The Anxious Bench

Les Misérables And Failed Revolutions 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

Les Misérables is a story about failed revolution. It can be pretty bleak at times. But, Lisa Clark Diller writes, the musical also reminds us that human flourishing demands not only political vigilance, but self-giving love.
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1893: The Long Trajectories 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

Why were the early 1890s so consequential for future American activity in the areas of politics, race, and religion? Philip Jenkins offers some early reflections.
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The Long History Of The Religious Right Ever since so many of them embraced the Reagan Revolution during the 1980 election cycle, the political involvement of evangelicals has garnered the

Church Historian, Miles Mullin, is the interim replacement of Leatherwood.

Interestingly, Mullin has authored the most read piece in @anxiousbench.bsky.social’s history: The Long History of the Religious Right.

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1893: Temperance, Trafficking, And The Defense Of The Race 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

The Progressive Era saw an explosion in social awareness and activism on the questions of suffrage, temperance, and protections against sexual abuse. How did new emphases on biology and racial eugenics shift the religious approaches to these social crises?
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John MacArthur's Expository Preaching 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

In the 21st century, John MacArthur earned notoriety for challenging what he saw as threats to true Christianity. But he gained fame and a faithful following in the '80s and '90s for his style of preaching. Daniel K. Williams writes about MacArthur's approach.
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Evangelical Church Camps And Privilege Evangelical church camps found their ascendance in the twentieth century. The privilege of resort and camp life are portrayed in two cinematic depictions...

Summer church camps have been a mainstay of white evangelical culture for over half a century now. Joey Cochran asks what the ubiquity of evangelical leisure culture suggests about how evangelicals perform status and privilege in America.
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Rachel Held Evans And The Specter Of Scopes In Dayton For Rachel Held Evans, living in Dayton, Ohio--of Scopes Trial fame--was a way to combat the legacy of fundamentalism in evangelicalism.

The Scopes trial turns 100 this month. Kelsey Hanson Woodruff writes about the legacy of the Scopes trial in Dayton, TN, and how one resident, Rachel Held Evans, tried to push evangelicalism beyond Young Earth creationism's culture war battle lines.
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Extracting Voices From The Archives: María De La Paz’s Story Lynneth Renburg’s discussion of archival silences and archival shouting in Listening to Archival Silence: History and Hidden Voices last month started me

Verónica Gutiérrez is contending with two recurring themes in Anxious Bench pieces--the ethic of archival silences and the challenge of doing historical fiction--by writing a novel about María de la Paz.
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The Cats Of Cyprus (Church History On Vacation) 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

Why are there so many cats on the island of Cyprus? Lynneth Miller Renberg writes that the gaps between historical record and local legend can reveal much about how we tell stories--as well as what we just don't know.
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1893: Crash, Crisis, And Anti-Catholicism Religious tension, economic collapse, and conspiracy fears gripped 1890s America—echoes of today’s struggles in a forgotten but pivotal era.

Have you heard about the American Protective Association of the 1890s?

Philip Jenkins calls our attention to right-leaning grassroots movements in American history, and our need to study the movements we don't like.
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The Real Significance Of Dobbs 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

The Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade turns three years old today. Dan Williams, on the legacy of Dobbs, says it's not simply a decision about abortion. It's a fight to define the nation's founding principles.
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Trump's God-Gilded Realpolitik Ended The 12-Day War 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

President Trump has invoked religious language to sanctify his military actions against Iran. It's the latest of many examples of what Joey Cochran calls "God-gilded realpolitik." Here, he offers some reflections on how to respond.

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Southern Baptists And The 'Main Thing' 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"?

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"?
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1893: The Spiritual Revolution Of New Thought 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

Continuing his series on 1893, Philip Jenkins explores the explosion of New Thought spirituality and religious movements touting the absolute power of the mind at the turn of the 20th century.
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Zion: America’s First Techno-Utopia “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

In 1900, faith healer and entrepreneur John Alexander Dowie founded Zion, Illinois, a city that could harness technology for the kingdom of God.

Alex Mayfield writes about Dowie's bold vision and its surprising relevance to our cultural moment.
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Ancient Church Discipline: On Sin And Rehabilitation 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

How did early Christians address grave sin in their communities? Adam Renberg gives us a look into early church discipline, including what from their approach we can apply in our own contexts.
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Evangelicals, CRT, And The Genetic Fallacy 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

Evangelicals are typically allergic to any class-based social analysis because it sniffs of Marxism. But if they want to understand constructs of race in America, writes Paul Thompson, they need to stop living in fear of ideas.

