How a Painting Illustrates the Nineteenth Century History Wars over American Christian Foundations

Last updated on: October 30, 2023 at 7:13 pm By Philip Jenkins

I am presently revising my textbook on the History of the United States, for a sixth (!) edition. Through the span of American history, certain themes surface repeatedly, even obsessively, and among those is the nature of the country’s founding: what exactly were the foundations and values on which it was built? Godly and Puritan? Secular and Enlightenment? Slave-holding or free? Of the country’s nature, such historical debates have always resonated in political debate, and they continue to do so.... Read more

Halloween Hauntings

Last updated on: October 30, 2023 at 7:09 pm By Philip Jenkins

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Every Halloween for several years, I have posted something that is oriented to horror, weird fiction, or the supernatural, preferably with some direct relevance to religious history (which is never actually that hard to connect). Here, I offer one historical case study at length, and I think it is a really impressive ghost story. I will also offer links to quite a few very diverse posts I have done here over the past decade. Some of my posts have concerned... Read more

Walking in Darkness: How a Psalm Shaped Horror Fiction

Last updated on: October 30, 2023 at 6:28 am By Philip Jenkins

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This is the first of two Halloween offerings from me this year. Earlier this year I published a book on the reception of Psalm 91 through history: this was my He Will Save You from the Deadly Pestilence: The Many Lives of Psalm 91 (Oxford University Press). Over the past couple of millennia, that psalm has enjoyed a robust career as a protection against demons and evil forces. Depending on the translation, it has multiple references to evil forces, both... Read more

Now We Are Six: Thoughts On Writing Very Modern US History

Last updated on: October 26, 2023 at 11:26 am By Philip Jenkins

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As I have remarked in a couple of recent posts, I am currently writing a new and fully revised sixth edition of my History of the United States, which originally appeared in 1997: the new version will be published by Bloomsbury. Looking back at those earlier versions brings out some points about recent American history that really strike me. They also have a large effect on just how we produce history books during a revolution in teaching as much as... Read more

The Elisabeth Elliot We Never Knew: An Interview with Lucy Austen

Last updated on: October 25, 2023 at 12:26 am By Andrea L. Turpin

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I am delighted to welcome Lucy S. R. Austen to the Anxious Bench to talk about her new biography, Elisabeth Elliot: A Life. Austen is a writer, editor, and teacher who has spent over a decade studying source materials on Elisabeth Elliot. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. Andrea Turpin: For readers who are not familiar with Elisabeth Elliot—or perhaps are familiar with only one aspect of her—how would you briefly summarize her life and significance? Lucy... Read more

American Secularization Hasn’t Followed the Script That Secularization Theory Would Predict

Last updated on: October 23, 2023 at 5:06 pm By Daniel K. Williams

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“Nones” now comprise 28 percent of the American adult population, according to survey data that the Pew Research Center released this month. Sixteen years ago, in 2007, only 16 percent of Americans in 2007 said they had no religion. But if secularization (that is, a shift away from religious affiliation among a substantial percentage of the population) is happening in the United States, it hasn’t proceeded along the lines that secularization theory predicted. According to this frequently recited theory, which... Read more

The Need to End Islamophobia and Antisemitism Is Urgent – and the Responsibility Lies With All of Us

Last updated on: October 23, 2023 at 4:57 pm By Melissa Borja

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Last weekend, Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois, was stabbed to death in his home. The alleged killer was his landlord, who stabbed him 26 times with “a military style knife” while shouting “you Muslims have to die” and “you are killing our kids in Israel. You Palestinians don’t deserve to live.” His mother, Hanaan Shahin, had repeatedly asked the attacker, “let’s pray for peace”; she, too, was stabbed and seriously injured in the attack. According... Read more

What About the Palestinians? Southern Baptists vs. Southern Baptist Missionaries, part 1

Last updated on: October 20, 2023 at 12:06 am By Jacob Randolph

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This is the first post in a two-part series on the history Southern Baptist perceptions of Palestinians after the creation the state of Israel. The second part will be posted next month. “Neutrality is not an option.” These words stood out to me as I read the New York Times piece on American evangelicals and support for Israel. The statement came from Jared Wellman, a well-known Southern Baptist pastor in Arlington, Texas, as he tried to give his congregation... Read more

How an Ancient Library of Suppressed Sacred Books Survived Through the Middle Ages

Last updated on: October 20, 2023 at 12:41 am By Philip Jenkins

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Our standard impression of the Medieval Christian world is distorted. The conventional picture suggests a rigidly-enforced church orthodoxy, any deviation from which meant torture and death. When heresies arose, we are told, they were ruthlessly suppressed, and any and all non-approved religious writings were torched. As I have suggested recently, such a picture works very poorly for the Byzantine world. In the eighth and ninth centuries, orthodoxy was indeed demanded at least in theory, upon pain of exile or death,... Read more

What is the Hebrew name for the book of Genesis?