article revived me. Written by Jeffrey Miller, a Bible professor and editor of the Priscilla Papers, the article highlights women, from the pages of church... Read more

How Do Protestants and Catholics View Each Other in 2017?

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 4:06 pm By Chris Gehrz

For the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, new survey examines how Protestants and Catholics view each other — and themselves — in the U.S. and Western Europe. Read more

Teaching Religion: Building Blocks of Faith

Last updated on: September 3, 2017 at 7:07 am By Philip Jenkins

Recently, I discussed teaching courses in Religious Studies, and specifically in World Religions. I always began such a course with what I called the building blocks of religion, and why we find the same themes across the spectrum of faiths – why certain numbers, colors, and so on enjoy special status across continents and civilizations. As the class proceeded, we would use these different themes and headings as a means of organizing and understanding material. In the next couple of... Read more

The Media Mangle a Religion Story, Again

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 8:22 am By Philip Jenkins

No, this is not going to shake the foundations of faith. Read more

The Chance of Salvation

Last updated on: August 30, 2017 at 3:37 pm By johnturner

Lincoln Mullen is the author of the recently published The Chance of Salvation: A History of Conversion in America. As he states in his introduction, historians have delved deep into the story of American religious diversity over the past several decades, but in the process have “left behind the task of synthesizing American religious history.” By contrast, The Chance of Salvation, stitches together the history of many different religious traditions through the experience of and rhetoric surrounding conversion. Below is... Read more

A Highly Trained Nonviolent Peacekeeping Force

Last updated on: August 30, 2017 at 10:09 am By David Swartz

The Mennonites behind the Clergy Protests in Charlottesville Read more

The Religious History of State Fairs

Last updated on: August 28, 2017 at 10:47 pm By Chris Gehrz

Is there a religious history of America's state fairs? Chris reports from one of the largest such events. Read more

Antislavery Monument for Sale

Last updated on: August 30, 2017 at 8:32 am By Agnes Howard

Some monuments should be put into storage. Others should be taken out. Read more

Christian Scholars on Racism in America Today

Last updated on: August 26, 2017 at 12:42 am By Chris Gehrz

Dozens of Christian historians and other scholars have signed an open letter condemning racism, co-written by Anxious Bench founder Thomas Kidd Read more

Teaching Religion: A Year in the Life

Last updated on: August 25, 2017 at 11:54 am By Philip Jenkins

For many years, I taught an introductory Religious Studies course on World Religions. On several occasions, I taught this in an Honors class format, which allowed me to get into some major themes in some detail. In the next few posts, I have some comments and questions about the whole enterprise of teaching Religious Studies at college level. I begin with a simple request for information, which actually does raise some serious issues. Can anyone point me to good books... Read more

What is the shortest verse in the Bible in English?