One of the most poignant times in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came in the fall of 1856, when two companies of Mormon handcart pioneers became trapped in winter storms and endured roughly two hundred deaths before their rescue and November arrival in Salt Lake City. The self-sacrificial perseverance of the handcart pioneers have made them paragons of faith for many generations of Latter-day Saints. At the same time, debate has often centered on... Read more
Aside from getting to feast on some great crab cakes and see a beautifully crafted ballpark, I have had the opportunity to listen to several very good papers while attending the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Baltimore, MD, today. This morning, I was privileged to moderate a panel of three solid presentations loosely gathered around the theme “Evangelicals, American Politics, and Political Theory.” First, my colleague John D. Wilsey offered a paper on American exceptionalism. John distinguishes... Read more
November 19, 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, his most famous speech and one of the most famous in American history. He delivered the speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, four months after the conclusion of the Civil War’s decisive battle. The renowned orator Edward Everett was the main speaker for the day, giving an entirely-forgotten two hour speech prior to Lincoln’s. Lincoln’s dedicatory address was stunningly brief – about two minutes – but... Read more
Very shortly, I will be receiving a real honor, but also one that comes with a major challenge attached. On November 29, I am speaking at a major conference in Assisi, in Italy. The conference, Custodire l’umanità, is ambitious in its goals, discussing the crisis of meaning in the contemporary West, together with the economic crisis, but framed in terms of fundamental social values. Parallel to the familiar theme of secularization, conference organizers counterpose the idea of the new humanism... Read more
Journalist Mira Kamdar had a lovely story in a recent New York Times about the “Other” Paris that tourists rarely see, with its rich tapestry of immigrant peoples. One anecdote in particular: I’ve learned a lot during my long commutes on the metro. One thing is not to underestimate the cosmopolitanism of my fellow travelers. I found myself sitting once next to a young French-African woman. I was stunned when her phone rang and she answered in serviceable Hindi. When... Read more
For many years I taught a course on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements. Scholars produce many reasons why new religions should attract particular groups, and offer similar messages, eg the promise of healing. Often these reasons are drawn from psychology or sociology. But the groups themselves explain their message and their appeal according to particular religious narratives, and similar patterns and ideas surface in such narratives in strikingly different religious traditions, and across historical epochs. The same kinds of... Read more
The Christmas season starts early in Germany as well. Some stores have had their displays out for weeks, and bakeries are already churning out the Stollen and Plätzchen. I’m trying to imagine what December in Germany would be like if American-style jurisprudence reigned. Christmas markets across Germany (organized by cities) would become “Winter markets” or “holiday markets.” Many things would simply have to go. In Heidelberg this year, there will be an “ecumenical” worship service on the market’s first day.... Read more
World Vision, known best for its child sponsorship programs, has become the largest and most significant evangelical relief and development agency. The organization’s Wikipedia page vaguely describes its humanitarian origins. Its official website features a similarly vague history, preferring to tout its culturally appropriate development work. But its story is much more vivid than these very brief narratives suggest. In its early years World Vision operated from a posture of full-throated, flag-waving Christian Americanism. The organization was an authentic creation... Read more
Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Town of Greece v. Galloway, a case concerning the constitutionality of uttering Jesus’s name in prayers at public meetings. As I wrote in earlier coverage for WORLD Magazine, the town of Greece (N.Y.) attempted to accommodate pressure from secularists to make the town board’s prayers non-sectarian by recruiting non-Christian clerics to offer some of those prayers. They did occasionally find non-Christians, including a Wiccan priestess, to recite a prayer or two, but most... Read more
Martin Luther, mindful of the trials and blessings of family life, offered balm to women suffering one of its sorrows: the death of a child before birth. He counseled pastors “not to frighten or sadden such mothers by harsh words because it was not due to their carelessness or neglect that the birth of the child went off badly…. inasmuch as one cannot and ought not know the hidden judgment of God in such a case—why, after every possible care... Read more
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