Our social media followers helped compile a list of seven favorite films about faith, religion, and belief. Read more
Our social media followers helped compile a list of seven favorite films about faith, religion, and belief. Read more
Many historians have been given prominent public platforms of late. Is history "hot" right now? And if so, what does that mean for the declining number of history majors? Read more
I have been posting about the creation of modern myths about paganism, human sacrifice and other dark rural deeds in twentieth century Britain. Throughout, I have emphasized how artificial these ideas are, in the sense of being literary or artistic creations, commonly reinforced by the growth of sensationalist tabloid media. Many of the works in these genres are well known, but a few of the really good pieces are not. Here I will discuss a personal favorite of mine, an... Read more
I have been writing about the long-standing British fascination with the idea of a continuing rural paganism, ideas that in the 1960s grew into the genre of Folk Horror. But why did the ideas of witch-cult theorist Margaret Murray attract such a wide and credulous following? Looking at the writings of such mainstream figures as John Buchan and Rudyard Kipling suggests how very mainstream such notions were in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, roughly 1890-1918. British culture was saturated... Read more
The first book of most academic historians is a strange creature: a dissertation that has become a book. How and when should newly minted Ph.D.’s transform those dissertations into books? It is one of the most important and — often — most perplexing moments in an academic career. This is the first in a series of posts on the subject, beginning with how to get the process started. Don’t panic. A number of years ago, shortly before I was going... Read more
Today’s post comes from a talk I gave several years ago at Asbury University, where I teach history. After welcoming nearly 400 new students to campus for orientation, we didn’t waste any time starting up academic conversations. All incoming students read G.K. Chesterton’s mystery thriller The Man Who Was Thursday for their liberal arts seminar, which met each day of orientation in both small group and plenary sessions. What follows are notes of my concluding plenary address. *** A few... Read more
Is American politics finally ready for a Christian democratic party like those that have long played key roles in European and South American politics? Read more
We are still many weeks away from early November and I’m already wondering if there is anything left to say about this election, which the Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse memorably described as a “dumpster fire.” (I confess that I didn’t know that this was a phrase until I looked it up and learned that it has the meaning of “a complete disaster” or “something very difficult that nobody wants to deal with.”) Recently, however, I’ve found one small glimmer of... Read more
I have been posting about pagan survivals into Christian times, not in terms of actual continuities so much as modern romantic reconstructions of those matters. As I noted, scholars like Margaret Murray used such a vision as the basis for a whole recreation of a supposed ancient paganism surviving in modern times in the form of the witch-cult. My colleague Beth Barr has blogged often about such modern mythologies concerning medieval times, and on witchcraft. I use this discussion as... Read more
[You can also read previous posts in the series] Imagine a world where families operate like corporations. Parents are management, but efficiency and profitably determine all aspects of family life. Children are both assets and employees; resources are allocated according to potential. And if things don’t work out with a troublesome teen or toddler? Well, you can send them packing, no harm, no foul. Children too can move to another family or negotiate with their parents for bedroom upgrades, extended curfews, and... Read more
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