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A Rise In Black Christian Nationalism? If you follow data and polling around religion and American politics, you’ve probably (whether knowingly or unknowingly) utilized the work of the Public

Are we seeing a rise in Christian nationalism among Black Protestants? @ansleyquiros.bsky.social probes the complex and sometimes contradictory polling data for answers.
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Chronicling The Elusive Joseph Smith 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

Joseph Smith--religious revisionist, charismatic genius, and voice of American audacity.

Daniel Williams reviews John Turner's biography of the Mormon patriarch, "Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet (Yale, 2025).
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1893: Reading The Bible As Mythology I am currently writing about the year 1893, and arguing that it was of immense significance in American culture, and especially in religious matters. If

The Scopes "Monkey" Trial typically takes center stage when we recall the fundamentalist/modernist conflicts. But according to Philip Jenkins, higher critics and traditionalists were already trading blows by the 1890s.
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When Did Pentecostals Start Liking The Pope? Growing up Pentecostal, my introduction to Catholic life came slowly and almost accidentally when a friend started sharing about her upcoming confirmation

Our newest regular contributor, Alex Mayfield, tells the story of how Pentecostals warmed to Roman Catholicism over the last century--or at least some Pentecostals.
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Why Does A New Pope Matter? A Tale Of Two Elections A Protestant historian reflects on the election of Pope Leo XIV, exploring the political legacy of the papacy and why even non-Catholics should be paying attention.

"While not currently experiencing a huge conflict like the Thirty Years War, we're in a moment where global political and military realities are shifting. Where the head of a global organization worth billions chooses to put its energies could matter."
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What Makes A Pope Great? On Popes And Pastoral Care With the recent passing of Pope Francis, there has been a lot of discussion about the pope’s legacy. Described by NPR as “one of the most popular popes in

What makes a pope great? In expectation of a new bishop of Rome, @lmillerrenberg.bsky.social offers a brief account of Pope Gregory the Great (r. 590-604) as an imperfect but effective model of apostolic service.
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Saving Face: An Interview With Aimee Byrd I agreed to interview Aimee Byrd about her new book, Saving Face: Finding Myself, God, and One Another Outside a Defaced Church (Zondervan Reflective,

"I used to think truth was a doctrinal matter, that truth was certainty. It was objective and dehumanized."

Ansley Quiros talks to Aimee Byrd about her new book, Saving Face: Finding Myself, God, and One Another Outside a Defaced Church.
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Arthur Hugh Clough’s Hymn Against Easter And Resurrection At special times of the year such as Easter, I always like to offer seasonally appropriate posts. That is what I will be doing again this year, but if the

Today at The Anxious Bench—

With all the sentimentality of an evangelical conversion story, English poet and religious skeptic Arthur Hugh Clough penned a startling "anti-Easter" poem in 1849.
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Pope Francis's Evangelical Critics Twenty years ago, when Pope John Paul II died, American evangelicals mourned his passing as though they had lost one of their staunchest allies and most

Today at The Anxious Bench—

Conservative evangelicals have typically evaluated the the bishop of Rome according to the standards of their own cultural agenda. How did evangelicals feel about Pope Francis?
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Choosing Barabbas I’ve been intermittently listening to Bach’s Matthäuspassion performed by the Tölz Boys’ Choir over the last week. (You can watch it here.) It’s a

Today at The Anxious Bench—

What the sham trial of Jesus says about the persuasive power of evil leaders in the era of Trump and Kilmar Ábrego García.
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Africa’s Catholics In A Global Church Last time I wrote about the amazing growth of Catholic populations in Africa, to the point that they would very soon outnumber European believers. But

Today at The Anxious Bench—

Philip Jenkins continues his series on modern Catholicism with a primer on Africa's Catholics; where they are, who they are, and how they are shaping the global Catholic Church.
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Twelve Years, Hundreds Of Posts, And One Grateful Exit A beloved voice at The Anxious Bench says goodbye, reflecting on history, identity, and what it means to write with conviction and care.

Today at The Anxious Bench—

It's the end of an era as David Swartz says farewell after twelve years at the Bench. Read his final reflections on his work with us. We send David in a spirit of friendship, and can't wait to read what he writes next!
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On The Forgotten Nicene: Eustathius Of Antioch What is Nicaea about? Most modern accounts will focus on the theological debate between Arius and Alexander of Alexandria, but the nature of the

Today at The Anxious Bench—

Eustathius of Antioch was an important voice in the debates over Arianism that led to the Council of Nicaea. If we forget figures like Eustathius in our retelling, what is lost?
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