My childhood experience of Christmas morning, like most, was marked by certain traditions. My siblings and I would wake up and excitedly descend to the living room to see a mass of presents under the tree. Then, we would eat my mother’s delicious monkey bread rapidly to get to the presents as quickly as possible. Before we tore open the wrapping paper concealing those treasures though, my father would pull out his Bible and slowly read from Luke 2 (it... Read more
I am writing this post on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a day of great rejoicing in Mexico and indeed throughout the Americas, celebrating that the Mother of God came down in the form of a Nahua to help her Nahua children. I am closer to the story this year than in years past because I am deep into the final chapters of my manuscript about Juan Diego, the 16th century indigenous visionary to whom Guadalupe... Read more
I have posted quite often here on the theme of American empire throughout history, and specifically its relationship to shaping religion. This post concerns a very useful and quite surprising way of approaching that topic. Unlike other leading Western countries, the US has been quite ambiguous about its empire, and whether in fact we can even speak of such a thing. You don’t have to go too far back in history to find claims that the US was the only... Read more
I decided to experiment a little bit this month by writing a letter addressed to my sons, highlighting the lessons I have learned this year that I would like to pass on to them. Dear L & R, Honoring the fact that we are one of those families that celebrate the Christmas season early, I decided to write a Christmas letter reflecting on what I have learned from both of you. This might come as quite a shock since the... Read more
Arguably the greatest benefit of being a scholar at a Christian university is the opportunity to develop your faith and pursue your scholarship as one seamless, integrated, and wholistic endeavor. For those of us who used to teach in secular institutions, this contrast is immediately palpable upon being employed at a Christ centered university. While my initial academic training focused on African Americans, religion, and reform in the 19th century, today my interests are the contemporary realities of African American... Read more
The past couple years I have provided a round-up of my favorite reads (see here for 2022 and here for 2023), which I refer to as the best books of the year. Some are old and some are new. But here is my selection for this year. I’ll start with my top 10 reads in the new/recent book category. I’ll then turn to highlighting other, less recent, but valued reads that occupied my attention this year. 1. God Gave Rock... Read more
We know so little about women in history, including the Bible. And yet they are there, all over. If we can’t imagine what discipleship could look like for ordinary people—half the population!—then following Jesus looks like something that you have to be either cranks or saints to do. The stories of women can illuminate a wider range of ways that we can follow God’s leading. They open windows into the many contexts in which human beings have tried to live... Read more
Empires are a very hot issue in historical scholarship right now, and missions and missionaries are an important part of the subject. That goes far beyond a crude stereotype of the missionary as a cynical servant of empire, preparing the way for conquest and exploitation. The relationship between missions and empire is complex, and especially so in an American context. That is one theme I am discussing right how in the book I am presently writing on Religion and American... Read more
The 1991 Christmas standard “Mary Did You Know” was an oft-repeated anthem for many of us over past Christmas seasons. With its repeated titular question, the song is one of a relative few modern songs to focus on the perspective of Mary in the Christmas story. Its emphasis, however, is characteristically Protestant: not on Mary as the mother of God or as a key part of the Christmas story, but on Mary as a figure observing the Christmas story unfolding... Read more
During the 1980s, Central America was the setting for brutal revolutions and civil wars that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The United States was closely involved in all these struggles, and I have argued that they must be seen in the long-term context of American empire and quasi-empire: they were America’s Late Imperial Wars. As in another such contexts through imperial history, such wars had profound consequences for the homeland. To adapt a famous phrase, what happens on the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In