Keep Hope Alive

Last updated on: April 21, 2023 at 10:31 am By Malcolm Foley

During the month of April at the Anxious Bench, a number of our columnists are participating in a joint collaboration with the AACC (Asian American Christian Collaborative) to draw attention to the history of gun violence in the United States. Since the shootings in Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Uvalde, the AACC has been a crucial Christian organization that is actively pursuing advocacy and policy efforts to address gun violence in the United States, and the Anxious Bench is proud to partner with... Read more

The Myth Of 1453, And How Empires Do Not End

Last updated on: April 24, 2023 at 11:36 am By Philip Jenkins

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This post concerns a year in which not much happened, or at least, far less than we often think. I’ll explain that cryptic remark. I have published quite a bit on Eastern Christian traditions, most recently in my forthcoming book A Storm of Images: Iconoclasm and Religious Reformation in the Byzantine World (Baylor University Press). That dealt with the eighth and ninth centuries, but more recently I have been working on the Late Byzantine period, and the diverse manifestations of... Read more

The Tree Flag and Christian Nationalism

Last updated on: June 2, 2025 at 10:01 am By David Swartz

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The Tree Flag is an almost perfect representation of Christian nationalism, especially in its use of history to valorize violence. Read more

My Career on The Anxious Bench–How it Started and How it is Ending

Last updated on: April 18, 2023 at 1:54 pm By Beth Allison Barr

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It was July 2014. My colleague Tommy Kidd and I were walking across Baylor campus (honestly, I don’t remember why). He was an Associate Professor and I had just received my promotion letter upgrading me to an Associate Professor, too. I have a piece, I told Tommy, on writing as a female academic with small children. Would he be interested in running it on his religious history blog site? (For those of you new to the Anxious Bench, Tommy Kidd... Read more

Hemispheric Histories for Racial and Ethnic Solidarity, Part III (Conclusion)

Last updated on: February 27, 2023 at 10:14 pm By Joao Chaves

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In my last two posts, I argued that the histories of the U.S. Black Church and Brazilian Protestantism have points of contact that could be fruitful for constructing a hemispheric Afro-descendant Christianity. The second post of this three-part series pointed to the example of 1840s Brazilian Protestant preacher Agostinho José Pereira, nicknamed the “Black Luther.” I also pointed to the overlaps between religiously-informed White supremacies that affect the US Black Church and Latin American Christians, mainly via the example of... Read more

A Hysterectomy during Holy Week: Reaching for the Hem of Christ’s Garment

Last updated on: April 20, 2023 at 3:08 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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Christ healing a bleeding woman, as depicted in the Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter Now there was a woman suffering from a haemorrhage for the past twelve years, whom no one had been able to cure. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak; and the haemorrhage stopped at that very moment. Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, it is the crowds round you, pushing.” But... Read more

Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? Teaching and Testing Knowledge

Last updated on: April 13, 2023 at 8:40 am By Philip Jenkins

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This post concerns an academic issue that might seem, well, academic, but it does get to much larger issues about the nature of teaching and conveying knowledge. Briefly there are lots of possible ways of examining and assessing people’s knowledge of a topic, and there is much to be said for making those questions as wide-ranging and, sometimes, as bizarre as possible. Through the years, I have been heavily involved in US graduate education, and have often set Comprehensive exams... Read more

What Child Is This?

Last updated on: April 11, 2023 at 11:50 am By Nadya Williams

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This essay was originally published at Current. This month at the Anxious Bench, a number of columnists are participating in a joint collaboration with the AACC (Asian American Christian Collaborative) to draw attention to the mournful history of gun violence in the United States. This post is part of this effort. It is simple, they say. You pick up a kit and fingerprint your child in the comfort of your own home. Roll each little finger carefully on the card—with... Read more

Second Amendment Rights Is About Protecting White Supremacy

Last updated on: April 14, 2023 at 8:09 am By Joey Cochran

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Islam’s Future in Kathmandu

Last updated on: April 5, 2023 at 6:32 pm By Thomas Albert Howard

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[This essay draws from a recent speaking engagement in Kathmandu, Nepal] “Islam” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Kathmandu. Seated in a predominantly Hindu and Buddhist country, the fabled city is ablaze with gods and piety, just not those of the Muslim or even Abrahamic sort. And yet late July of last year I found myself in Nagorkot, a village outside Kathmandu in the Himalayan foothills, to participate in a multi-day conference on “The... Read more

Who said, "My Lord and my God!"?