The only answer to modern man’s problems is the good news. At least that’s how the American Bible Society saw it when it published its New Testament Bible in 1966. If you examine the cover of one of these bibles, you’ll see what appears to be four columns of newsprint with various global newspaper names, in their branded typography, superimposed over the newsprint. As if exploding threw the modern news is a red-letter, bold, block-type caption in the top-left: “GOOD... Read more
When I proposed to my fiancée a few years ago, not only was I excited to become a married man, but I was also anticipating building relationships with her three grown daughters. What I did not realize however, was that there would be a fifth woman in the picture –Taylor. You see, two of my stepdaughters are inveterate “Swifties.” Road trips are full of Taylor Swift songs complete with explanations of the story behind each song. Birthday and Christmas... Read more
As someone who grew up on the Mid-Atlantic Coast, trips to Washington, DC were rites of passage for elementary and high school students. Many students further afield from the capitol also find ways to make a trip to our country’s center of power part of the education. I recently got back from a trip to Washington, DC with sixteen college sophomores (mostly History and Political Science majors) and decided to reflect on how such travel to museums, government buildings, and... Read more
I publish a lot on quite diverse topics. Through the years, I have devised a number of work strategies that work well for me, and in this blog I am going to pass on something that has proved extremely useful for me. If it works for you in approaching any topic – a book, a dissertation, an article, any kind of research – that is wonderful, and I hope you find this valuable. If not, pass on by. These days,... Read more
Worship wars. The phrase might bring to mind debates about contemporary or traditional music, or about how to incorporate liturgy into services, or even about whether drum sets are appropriate in worship. But for an early modern audience, worship wars might have been literal physical altercations. Some well-known conflicts, like Zwingli’s Affair of the Sausages or Karlstadt’s debate with Luther over the mass, involved debates about theological sacramental principles that led to arrests and exiles. Other conflicts, though, turned far... Read more
Last month, many historians of religion gathered in San Francisco for the American Society of Church History’s annual conference. It was a wonderful time to engage with new work and ideas as well as connect with fellow scholars and friends, including several fellow Anxious Benchers. If you’ll indulge me, a review here of some of the panels—as well as a major question that emerged throughout the discussions. For me, the conference began on Friday morning, as I got to... Read more
I have been working on the topic of empires, and specifically on their religious dimensions. To take the title of my forthcoming book, Kingdoms of This World: How Empires Have Made and Remade Religions (Baylor University Press, 2024). I have remarked how modern-day American historians have little doubt that the US constituted an empire – not just after the grabs of Pacific territory in 1898, but essentially from the country’s foundation. (I draw your attention to the substantial bibliography that... Read more
A crisis occurred in Mansfield, Texas, during the fall of 1956. A typical Jim Crow town in the South, Mansfield had numerous “separate but equal” laws for its black citizens. 1950s Mansfield had a population of approximately 1,500 citizens, with 350 of them estimated to be black. These black citizens’ residences were segregated to the West side of town.[1] The only church that permitted black attendance in Mansfield was the all black, Bethlehem Baptist Church. Blacks were required to enter... Read more
by Janine Giordano Drake A few weeks ago, as my ELCA Lutheran church was reciting the Apostles Creed–like we always do– on a cloudy Sunday morning, the woman next to me in the pew loudly offered a protest. Instead of professing faith in the “Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, and the forgiveness of sins” like it was written in the church bulletin, she changed “catholic” to “Christian.” We were in an unmistakably Lutheran Church, but... Read more
My forthcoming book Kingdoms of This World: How Empires Have Made and Remade Religions (Baylor University Press, 2024) focuses on the history of empires, and specifically their religious dimensions. In this present post, I will pursue that theme in the context of US empire through history. That idea of empire has become a very potent – indeed central – theme in the writing of American history over the past couple of decades. Even so, a lot remains to be said... Read more
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