Dr. Martin Luther King’s Life in Christianity Today Magazine

Last updated on: February 21, 2024 at 6:41 pm By Guest Contributor

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Christianity Today have a history together. Founded in 1956, Christianity Today established its footing in the same years as King, who became a public figure following the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Both inhabited the broad world of American Christianity. Both sought to shape their constituencies through words formed by faith. Throughout his lifetime and in the months following his death, Christianity Today published fifty-two pieces referencing King. Reviewing these pieces fifty-five... Read more

The Radical Reformation as Renewal (?)

Last updated on: June 26, 2025 at 2:08 pm By Jacob Randolph

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I have been reading Matthew Barrett’s The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church in preparation for a review. There is much that is commendable in this book, and when my full review is published, likely this summer, I will provide a link for any interested readers. In the abstract, I am for strengthening the connective tissue between the medieval Christianity and the Reformation, so I welcome these sorts of projects. For today, however, I want... Read more

Jesus, Robert Graves, and the Mount of Olives

Last updated on: February 21, 2024 at 8:05 pm By Philip Jenkins

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Back in my student days, I read a book that did a lot to shape my thinking about things religious. One of its many provocative ideas concerns this very time of year, as we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week. The whole story raises the question of how a popular novel can offer really sharp insights about what we might think to be technical scholarly debates. It might also affect the way you read the word “mountain” whenever you run... Read more

To Be Looked For: Towards a Philosophy of History

Last updated on: February 21, 2024 at 10:40 pm By Wyatt Reynolds

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“You need a language with which to express things, which at a certain age you felt you could do yourself, and gradually, somehow, it’s like switching from pastel paint to heavy oils.”[1] Peter Brown wrote these words at the age of eighty-six, having written books in the historical guild since he was in his twenties. I first came across the line while working on my undergraduate capstone, but it has stuck with me through my continuing “journeys of the mind”... Read more

Warrior Jesus: On the Medieval Saxon Gospel

Last updated on: February 19, 2024 at 8:47 pm By Adam Renberg

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I find artistic depictions of Christ to be fascinating, not only because they reveal truths about Christ, but because they reveal our own priorities, blind spots, and worldviews. Take Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, for example. In his depiction of the resurrection, Grünewald’s Christ springs forth triumphant from the tomb, while the soldiers run in fear. The light pouring from his face and wounds might be theologically edifying, while dwelling on Christ’s victory over death. But, conversely, it isn’t hard to... Read more

Texas Megachurch Pastor Talks about Genocide

Last updated on: February 20, 2024 at 9:04 pm By Erica Ramirez

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Hi! I am a cultural sociologist searching out Christian Nationalism in Texas Megachurches. I’m looking for a. the degree of race and gender diversity in their pews and on their stages, b. for the salience of charismatic influence in their worship styles and rhetoric, and c. for the way leaders may be playing any role in stoking authoritarianism and white supremacy. (Check out my first post here.) **************************************************************************************************** Two minutes into overtime, five hands went up. There were a pair... Read more

The Racial Escapism of American Evangelical Missions

Last updated on: February 16, 2024 at 6:12 pm By Guest Contributor

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I learned early on as the child of American missionaries in Kenya that white people were a big deal. Where ever we went, people scurried to help us, lined up to shake our hands, and often scrounged around their meager possessions in search of gifts for us. Children stared at me with wide eyes and sat behind me in church so they could slowly stroke my long, blondish hair, almost in meditation. People looked to my parents for money, opportunity,... Read more

Did God Prepare Native Peoples for Christ? Part II

Last updated on: April 12, 2024 at 1:16 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy: Did an Ancient Indigenous Tradition Prepare the Americas for Millions of Conversions to Christianity? Part II This (long) post serves as part two of my response to Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy: How God Prepared the Americas for Conversion Before the Lady Appeared. Part I provides an outline of the book’s argument, which I will not discuss here. Reading Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy: How God Prepared the Americas for Conversion Before... Read more

Of Missionaries, Native Americans, Lunatics, and Martians

Last updated on: February 15, 2024 at 11:23 am By Philip Jenkins

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Almost as soon as the new United States was created, it began expanding its imperial rule ever deeper into the continent, and that growth was inextricably linked to new visions of Christian mission. Yet even as that enterprise was getting under way, there appeared a savage critique of the whole idea of missions and missionaries, a text that still repays careful reading. As I will suggest, this barely-remembered critique also helps us understand another really famous book, and one you... Read more

Returning to My Church History Roots Finding Cesar Chavez

Last updated on: February 14, 2024 at 9:22 am By Michael Jimenez

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Last summer was a time of reflection for my academic journey. First, I wrote a chapter in a book featuring the Hispanic faculty experience in the US, spending most of the chapter discussing the impact of books on my life. Second, I also had a piece about Cesar Chavez come out. I have reflected on the pragmatic struggles of teaching world history courses and being faithful to the global aspect of it. In some ways, my research has gravitated from... Read more

What empire destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem?