Why Abortion Divides American Protestants

Last updated on: January 23, 2023 at 11:29 pm By Daniel K. Williams

This week, the most controversial Supreme Court decision of modern times, Roe v. Wade, reached its fiftieth anniversary. Even though the Supreme Court rescinded the decision last year, the divisions that Roe made evident are still very much with us. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of Protestant Christianity, where some denominations endorse abortion rights and others denounce abortion as “murder.” Perhaps we can observe this fiftieth anniversary of Roe by asking why American churches divided over... Read more

The Racism of People Who Love You: A Conversation with Samira Mehta

Last updated on: January 23, 2023 at 11:28 am By Melissa Borja

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The fastest growing racial demographic group in the US is people who are mixed race. The U.S. Census counted 33.8 million people in 2020, compared to 9 million people in 2010–a 276% increase. How does this group of Americans navigate the complexities of race and religion in the United States? And how does their racial, religious, and cultural position shape their everyday lives? Samira Mehta explores these questions in her new book, The Racism of the People who Love... Read more

The Legacy We Must Heed (Part 1)

Last updated on: January 18, 2023 at 2:21 pm By Malcolm Foley

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A year ago, I spoke at Eastern Nazarene College to celebrate Martin Luther King’s legacy. As I prepared this talk, my thoughts on race began to solidify, particularly my understanding that capitalistic exploitation lies at the root of its historical construction. I figured I would share the first half of the talk with you to remember for MLK day/week. It’s a little lengthy so settle in if you’re down for it. Especially over the last few years, people seem very... Read more

The Story of Lazarus and the Making of the New Testament

Last updated on: January 15, 2023 at 3:21 pm By Philip Jenkins

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Over the past couple of centuries, scholars have devoted a lot of attention to understanding story-telling. They examine how motifs emerge and evolve, and how they take different forms. Some are represented as historical fact, some as legend, and some in an inbetween category. Rarely does it do much good to try and seek the origins of such tales in solid history. Many have tried to apply such methods to Biblical texts and stories, with consequences that are controversial. In... Read more

Billy Graham in Europe: An Interview with Uta Balbier

Last updated on: January 17, 2023 at 1:11 pm By David Swartz

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Today, Europe is a predominantly secular continent, but that is not how American evangelicals perceived it in the 1950s. Read more

Welcome to New Blogger Lynneth Renberg!

Last updated on: January 17, 2023 at 12:06 am By Beth Allison Barr

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Nine years ago, I was reading applications for our PhD program at Baylor History. My upstairs table was covered with files (we still printed paper copies then). Our Graduate Program Director (GPD), Barry Hankins, had suggested I look first at an applicant from the University of St. Andrews. She was graduating with a MLitt. from the St. Andrews History department and had written her thesis on nineteenth-century dance halls. He though I might be interested in working with her. So,... Read more

A Musing on the Evangélicos of the Brazilian Insurrection

Last updated on: January 16, 2023 at 11:57 am By Joao Chaves

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On January 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Court, Senate, and Presidential palace. Many people reported on the event—and a forthcoming piece I co-wrote on the history of evangelical connection to right-wing politics in Brazil will hopefully come out soon—but I would like to highlight some evangelical pastors who supported Bolsonaro and have not condemned the criminal acts against the Brazilian democracy. The Brazilian insurrection underscores that Christian nationalism (and/or “the religious right”) is a transnational... Read more

In a Limbo of Pain: Welcoming the New Year from a Hospital Bathroom

Last updated on: January 13, 2023 at 2:10 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

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I glanced at my phone. It was 11:48pm on December 31, 2022. I ambled slowly across the tile floor, pushing my IV towards the nearest bathroom, my gown trembling about me. All but one of the lights over the nurses’ station had been turned off and it was quiet and peaceful, much as it had been at 6am when a nurse had wheeled me up from the ER and into an unoccupied space and drew the curtain. There was no... Read more

A Perfumed Gospel

Last updated on: January 11, 2023 at 4:47 pm By Philip Jenkins

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Over the past couple of decades, one of the most active and creative fields of historical scholarship has been the history of the senses, of the ways in which people interact with their worlds. To borrow the words of a recent blurb, what did the past sound like, taste like, smell like? You can actually make reasonable efforts at knowing such things. One excellent book I read last year was Moravian Soundscapes by Sarah Justina Eyerly, which uses a “sonic... Read more

How the English Reformation was Named: Historiography as Political Mythology (Guest Post by Benjamin Guyer)

Last updated on: January 6, 2023 at 4:57 pm By Nadya Williams

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It is a new year and a wonderful time to welcome a new guest contributor to the Anxious Bench to tell us about his new book. Today’s post is by Benjamin Guyer, who is currently a lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and an adjunct professor in the departments of Religious Studies and History at the University of Kansas. He is a Council Member of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference,... Read more

In James, what is the correct sequence that leads from temptation to death?