May is my favorite month of the year, not only because it’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but also because it’s a month we celebrate fresh beginnings, from new leaves brightening the branches of trees to new graduates celebrating their accomplishments and starting a new chapter in their lives. This particular May marks a milestone for me: one decade since I was one of those graduates, a newly minted PhD who delighted in being able to... Read more
My recent work has concerned the Byzantine world in its last days, and that exploration of Midnight in Byzantium, has introduced me to some wonderful stories and fascinating individuals: just how this will end up in published form remains to be determined. But here, I focus on one person who was amazing even by the standards of his age, and who has attracted a sizable scholarly literature – although I have occasionally been startled to meet scholars of Early Modern... Read more
On the many American evangelical uses of a medieval saint Read more
Serapion Sindonites was a devout monk from the fourth century who had the Scriptures memorized, practiced great spiritual discipline, and—surprisingly—never wore clothes, apart from a loincloth. According to his hagiographer, towards the end of his life Serapion meets a pious virgin who lived in solitude. He asks her whether she is alive in Christ and thus dead to the world. She confirms this is the case, claiming that anyone who lives a life of solitude, like her, is dead to... Read more
I just returned from a trip to Brazil, which involved research in three major cities: Manaus, São Paulo, and Brasília. My colleagues (Princeton’s Raimundo Barreto and Auburn’s Erica Ramírez) and I are interested, among other things, in underexplored aspects of Christian Nationalism and its transnational nature. Scholars of Christian Nationalism in the U.S. have rightly observed that the phenomenon cannot be dismissed as a fringe project. Research suggests that a significant part of the U.S. population embraces or sympathizes with... Read more
Spoiler Alert: This article works with cultural memes and identity politics from the most recent episode of Ted Lasso. If you haven’t watched it and you love the show, you may wish to read this article after viewing the episode. The wildly popular AppleTV+ show, Ted Lasso, has continued to escalate its identity politics message during season 3. Its most recent episode 9, La Locker Room Aux Folles, has AFC Richmond continue its resurgent winning streak, many thanks to the... Read more
Today’s post is about one very specific event, but it gets centrally to the way we write history, and how much attention we should give to key dates and people that at first sight seem to affect only the most rarefied elites. For centuries, access to the Classical languages of Greece and Rome has been a prime distinguishing feature of privileged elites in Europe and the West. Surely, then, we might think, tracing the origins of that cultural phenomenon must... Read more
It seems that whenever I hear Christians talk about the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin and their expulsion from Eden, the conversation revolves around debates on gender roles in marriage and in the church. But there is another monumental significance of the Fall that, I contend, we should be thinking about more. This one has to do with work. Before the Fall, work was a joyous task that Adam and Eve were created to do and enjoy. Their work... Read more
Earlier today, Tuesday May 9, Collin Hansen released an interview with historian Molly Worthen on his podcast, Gospel Bound. What unfolded in the interview was the surprising narrative of Molly Worthen’s evangelical conversion to Christianity. Who Is Molly Worthen? Worthen grew up in Glenn Ellyn in what she described during the interview as a secular home. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at Yale in 2003 and completed her Ph.D. there in 2011. In 2010, she married Michael Morgan,... Read more
The Decline of History Scores The National Assessment of Educational Progress has reported that 8th graders in the United States scored lower on their History and Civics assessment than they have since the Department of Education started testing for this in 1994. Should we panic about this decline and the potential weakening of our civic education? You would think that historians would be the first to lift their voices in outrage. But because of our skills at context and historical... Read more
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