religion
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The Year of Writing Dangerously
Well, folks, it’s the one year anniversary of this website, so it seems like time for me to think about what I’ve done. I say that I’ve been “writing dangerously” not because anything I’ve written here has been particularly provocative, but rather because doing anything other than keeping your head down and publishing your ass […]
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Confessions of a horse shed historian
David Hall famously wrote of the “horse shed Christians,” those people in early New England who, during service, were just as likely to be out back by the horse shed talking about the price of wheat with their friends as they were to be in the church listening attentively. I’m stretching the metaphor a lot […]
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The cowardice of “no strong convictions”
Many of us in Connecticut were horrified – but not surprised – at video of a post-election gathering at which someone in Klan robes rode around a bonfire waving a Trump/Pence sign while onlookers laughed and cheered. Some, however, including the first selectman, downplayed the seriousness of this. A town leader downplayed the vile bash. […]
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The weight of history
This election has led to a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over the state of the electorate, and I’ve seen a lot of people arguing that the voting population in the United States needs more civics education. In many ways, I agree; I don’t think most voters could explain the mechanisms of our government […]
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The planks in our own eyes
This is a post that’s been percolating in my brain, and in my academic writing, for a long time. The latest uproar – and the terms of the uproar – over leaked Clinton campaign emails with comments about Catholics has made it clear it’s as good a time as any to put these thoughts out […]
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America’s Public Bible
Lincoln Mullen has come out with another great digital project of interest not only to historians of American religion but to all historians of U.S. history more generally (Yep, if you think religion isn’t relevant to your work on the 18whatevers, you’re wrong). Go play with America’s Public Bible right now! Mullen’s site allows you to […]
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Teaching religious n00bs and skeptics
I read Jolyon Baraka Thomas’ piece “Teaching True Believers” last week and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. In it, Thomas discusses the difficulty of getting students to think critically about religious belief. Here’s a taste, but I encourage you to read the entire piece. We do not tell our students what to believe, nor […]
