Re-envisioning Our Public: The Conference on Faith and History 2014

Last updated on: January 17, 2015 at 1:40 pm By Miles Mullin

For decades, committed evangelicals such as Richard Pierard, Robert Linder, George Marsden, Mark Noll, Nathan Hatch and others worked towards two different goals aimed at two different audiences. First, to an evangelical constituency in which fundamentalism’s suspicion of the academy lingered, they cultivated the idea of history as a legitimate Christian vocation. Second, building on their commitment to history as a Christian calling, and thus worthy of diligence in execution, they labored to demonstrate that their work could meet the... Read more

How to Survive Graduate School

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:09 pm By Thomas Kidd

As a new semester begins, it is a good time to reflect on the practices that students – particularly graduate students – need to survive and even thrive. Graduate programs are designed to make you part of a guild of professional experts, and require an enormous amount of reading and writing in order to prepare you for those professional credentials. The rigors of a graduate program are tough – their relationships and mental and physical health often suffer. Many students... Read more

The Woman Clothed With The Sun

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:20 pm By Philip Jenkins

I recently posted on changing ideas about the Virgin Mary’s role in the New Testament, suggesting that we see an upsurge of respectful interest in her towards the 90s of the first century. I am still grappling with the reasons for this change. I’d like here to explore one particular Bible passage that really gives me problems. It’s worth struggling with, though, because it says a lot about how the early church thought, and how it formed some critical habits... Read more

The War That Never Was

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 2:41 pm By Philip Jenkins

This is nothing like a standard Anxious Bench post, but it does get to some issues of how we write history. As I’ve remarked in the past, a lot of professional historians dislike and distrust “alternate” history, which they see as a kind of pointless parlor game. But we all use an approach like that whenever we discuss a major historical event. How can you say that Gettysburg (for instance) was important unless you consider how the world might have... Read more

Pioneer Prophet in Paperback

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:29 pm By johnturner

My co-blogger Thomas Kidd mentioned in his most recent post that he has learned “how much authors need to work on publicity.” So here goes — next week, Harvard University Press is releasing the paperback edition of my Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet. What was a tremendous value is now an outright bargain! One can start planning for General Conference gifts, Christmas presents, book groups, and (for you university instructors out there) Spring 2015 reading lists. Books do not always have... Read more

Unexpected Sites of Christian Pacifism: Charles Spurgeon Edition

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:32 pm By David Swartz

Charles Spurgeon, a Reformed Baptist known as the “prince of preachers” in the nineteenth century, remains revered. Known especially for his devotional writings, he currently ranks in the top 100 bestsellers of Christian literature on Amazon. Tom Nettles, a professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says that contemporary fascination with Spurgeon is due to “his commitment to gospel-centered preaching, belief in the inspiration of Scripture, and the sheer success of his ministry.” In every sermon, no matter... Read more

Writing a Book, From Start to Finish

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:33 pm By Thomas Kidd

One of my newsletter subscribers, Job Dalomba [jobdalomba.com] suggested that I write a post how how to do “book projects from start to finish, and share any ideas on how to get started.” Philip Jenkins and I have been posting lately about how to choose a research subject, but I loved this suggestion and want to sketch my book writing process here. My experience as a book author is heavily shaped by my Ph.D. training as a historian and professor’s job... Read more

Bonhoeffer’s “Who am I?”

Last updated on: October 17, 2014 at 1:24 pm By Thomas Albert Howard

Much attention has been directed to the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer lately due in part to the popular biography by Eric Metaxas (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy) and, more recently, the more scholarly approach of Charles Marsh (A Strange Glory: The Life Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer). For most American Christians, the best known of Bonhoeffer’s works are probably The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together. Permit me though to direct the reader to his poetry, some of which is found in... Read more

William J. Seymour and Global Pentecostalism

Last updated on: August 28, 2014 at 2:36 pm By Philip Jenkins

I just received a copy of a major new book, which should be of great interest to Anxious Bench readers. Even better, I also draw attention to another and closely related text from the same hand. Gastón Espinosa, who teaches at Claremont McKenna College, has just published a substantial volume called William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism: A Biography and Documentary History (Duke University Press, 2014). Here is the publisher’s description: In 1906, William J. Seymour (1870-1922)... Read more

The Age of Evangelicalism

Last updated on: August 27, 2014 at 1:10 pm By johnturner

Steven Miller’s first book, Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South, discusses the role of Graham and of evangelical Christianity more broadly in the political realignment of southern politics in the years following the Second World War. Miller’s second book, The Age of Evangelicalism: America’s Born-Again Years has already received a great deal of well-deserved praise. He graciously agreed to answer my questions about this recent publication. JT: What years encompass the Age of Evangelicalism? Reflecting the book’s... Read more