W. E. B. Du Bois conveyed the notion of double-consciousness in his essay “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” which is the first chapter in a collection of his essays called The Souls of Black Folks. He said: It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,—an American,... Read more
[This past September 11, I was asked by a new interfaith center on Valparaiso University’s campus to participate in an event remembering that terrible day. Participants were asked to speak from our own religious tradition and offer a prayer or two drawn from it. Herewith my reflections/prayers on this occasion.] Like practically everyone alive then and old enough to remember, I have clear memories of that day. A beautiful, cloudless September morning. Not a cloud in the sky. Pure, quiet,... Read more
On a recent trip to New York City to binge on musical theater, my companion and I fit in the Broadway and West End hit Six. It was excellent fun. As someone who teaches on the Tudors each year, I found myself wanting to explain the historical jokes to my friend and trying to decide whether the musical was an asset to those of us who do early modern history as we try to convince the world of our... Read more
Last time, I discussed an artistic representation of the Catholic Church overthrowing the evil heresy of Protestantism. As I suggested, this gets to a vast and under-studied historical topic, namely that of anti-Protestantism – a term I will define more precisely below. This is a wide-open topic for rising scholars looking for a research agenda, or indeed dissertation topics. The range of academic books on anti-Catholicism is vast to the point of crushing, but try finding books on anti-Protestantism. Just... Read more
I offer a brief reflection today and one that is perhaps more theological than my other pieces. To add to the cascade of sources and writings decrying white Christian nationalism, Russell Moore, now the editor in chief of Christianity Today, penned a piece for CT and his newsletter titled, Christian Nationalism Cannot Save the World. Obviously the title is correct. Yet within the article, one finds the tendencies of white evangelicalism run rampant. These tendencies are exemplified in clauses that... Read more
I haven’t made it to the patriarchal bargain yet. We’ll save that for my first November post and follow it with a consideration of why patriarchy persists in egalitarian spaces. I will also tackle the difference (is there one?) between patriarchy and paternalism, which I think will spark some interest. Stay tuned as I continue this series in November. Today I just want to build on my last post. I want to think harder about the circumstances in which women... Read more
In the recent scholarly debate over presentism, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, in conversation with Tera Hunter and Austin McCoy, made a comment that struck me as particularly poignant. She wrote: “We [those referred to as ‘presentist’] are not imposing our contemporary views on the past, we are finding the voices & activities of those opposed to the existing order in their own time…voices that have otherwise been ignored or suppressed.”[1] One of the most striking things about conducting historical research is precisely... Read more
On a recent trip to New York City to binge on musical theater, my companion and I fit in the Broadway and West End hit Six. It was excellent fun. As someone who teaches on the Tudors each year, I found myself wanting to explain the historical jokes to my friend and trying to decide whether the musical was an asset to those of us who do early modern history as we try to convince the world of our relevance.... Read more
I am thinking of founding a Museum of Religiously Incorrect Art. We presently live in a world of broad ecumenism and toleration. It’s instructive, then, to recall how much religious debate through the centuries has been so extremely confrontational and downright nasty, and this is especially true of conflicts within faith traditions. No church or denomination has any monopoly on this rhetoric. We think readily enough of the rich anti-Catholic tradition that has so often surfaced within Protestantism, but the... Read more
This semester I am teaching one of my favorite courses: “Women, Gender, and Sex in American Religious History.” It’s a graduate course, so I joke that it’s basically my personal book club: I make a bunch of smart people read and discuss a different book of my choosing every week! What’s not to love? This is my fifth time teaching the course (the first was in 2014). Each time I change about a third of the books to mix it... Read more
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