In Search of an Evangelical Political Theology

Last updated on: October 24, 2022 at 10:21 pm By Daniel K. Williams

Is there such a thing as an American evangelical political theology? Some pundits are convinced that evangelicals (or, at least, the majority of evangelicals who are white) don’t care about theological principles at all, but merely vote for their self-interest. In yesterday’s Washington Post, columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote, “White evangelicals have never had a robust political ethic based on rigorously developed principles but rather an ends-justify-the-means approach to politics that starts with support for outcomes that are perceived to serve... Read more

Faith, Family, and Filipino American Life: A Roundtable Discussion About the Film Easter Sunday

Last updated on: October 24, 2022 at 12:54 pm By Melissa Borja

Happy Filipino American History Month, everybody! In honor of this occasion, I’m doing the one thing I love more than snacking on a freshly pressed polvoron: thinking and writing about religion, popular culture, and Asian American life. The theme of religion and Filipino American life received a good deal of attention this year in the film Easter Sunday, which was released in theaters in August and is now available to stream. Starring the Filipino American comedian Jo Koy,... Read more

A Primer on Racial Violence

Last updated on: October 21, 2022 at 10:10 am By Malcolm Foley

Disclaimer: I want to offer a short warning which could hypothetically go alongside most of my pieces. The following has rather graphic descriptions of lynchings in American history and the accusations that accompanied them, which included brutal murders and sexual assaults. There are a few things that every United Statesian should know about racial violence in the United States. The shame is that this is a history that has been actively suppressed for a while, though I have been encouraged... Read more

At Sixes and Sevens: How Volcanic Disasters Destroy Societies, and Drive Religious Change

Last updated on: October 17, 2022 at 9:38 am By Philip Jenkins

This is me making a mea culpa, and actually profiting from the process. I made an error, and learned from it, and it sent me off on some really intriguing directions. As a result, I think I now have some important things to say about two of the great social, cultural and religious crises in human history. I work a lot on climate history, and the role of climate-related disasters in riving political and religious change. This was the theme... Read more

Ron Sider and the Chicago Declaration

Last updated on: October 17, 2022 at 6:40 pm By David Swartz

“Now this is the real McCoy, rooted in deep personal experience! … I’ve always suspected that the future was with these Evangelical guys.” Read more

Frightening Figures: Sacrilegious Women and Dancing Witches

Last updated on: October 17, 2022 at 10:52 pm By Beth Allison Barr

Today I am so pleased to welcome back to Lynneth Miller Renberg to the Anxious Bench. Lynneth is an assistant professor of history at Anderson University, with teaching and research interests in gender, dance, emotion, and lay religion. Her monograph, Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith was awarded the Founders’ Prize from the Sixteenth Century Society and is forthcoming with the Boydell Press in November 2022. She is also editor of The Cursed Carolers in... Read more

Evangélico Coloniality and the Continuing Politics of Translation

Last updated on: October 17, 2022 at 10:16 pm By Joao Chaves

In my last post, I mentioned that I would write about the embattled evangélicos who are not part of the overwhelming conservative majority in Latin America. More specifically, I said I would address some of the translated works that continue to empower evangélicos in Brazil who attempt to resist the sharper edges of Brazilian theopolitical conservatism. It is this type of conservatism that, among other things, helped embolden president Jair Bolsonaro and his allies. But before talking about translations used... Read more

Juan Diego and the Indigenous Engineers of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

Last updated on: December 9, 2022 at 2:04 pm By Verónica A. Gutiérrez

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I am currently writing a children’s chapter book about St. Juan Diego for Ignatius Press’s popular Vision series. “Writing” is a generous term, since between launching the Great Books Program en español for the Angelicum Academy last week (it went so well!) and homeschooling my three children (K, 2nd, and 4th), I am advancing slowly on the manuscript. Writing this post has reignited my enthusiasm for the project. According to Catholic tradition, Juan... Read more

The Great War of (Christian) Africa

Last updated on: October 9, 2022 at 9:09 am By Philip Jenkins

At this moment, in late 2022, where in the world is the most destructive war raging? If you said “Ukraine,” you would almost certainly be wrong. In terms of human carnage and devastation, the answer would far more likely be in Ethiopia, the storm center of what is already being described as a new “Great War of Africa…. Africa’s next World War.” (The description comes from analyst Cameron Hudson). Paying attention to that war is crucially important for anyone interested... Read more

History at Home: Historians and Homeschooling

Last updated on: October 11, 2022 at 6:46 pm By Nadya Williams

“Most mornings during the school year, after the breakfast dishes have been put away, the books come out on the kitchen table, and another day at the Williams homeschool begins,” I wrote four years ago for the now defunct but very much missed online journal Eidolon. In explaining my reasons, I added: “People often ask why I homeschool, and why I choose to do so in the midst of the very busy schedules that my husband and I keep. My stock... Read more

What was Paul’s profession before becoming an apostle?