Old/New Nazism in America Like many of you, I have observed in horror the uptick of expressions of American Nazism over the last several months: American Nazis marching in Nashville, Elon Musk’s emphatic salute, Kanye West selling swastika t-shirts during the Super Bowl. These events have also shaken loose a dormant memory, that offers historical context for some of this, if no comfort. Over a decade ago, in 2012, I conducted field research for my first book in Southwest Georgia.... Read more
It’s March, which means it’s Women’s History Month– and while in past years at the Anxious Bench, my March posts have been more celebratory, this year’s post is a bit different. Past posts have pointed out how doing church history with an eye towards women tells a better story of the church, or why having women at the table when making policies matters. This year, I’m writing about two books that I think everyone should read this March (one that’s... Read more
This post concerns using a kind of historical evidence that I don’t normally deal with, namely popular songs from the early and mid-twentieth century. Film, pulp fiction, and even radio programs, I often use, and with great confidence, but Tin Pan Alley is new to me as a resource. I think I am drawing some valuable lessons, and I really would request help in finding more examples. I am presently dealing with the history of American empire, and specifically from... Read more
“I want an honest recollection of what has been done. I want a reckoning with the harm purity culture has caused so many people. Not because I have a vendetta against evangelicals (to be clear, I don’t), but because I see the disparity between my faith and the ideas purported by purity culture.” I recently expressed this sentiment to an interdisciplinary group of scholars. We were reflecting on the ways we envision our scholarship having an impact on society. I... Read more
As I have watched the rapid destruction of constitutional checks and balances and liberal democratic norms over the past month, I have continued to reflect on why so many (though thankfully not all) of my fellow evangelical Christians in the United States support this eradication of institutional safeguards. The destruction of democratic norms did not come as a surprise. On the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration last month, I issued this warning in Current magazine: “When the second Trump administration... Read more
I have been discussing Ernest Crosby’s novel Captain Jinks, Hero (1902), which I would claim as a lost classic of radical American literature, a comprehensive assault on war, militarism, empire, institutional religion, and racism. One reason that it is lost, I think, is so much of the message is delivered quite subtly, and you really have to stay awake to catch all the allusions. No, Crosby calling the flag “Old Gory” throughout is not a typo (but try telling Autocorrect... Read more
Revivalists burn their bras in a Free Methodist bonfire Read more
In May or June 325, several hundred bishops from across the Christian world met in Nicaea, as Constantine frames it, to “face the cause of the division among you” (Constantine, Speech to the Nicene Synod, FNS 31). The divisions were theological ones, sparked from a debate between the presbyter Arius and his bishop Alexander of Alexandria, but had overflowed into the broader world. This council and the resulting creed have received exceptional attention in theological and doxological reflection, especially as... Read more
She was of medium height, with intensely black hair drawn back in a knot, and a head firmly set on her shoulders. When, with her sleeves rolled up, she was washing clothes, one could see what beautifully turned arms she had. Her waist revealed the fact that she had borne children. Her legs were the two pillars of the household. –The Cypresses Believe in God, José María Gironella, 1953 The theme of my Senior Seminar at the St. Ignatius Institute... Read more
Last time I posted about a largely forgotten satirical novel that I think is a really valuable source for understanding the history of American radical thought – anti-war, anti-racism, anti-militarism. This is Captain Jinks, Hero (1902), by the great American Tolstoyan, Ernest H. Crosby. As I read its portrait of the insanity of war and conquest, I keep harking back to Catch-22. Today, I will get into some more substance about Crosby’s ideas, and I will also emphasize the book’s... Read more
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