The decade of the 1940s represents a profoundly underappreciated era in American history, and that is especially true in matters of religion. The period is of course dominated by the events of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, together with debates over race, civil rights and desegregation. Oddly, though, in so many ways, these years foreshadow the radical changes of the 1960s. The impact of total war had a massive influence on issues of race, gender and family... Read more
There are many good reasons to read Craig Harline’s Way Below the Angels: the pretty clearly troubled but not even close to tragic confessions of a real live Mormon missionary. First of all, it offers solid proof that at least some historians have a wicked sense of humor and can employ it in writing. This is helpful when discussing an estimated 6,700 encounters with people who reject your message. Second, and this might be helpful for Anxious Bench readers, Harline... Read more
Spoiler Alert: In the post below, I disclose some of the details of the plot of American Sniper (2014). Most people already know how the story turns out, but for those few who may not, I offer this alert. When I went to see American Sniper (2014) last week, the showing was sold out and the theater was packed. I have watched movies under such crowded conditions in the past and generally find them uncomfortable. Full movie theaters simply do... Read more
Today’s guest post is by Nathan A. Finn, who serves as associate professor of historical theology and Baptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also directs the Center for Spiritual Formation and Evangelical Spirituality. You can follow him on Twitter. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War divided Americans, including American Protestants. By this time, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had surpassed the Methodists as the largest Protestant denomination in America. As a mostly theologically and culturally conservative tradition, the... Read more
There is an excellent new contribution to the literature on the Manichaean religion: Iain Gardner, Jason BeDuhn and Paul Dilley, Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings: Studies on the Chester Beatty Kephalaia Codex (Brill 2015). Yesterday, I described the rediscovered ancient texts on which this book is based. Although this is a rich and wide-ranging collection, several points strike me. One is the sheer geographical range of the events described, the world in which Mani and his immediate... Read more
I have been reading an excellent new scholarly book on the Manichaean religion: Iain Gardner, Jason BeDuhn and Paul Dilley, Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings: Studies on the Chester Beatty Kephalaia Codex (Brill 2015). This post is not intended as a serious academic review, but rather as a series of thoughts and impressions that this fine book provokes. I will divide my comments into two separate posts. It is astonishing that scholars of religion refer so little... Read more
In the mid-first century AD, St. Paul wrote some hugely influential words about Adam, the Fall, and original sin. As I have argued, these ideas seem at variance with earlier Biblical traditions and Jewish thought, in which Adam’s story made little impact. Around Paul’s time, though, that saga was attracting increasing interest. Paul, oddly, was riding a fashionable wave. Early in the second century BC, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) claimed, surprisingly, that “Adam [was honored] above every living being in the creation.”... Read more
Every year tens of thousands of people visit the Kirtland Temple, dedicated in 1836 by what was then the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The vast majority of those visitors are members of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they come in part to see where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw Jesus Christ and Elijah in the temple. Those primarily LDS visitors, however, visit a temple not owned by their church. The temple is... Read more
For good reason, Molly Worthen’s Apostles of Reason has enjoyed a lot of attention (Slate, Christian Century, National Review, Religion and American History blog, The Nation). It is a wonderfully provocative and ambitious book with a panorama of fascinating and diverse characters. As I point out in my review of the book over at Marginalia, it has several impressive virtues: It features clear argumentation. First, it argues that evangelicals have been preoccupied with a rational defense and efficient distribution of... Read more
I recently read Robert Nisbet’s classic work The Quest for Community (1953), a challenging and far-sighted book that attributes much of modernity’s unease to the collapse of the mediating institutions – village, church, and family – that traditionally stood between the individual and the state. It is a work that has inspired generations of reflection on the ongoing importance of local associations and “social capital” for the well-being of people and communities. Although Nisbet’s wide-ranging and philosophically ambitious book will be... Read more
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