Introducing Mike Jimenez to the Anxious Bench

Last updated on: January 9, 2024 at 6:00 pm By Nadya Williams

Earlier this week I announced my departure from the Anxious Bench. Today, it is my privilege to introduce my successor, Dr. Michael Jimenez, Associate Professor of History at Vanguard University, an involved member of the Conference on Faith and History, and the author of Remembering Past Lives: A Historiography from the Underside of Modernity and Karl Barth and the Study of the Religious Enlightenment: Encountering the Task of History. In other words, as the above list shows, Mike brings an... Read more

Did God Prepare Native Peoples in the Americas for Christ?

Last updated on: February 16, 2024 at 5:31 am By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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Guadalupe & the Flower World Prophesy: Did an Ancient Indigenous Tradition Prepare the Americas for Millions of Conversions to Christianity? Part I A month ago today, on December 12, just as dawn began to break, Catholics around the world sang “La Mañanitas” to Our Lady of Guadalupe to commemorate her appearance as an indigenous maiden to a Nahua reed mat seller named Juan Diego on a Mexican hillside in December 1531, leaving her image on his tilmatli, or maguey-fiber clock;... Read more

The Civil War Was Definitely About Slavery, Sort Of

Last updated on: January 12, 2024 at 4:11 pm By Philip Jenkins

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The Civil War and Reconstruction continue to fascinate Americans. Recently, witness the blowback against alleged presidential candidate Nikki Haley when she refused to identify slavery as a cause of the war. Just in the past couple of months, we also note the full special issue of the Atlantic on the theme of “To Reconstruct A Nation,” or Adam Hochschild’s review essay in the New York Review of Books on how pro-Confederate sympathizers established the orthodoxy that secession and war arose... Read more

Farewell to the Anxious Bench

Last updated on: January 11, 2024 at 11:14 am By Nadya Williams

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Nepotism brought me here. You see, back in summer 2021, as I was just starting to write some essays for the public, Dan (my husband) graciously ran a couple of them as guest posts here at the Bench. The very first one, in fact, seems remarkably apt now. It was about “Israel and Immigration: A Christian Reflection on the Consequences of Past Sins.” That fall, Dan approached then-blogmeister Chris Gehrz and proposed giving me one of his two monthly slots.... Read more

On Reading Gregory of Nyssa

Last updated on: January 11, 2024 at 11:14 am By Thomas Albert Howard

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One consolation of spotty education is the opportunity to read texts later in life that you wish you had read much earlier, but which fell through the cracks until you were mature enough to appreciate them more fully. Such was the case for me reading Gregory of Nyssa’s charming, instructive The Life of Moses, an account of the Christian life read into the Exodus story through the actions of its chief protagonist, Moses. A bishop of Cappadocia (in modern-day Turkey),... Read more

Notes on Being “American” Abroad

Last updated on: January 6, 2024 at 3:49 am By Lisa Clark Diller

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This Christmas holiday I’ve returned to Australia to visit with friends I made during a teaching exchange in 2017. This brought up a set of reflections I formed that year on identity and representing my country internationally. “So, you’re American—what’s going on with your politics?” I get asked this question somewhat regularly. It is asked very politely, sometimes tentatively. People are trying to find out something about me, about the “feel” of things back in the States, while not being... Read more

Knowledge, Faith, and Early Christian Initiation

Last updated on: January 11, 2024 at 11:13 am By Philip Jenkins

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Today, I am delighted to welcome a guest blogger, who presents the findings of his important new study of the earliest church. He really gets into some significant issues here. The author is my colleague Alex Fogleman. Alex is an Assistant Research Professor of Theology at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, project manager for the Global Flourishing Study, and director of the Catechesis Institute. He is the author of Knowledge, Faith, and Early Christian Initiation (Cambridge University Press, 2023).... Read more

New Year, New Post On Jesus’ Favorite Topic: Greed

Last updated on: January 3, 2024 at 5:31 pm By Malcolm Foley

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Just as a reminder, if you couldn’t tell from all of my posts last year, Jesus’ favorite topic and the recurring theme of mine is greed. Happy New Year! There are a few texts in the Scriptures that many American Christians very rarely hear preached because no one really wants to think about them. One of those texts is Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler. Though the story appears in each Gospel, I’m going to take a close look... Read more

Living in Light of Christmas: Thoughts for the New Year

Last updated on: January 1, 2024 at 11:12 am By Lynneth Renberg

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As the calendar turns to another year, commercials and advertisements and media all yell loudly at us to make resolutions– to become healthier and fitter (remember the infamous commercial for a certain exercise machine from a few years back?), to make wiser financial choices, to set and accomplish big goals. In short, as each new year begins, culture tells us to do better and to be better. As Christians, we are certainly called to pursue sanctification and to continually grow... Read more

Best Books of 2023

Last updated on: December 30, 2023 at 1:21 pm By Joey Cochran

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Last year I introduced my “Best Books” column with some strategies for how to read. If you’re thinking about strategies for how to read in 2024, I recommend checking out that article. Now if you’re curious about strategies on selecting what to read for 2024, sit tight and lean in. How I Select What I Read No doubt, there are all sorts of readers who will happen upon this column. Some of these suggestions may not fit you as a... Read more