DEI at the University of Michigan: What Went Right?

Last updated on: October 29, 2024 at 8:13 am By Melissa Borja

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the University of Michigan are a “failure”—at least according to the New York Times. As an October 16 article explained, efforts by the university to address inequality and injustice have left students and faculty feeling “more frustrated than ever,” and the mood on campus is characterized by disappointment and “wary disdain.” I am a tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan. Unlike commentators who have seized upon the article in order to... Read more

Abortion and Prohibition: Will This Election Be Like 1932?

Last updated on: October 28, 2024 at 9:38 pm By Daniel K. Williams

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This year’s treatment of abortion by both major parties is reminiscent of how both parties engaged with the issue of alcohol regulation in 1932, the last election before the end of Prohibition. Only a short time before the 1932 election, advocates of Prohibition had every reason to be jubilant. In 1928, they had experienced what was arguably their greatest triumph since the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment when the “dry” candidate, Republican Herbert Hoover, defeated the “wet” Al Smith by... Read more

Who to Vote For: Toward a Christian Political Theology

Last updated on: October 28, 2024 at 6:47 pm By Malcolm Foley

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Got a short one for you all. A few months ago, I was one of the initial signers of the Confession of Evangelical Conviction, a statement which, in my mind, is a thoroughly uncontroversial application of the Christian faith to political life. It is saturated with basic Christian claims: that Jesus is the head of the Church, that our loyalty belongs to no political party, that our decisions ought to be driven by love not fear, that the Scriptures ought... Read more

Piss Christ, the Olympics, and Authorial Intent

Last updated on: October 25, 2024 at 4:07 pm By Jacob Randolph

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This post is a tribute to the life and teaching of Kristen Todd, PhD, the late professor of music history at Oklahoma Baptist University. Dr. Todd passed away in 2014 after a fifteen-year career of teaching and mentorship at OBU. There’s not much I remember from my undergraduate days at Oklahoma Baptist University. But I do remember one morning in the early fall of 2008, where a large class met in a lecture hall in the south side of Raley... Read more

Cartoons, Caricatures, and Missionary Imperialism

Last updated on: October 25, 2024 at 6:38 am By Philip Jenkins

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In pretty much any period I write about, I try to use cartoons and caricatures wherever possible because they offer such a wealth of material that would be so hard to extract from contemporary prose accounts. I offer a couple of examples today, together with an appeal for any similar items that people might be able to think about. I have been working on the intersection of missions and empire in US history, and generally, pro-empire people were very happy... Read more

My Friend the Enemy: Bill Pannell and the White Evangelical

Last updated on: October 22, 2024 at 1:36 pm By David Swartz

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In 2021, a year after the killing of George Floyd, Pannell felt compelled to republish My Friend, the Enemy. Read more

Is Basil Wrong? On Teaching Historical Theology

Last updated on: October 18, 2024 at 9:54 am By Adam Renberg

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Basil of Caesarea is often praised as a champion of the Holy Spirit, defending his divinity against the Macedonians and the Eunomians in his On the Holy Spirit. And my students gleaned as much, as we read the text together a few weeks ago. But this was not the only reading under discussion that day—students also read Gregory of Nazianzus’ Epistle 58. In this letter to Basil, Gregory records an embarrassing situation that arose during a dinner party—after someone praised... Read more

The real ghouls? The Evangelical Voter

Last updated on: October 22, 2024 at 10:08 am By Erica Ramirez

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Good society is generally certain there is something wrong with the mentality of evangelicals. We’re only weeks before an election that could see Donald Trump back into the Oval, but the verdict is already in on evangelicals. They think wrong and vote wrong. Should Trump win, left leaning outlets of the press will lay heft blame at the feet of evangelicals (though Trump also draws the Catholic vote by a slim majority) –lamenting that so many religious actors could fail... Read more

Forging Franciscan History: Nahuas, Games & Devotional Texts

Last updated on: October 18, 2024 at 10:04 am By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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Should those of us who work on religious history, particularly Christian texts from the past, consider publishing devotional as well as scholarly editions of our work? Friars Quarters and Conference Meeting Rooms, Mission Santa Barbara This is a question I asked myself last weekend during “‘In the Footsteps of “the Twelve’: The 500th Anniversary of the Franciscan Arrival in Mexico,” a conference at Mission Santa Barbara sponsored by the Academy of American Franciscan History, a research institute affiliated with the... Read more

How a Mediterranean Spiritual Movement Went Global

Last updated on: October 19, 2024 at 6:04 am By Philip Jenkins

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This column represents a contribution to Hispanic Heritage Month, and before anyone mentions it, I am a couple of days past the deadline. Bear with me. The topic matters! I teach at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. When I first explored the neighborhood where I live, I naturally visited a pretty Catholic church with the romantic name of St. Francis on the Brazos, and I saw something there that amazed me. A plaque on this nondescript church recalls that this... Read more

Who saw a burning bush that was not consumed?