Towards 2070: Is The Future None?

Last updated on: September 21, 2022 at 5:19 pm By Philip Jenkins

“Christianity projected to lose majority status among Americans by 2070, Pew model projects.” That is the key takeaway from a recently published report from the Pew Research Center. I have no problem with the report itself, which is well researched and presented, and if anything, might be over-cautious in its projections. I would argue that the real changes the study portends go beyond any mere process of counting formal believers and church members. Since 2007, Pew studies have done a... Read more

Ron Sider and Evangelicals for McGovern

Last updated on: September 20, 2022 at 9:29 pm By David Swartz

The first volley in Ron Sider's battle against right-wing evangelicalism Read more

An Open Plea to Reconsider the Impact of Complementarian Theology

Last updated on: September 21, 2022 at 11:53 am By Beth Allison Barr

Full title for this post (after an enlightening conversation with Hannah Anderson @sometimesalight)–Because the Experiences of Some Women Do Not Reflect the Experiences of All: An Open Plea to Reconsider the Impact of Complementarian Theology. I almost didn’t post this today. I wanted to change course and write on Al Mohler’s “discipleship of the vote” and “unfaithful” Christians who vote “wrongly.” But then I realized that, even if I wasn’t writing about Al Mohler, I was writing toward Al Mohler—or,... Read more

The God of Evangélicos and the Brazilian Presidency: A Presentist Musing

Last updated on: September 17, 2022 at 5:10 pm By Joao Chaves

I have been thinking a lot about Jair Bolsonaro, the “Trump of the Tropics,” president of Brazil, my home country. I spent considerable time in Brazil in the last couple of years, traveling in the Northeastern part of the country, visiting family and researching for a forthcoming book. Bolsonaro lost in the 2018 elections in the Brazilian Northeast and will likely lose again this year. Nevertheless, even in that region, most evangelical pastors (read: Protestant) find themselves in one of... Read more

Welcome João Chaves

Last updated on: September 18, 2022 at 3:03 pm By Joey Cochran

Our new regular contributor, Dr. João Chaves, releases his first post tomorrow. Having had a sneak peek of this forthcoming post, “The God of Evangélicos and the Brazilian Presidency: A Presentist Musing,” I can vouch that we will have much to glean from the historical insights Dr. Chaves brings to the Bench in future posts. As an incoming regular contributor to our team, I thought I would take a moment to introduce you to Dr. Chaves today. Dr. João Chaves... Read more

September 16 – “El Grito,” the Mexican Inquisition, and Our Lady of Guadalupe

Last updated on: October 13, 2022 at 10:04 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

Last night, Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), stepped out onto the balcony of the Presidential Palace in Mexico City to face a throng of people gathered in the zócalo – the first such gathering since 2019. At 11pm, the popular norteño band, Los Tigres del Norte, paused their outdoor concert and the voices in the square hushed as the president, holding aloft a Mexican flag, shouted various phrases, including: “¡Viva la independencia! ¡Vivan los héroes anónimos! ¡Muera el... Read more

The Green Man and the King Of Salem

Last updated on: September 14, 2022 at 8:00 pm By Philip Jenkins

Christians who delve into the Quran will be surprised how many old friends they find there, including Jesus and Mary, and a lengthy roster of prophets and patriarchs. Exploring the Quran can be an excellent way of understanding the Christian and Jewish worlds of Late Antiquity, particularly the sixth and seventh centuries AD. It also tells us about some lost and forgotten byways of the semi-sort-of-canonical Bible. Most of the Quranic characters can be identified easily enough. Allowing for legendary... Read more

Redeeming Email: Electronic Epistolography for the Glory of God

Last updated on: September 12, 2022 at 11:10 am By Nadya Williams

Every morning, grasping for dear life that first crucial cup of coffee of the day (possibly in the mug that truthfully admits that I am “Tired as a Mother”), I open my work email. Sometimes there is a sense of dread – chances are, my inbox is filled with requests, reminders, and questions from students and colleagues, near and far. Responding to all these emails can take hours. Some get “triaged” for another day, if they are less urgent. A... Read more

Shedding Our Eurocentric Bias: The Gains of a Broad History of Global Christianity

Last updated on: September 12, 2022 at 12:37 pm By Guest Contributor

Today we welcome Dr. Thomas Carlson to the Anxious Bench. Dr. Carlson is Associate Professor of History at Oklahoma State University. His field of research interests include: Medieval Middle East; Muslim-Christian Relations; Byzantine, Islamic, and Syriac Studies. He is the author of Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq (Cambridge, 2018). You may follow Dr. Carlson at @MedievalMidEast. Christianity is a global religion. The canonical Acts of the Apostles narrates one trajectory from Jerusalem to the imperial capital at Rome, while hinting at other trajectories in... Read more

When (Some) Heretics Made Good Sense

Last updated on: September 11, 2022 at 6:04 am By Philip Jenkins

The Old Testament commands the Israelites not just to fight and defeat other peoples such as the Canaanites and Amalekites, but to exterminate them, to commit what any modern reader would define as genocide. Today, such commands are extremely troubling, and Jews and Christians alike have agonized over them through the centuries. But such concerns are anything but new. From the earliest Christian ages, we find readings and responses that sound very modern in tone, and in a few cases,... Read more