Today is the 4th anniversary of the founding of this blog. Come back Monday for a look back; meanwhile, here’s what was making news in the last week of our fourth year: Here… • Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins might have written the best history of Baptists in this country… but here’s what they missed about … More That Was The Week That Was
Even for historians as gifted as Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins, three hundred pages is not nearly enough to do justice to the full diversity of Baptists in America, the title of their new book from Oxford University Press. So I’m not surprised that they pay little attention to the rather pietistic Baptists I know best. Founded as the … More The Forgotten Baptists
“Historical fiction,” observes editor Kathryn Sutherland, “has always been popular, of course, but it rarely enjoys high critical esteem.” While it has drawn its share of readers ever since the days of Walter Scott, historical fiction often suffers by comparison to more academic engagements with the past. But Sutherland thinks that historical fiction has often done better than … More The Virtues of Historical Fiction
Eight centuries ago today King John of England sealed the Great Charter (in Latin, Magna Carta) with his rebellious barons. Often seen as the cornerstone of the British constitution, the Magna Carta has also been a popular touchpoint for American political thinkers going back to the Revolution. Learn more from the British Library, repository of two of … More The Magna Carta at 800
Here… • After the week started with conflicting evidence about evangelical attitudes on human sexuality, I urged more conversation on the topic. • Two questions for historians: Is historical empathy actually possible? Is there a power struggle between historians and their subjects? • And the story of an American atrocity in the middle of WWII reminded me of war’s corrosive effects … More That Was The Week That Was
If there are better histories of World War II being written than the books in Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, I haven’t read them. A former reporter and editor for the Washington Post, Atkinson conceived the massive project of writing the history of how the British and Americans fought their way back to Europe. Having read the Pulitzer-winning first book … More “The Dark World Is Not Far From Us”: A WWII Atrocity
Few posts here have received as many views as the quick one I tossed off Monday, noting the convergence of three stories related to evangelical views of homosexuality: Tony Campolo’s announcement that he would now fully affirm committed same-sex couples; a New York Times story on a conversation about sexuality at Biola University; and a Pew poll showing that … More The Time for a (Long Overdue) Evangelical Conversation on Sexuality
If you ask the graduates of our department how their studies of history changed them, I’m sure the most common response you’d get is this: “I learned empathy.” We use that word all the time, proclaiming in our objectives statement that our students will “develop the imaginative understanding necessary to see the world as others see it.” And … More Is Historical Empathy Impossible?
“Some Evangelicals Take New Look at Bible’s Stance on Gays,” announced the New York Times this morning, reporting on a conversation at Biola University among author Matthew Vines (God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships) and conservative evangelicals like apologetics professor Sean McDowell, radio host Frank Sontag, and pastors Ian DiOrio … More Are Evangelicals Changing Their Minds about Homosexuality?
The few times I’ve daydreamed about having another career, I’ve almost always imagined myself a journalist. It’s maybe not much of a stretch for a historian. Journalists, after all, are writing the “first draft of history.” But if I’m being perfectly honest, I’m really only interested in a particular sort of journalism, one that may seem less than serious and … More History as “An Aggressive Act”
The Pietist Schoolman 