I did a 2011 podcast interview with Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, about my biography of Patrick Henry. I’ve done a lot of interviews, but I cannot recall doing one more academically rigorous, or where the interviewer knew so much about my books. I bring this up because, for me, it validates several of the key points that Mohler makes in his new book, The Conviction to Lead. For Mohler, leadership — especially leadership in the church —... Read more
We are still in the thick of Civil War commemorations— perhaps Americans never are far from them–and entering a fresh phase with the release of Lincoln on the big screen. For Georgetown, Massachusetts, where my family lives, Civil War memory has two primary foci: the Massachusetts 50th Volunteer regiment, Company K, a fellowship of town men, and Charles Beecher, controversial pastor of the town’s Congregational church during the conflict. The Beecher name might be familiar because of Harriet Beecher Stowe,... Read more
One of the really impressive books I have read on the subject of Global or World Christianity is Lamin Sanneh’s autobiography, Summoned from the Margin. The book has any number of reasons to recommend it, but I was struck by one remarkable passage he quotes from Winston Churchill. While nothing can dim Churchill’s overall achievement, he was occasionally capable of astonishing acts of stupidity or moral blindness, and this is one. I think it also does much to help us... Read more
Professors tend to be a grumpy lot. The pay is not exactly stratospheric. University bureaucracies can be a nuisance. My own personal gripe is that I have to pay for the privilege of parking. I would understand if I had to pay some sort of fine for because I bring such an eyesore of a vehicle onto campus, but does the administration really expect me to walk to work? See — it’s easy to grouse. As an atonement for any... Read more
Nothing new from me this week, but here is an article on gratitude that I wrote in 2008. It originally appeared at Inside Higher Education. Happy Thanksgiving! –JF It was a typical 1970s weekday evening. The sky was growing dark and I, an elementary school student, was sitting at the kitchen table of a modest North Jersey cape cod putting the finishing touches on the day’s homework. The back door opened — a telltale sign that my father was home... Read more
My Thanksgiving column, from the Patheos archives: The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony weren’t the first Europeans to settle in North America, nor were they the first permanent English colonists. But because of our annual celebration of Thanksgiving, and our hazy images of their 1621 meal with Native Americans, the Pilgrims have become the emblematic colonists in America’s national memory. Although modern Thanksgiving has become largely non-religious — focused more on food, family, and football than explicitly thanking God — the... Read more
I’m reading a biography of one of my favorite authors, whose work has impressed and excited me for over forty years now. This is Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011), subject of a dazzling new book by Artemis Cooper. The problem in describing Leigh Fermor’s work is that it is so diverse, and so impressive, you don’t know where to begin. Let’s just say, though, that he is assuredly the greatest travel writer of modern times. If he was not explicitly a... Read more
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Benjamin Franklin: Self-made man? So much for going down to the river The humanities are under fire in Florida Dick Cavett and Ali New website at the C.V. Starr Center for the American Experience More here. Read more
Depending on which media source you read, the recent election marked the Fall of the Religious Right, the End of White America, or the Collapse of the Republican Party (you know, like the Democratic Party vanished for ever in the 1980s, never to rise again). Nobody is underestimating the scale of the calamity for conservatism and conservatives, but some of the long-term prognoses do miss critical points. No argument, the Republican Party did very badly indeed. Personally, I’d pay less... Read more
Churches and their leaders generally don’t take kindly to outside scrutiny, but that scrutiny is something that all institutions sorely need. The “Mormon moment” brought forth a deluge (see this compilation) of articles, op-eds, and blog posts about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ranging from the scholarly to the uninformed and from the curious to the mean-spirited. Many members of the LDS Church have expressed a sense of relief that the moment has ended. Their reasons are... Read more
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