The Historian’s Vocation in the Age of Information, Part 2*

Last updated on: January 11, 2015 at 9:43 am By Miles Mullin

“You and your d**n cards. How do you keep track of them all?” queries Adrian “Kim” Philby as he walks into the dark, shade-drawn office of James Angleton, the head of the CIA’s counterintelligence operations. Hovering over stacks of notecards strewn throughout his office while he chain-smokes cigarettes, Angleton replies, “Certain cards simply cry out for me. I am their mother.” In light of Andrew Snowden’s recent disclosures regarding the National Security Agency’s PRISMprogram, this early scene from the... Read more

Five Compelling Books on the American Revolution

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 3:50 pm By Thomas Kidd

For the Fourth of July, here are five compelling books on the American Revolution. A few caveats: these are all books written by academic historians for a popular audience. I’m not including books on the Revolution by journalists and other writers, though there are many excellent ones, such as Ron Chernow’s biographies of Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. I’m not including primary sources, just books by contemporary historians. And need I mention that I am not including my own books??... Read more

THE ANTI-GOSPEL

Last updated on: June 30, 2013 at 5:55 pm By Philip Jenkins

From earliest times, Christians have produced an abundance of alternative or pseudo-gospels, usually with a view to giving a scriptural basis to some particular doctrine. On occasion, though, we find anti-gospels, versions of the familiar narrative intended to challenge or disprove mainstream Christian assumptions. Muslims, for instance, have long favored the Gospel of Barnabas, in which Jesus explicitly foretells the coming of Muhammad, and acknowledges his prophetic status. Another anti-gospel stemmed from Jewish sources, and it enjoyed a very long... Read more

THE MOCKING OF CARABBAS

Last updated on: June 30, 2013 at 7:16 am By Philip Jenkins

There is a passage in the Alexandrian writer Philo that casts a curious light on Christian origins, and I wish I understood it better. Let me put it out there for discussion. Philo reports on the violent and confrontational politics of the Egypt of his day, particularly the 30s AD. Alexandria was sharply divided between Jewish and anti-Jewish factions. When King Herod Agrippa visited Alexandria about 40, the Jews showed their vigorous support for him. The anti-Jewish party, though, staged... Read more

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MOST HIGH

Last updated on: July 18, 2013 at 1:39 pm By Philip Jenkins

I recently suggested that we should pay much more attention to the Deuterocanonical books that are no longer found in most Protestant Bibles. Partly this is because of their artistic and cultural influence, but their religious significance is immense. Two substantial “Second Canon” books in particular demand our attention, namely Wisdom (“the Wisdom of Solomon” and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). Together with the canonical books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, they are major components of the once-vast wisdom literature of the ancient Jewish... Read more

Two New England Women

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 11:47 pm By johnturner

Is history an art or a science? History is empirical and creative. We can marvel at both the diligence of archival research (which itself often involves creativity) and at the creativity of a historian who can unlock the past to us in all of its stunning strangeness and similarity. “History … [is] an imaginative creation,” stated the early-twenty-first-century historian Carl Becker. One might reasonably ask whether biography is the choice of lazy historians. After all, one has an obvious starting... Read more

Richard Mouw: Not Young, Not Very Restless, Amiably Reformed

Last updated on: July 5, 2013 at 3:57 pm By David Swartz

This semester marked Richard Mouw’s last as president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Described by historian Grant Wacker as the “the most influential Evangelical voice in America—a true Evangelical public intellectual,” Mouw began teaching at Fuller in 1985, became provost in 1989, and then president in 1993. He has been praised for his interfaith activities with Mormons and Catholics, generous orthodoxy, and keen Reformed mind. He retires this year after fifteen years at the helm of one of evangelicalism’s most important... Read more

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 12:05 pm By Thomas Kidd

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 2013 list of the 11 “most endangered historic places.” As a historian, I am a sucker for these kinds of lists, and think that the the NTHP performs an excellent service by publicizing these places. I was also pleased (dismayed?) to see two churches on the list – the San Jose Church of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Abyssinian Meeting House of Portland, Maine. Of the San Jose Church, the... Read more

Blessing upon Childbirth–Royal and Otherwise

Last updated on: June 23, 2013 at 8:55 pm By Agnes Howard

The imminent birth of an heir—Prince William and Duchess Kate’s baby due within a few weeks—recalls the potential of royals to (re) set expectations about birth. When anesthesia was pioneered in the nineteenth century, its appeal in obstetrics was obvious. Chloroform, applied to a cloth and held over the nose and mouth of the laboring woman, could bring pain-free birth. But in the 1840s controversy swirled around its use: did removing pain from labor disrupt the natural order of things?... Read more

THE FISHY FUME, AND THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN CULTURE

Last updated on: June 22, 2013 at 8:05 am By Philip Jenkins

I recently wrote about how Deuterocanonical books like Judith, Tobit, and Maccabees dropped out of the Protestant consciousness, and why they need to be rediscovered. One excellent argument is the astonishing influence that these books have had on Christian writers and artists. If we do not know the books, we miss the meaning of a great deal of Christian art and literature. To begin with a minor example, Milton’s Paradise Lost describes Satan’s reaction to the atmosphere of Paradise. He... Read more