It’s book release month for the Advent devotional that my husband and colleague Adam and I co-wrote– a sort of Christmas in July, as it were. We’re so

Celebrations commemorating 250 years of America ... have served as an opportunity to profit on promoting 250 years of American Christian Nationalism.

I recently came across a book that resonated with so many of my interests! This was The Foundations of Re-Enchantment: Freemasonry, Theosophy, and the

We problematize the received narratives as a way of acknowledging that it is the nature of human beings in community to be problematic. This problematization constantly counsels that as Christians doi...

I have written in the past about how invaluable cartoons and caricatures can be for historical sources, and as teaching materials. In my current project,

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. Psalms 46:5 In one of the first episodes of the show

Before jumping into this piece, I want to make an acknowledgement. First, Professor Sutton has a new and well-regarded book expanding his argument from Neither Sutton's political redefinition nor the ...

“Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases.” (Mr. Trump as quoted in BBC Article from January 9, 2026) “When True protection has historically come through reco...

After five and a half years on the Anxious Bench, the time has come to say goodbye. Given my other writing commitments during the coming year (including

To say Jack’s relationship with Xmas was tendentious is to understate it. Even in his youth, elements of the season niggled at him. He did not care for

‘Tis the season for watching silly sappy movies about small town folks who work hard but haven’t made time for love in their lives until Christmas movies

It’s a stunning stone church, painted white and towering over the surrounding landscape, with the sparkling waters of the fjord and snow-covered peaks of

Historians talk about the danger of presentist history. They rarely talk about what happens when presentist history is unavoidable.

For over ten years my colleague and friend Paul Yandle and I have been comparing southern history and contemporary politics. Unlike me, he is a

We hear much about Christian nationalism these days, and for good reason. Pastors, pundits, and presidents alike champion control and dominance as

We have a guest blog today from my good friend Kevin Barron – more properly, the Rev. Kevin Barron, as he is an Episcopal priest. Like many of us, he has

On Sunday, September 21, 2025, thousands of people attended the Charlie Kirk Memorial at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. They gathered to pay

How should we think about our flaws and misbehavior? For some, flaws are something to be embraced: we should be loved ‘warts and all’. For others,

"All Jews, Christians and Moslems, the spiritual heirs of those slaves freed from Egyptian bondage, are bound by that law, whether they live in the Middle

My current series of posts concerns what I call the first discovery of lost gospels and scriptures, which became a major force in both scholarship and

Stepping under the 13th-century painted ceiling from the chancel of the church in Ål housed in Oslo’s Historical Museum is a breathtaking experience for a I’d argue that anyone wanting to be a thought...

James Dobson's death last week marked the end of a particular era in conservative evangelical politics. It was certainly not the end of the Christian

Evangelical leaders clash over John Mark Comer’s views on penal-substitutionary atonement. Explore the debate on crucicentrism, atonement theory, and shifting centers of evangelical influence.

What does Cracker Barrel's branding woes tell us about the relationship between tradition and modernity in Christianity?

I have been writing about the modern rediscovery of ancient Jewish and Christian scriptures, including Lost Gospels. We usually tend to think of such

They had removed two of the three bullets from his body, but Senior Sergeant Sauer was now refusing further treatment. “Do not touch me,” he said, “I

Who reads the Scriptures better—Bart Ehrman or my grandmother? One is a world-renowned scholar of the New Testament and textual critic, the other has no

Some years back, I published a lot at this site on the general subject of Alternative Scriptures, and their rediscovery in modern times. I found a lot to

I love to tell the story; 'tis pleasant to repeat what seems, each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet.   As Dr. Daniel Williams points out in a

In June 2010 I was privileged to meet Dr. Daniel Williams through a mutual acquaintance at the Policy History Conference in Columbus, Ohio. His first book

Thirty years ago a friend introduced my husband Tommy and I to the music of Les Mis. It took us a few months to see the show—a fancy dress outing to the

In recent weeks, I have been writing extensively about the transformations that America experienced during the year of 1893. You won't be surprised to

Ever since so many of them embraced the Reagan Revolution during the 1980 election cycle, the political involvement of evangelicals has garnered the

I recently blogged about the radical feminist theories in religion that emerged during that critical year of 1893, the year of Matilda Joslyn Gage’s

Much of the commentary about John MacArthur in the wake of his death last week has focused on the controversies about his views on gender and politics or

Evangelical church camps found their ascendance in the twentieth century. The privilege of resort and camp life are portrayed in two cinematic depictions...

For Rachel Held Evans, living in Dayton, Ohio--of Scopes Trial fame--was a way to combat the legacy of fundamentalism in evangelicalism.

Lynneth Renburg’s discussion of archival silences and archival shouting in Listening to Archival Silence: History and Hidden Voices last month started me

On a recent trip to Turkey and Greece, where I loved the churches, mosques, and museums we were able to tour, my daughter had a very different highlight

Religious tension, economic collapse, and conspiracy fears gripped 1890s America—echoes of today’s struggles in a forgotten but pivotal era.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago today in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, both sides in the abortion

Apparently the 12-day War is ending all thanks to Trump's God-gilded realpolitik. What do I mean by this? Allow me to show you what I mean by recounting

Southern Baptist leaders want to "keep the main thing the main thing." But what if your very culture gets in the way of the "main thing"?

A current project of mine focuses on the year of 1893 as a critical turning point in American culture and thought, and especially in religion. I am not of

“All hail to the Printing Press and all its beautiful adjuncts, and all hail to the coming Grapho-Tele-Phone and Photo-Telegraph, the Speech-Recorder and

Moral failings in the church are not a new phenomenon—to read the pages of Christian history is to see sin’s stain throughout.  The writings of the New

Recently I was discussing Critical Race Theory with a professor colleague of mine who in every sense of the word is more conservative than me. When

If you follow data and polling around religion and American politics, you’ve probably (whether knowingly or unknowingly) utilized the work of the Public

A review of John G. Turner, Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet (Yale University Press, 2025) Few figures in American religious history