The Anxious Bench

"Nations Are Made By Men, Not Paper Constitutions" 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

What is going on in right-wing America? Historian Paul Yandle traces the similarities between dehumanizing Reconstruction-era rhetoric and the fear mongers of the new Right.
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"Pastoral Leadership In A Time Of Christian Nationalism" We hear much about Christian nationalism these days, and for good reason. Pastors, pundits, and presidents alike champion control and dominance as

How should pastors think about the rising threat of Christian nationalism? Ansley Quiros offers her reflections in response to the recent conference, "Pastoral Leadership in a Time of Christian Nationalism," held at Candler School of Theology last week.
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Biblical And Christian Images In The Movie SINNERS 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

If you've seen the film SINNERS, you know how the stories of American history are woven into the the fabric of fantasy. But what about stories of Christianity? Today, Rev. Kevin Barron considers the relationship between faith and fantasy in SINNERS.
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The Charlie Kirk Memorial: A Funeral, A Revival, A Rally On Sunday, September 21, 2025, thousands of people attended the Charlie Kirk Memorial at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. They gathered to pay

"The Charlie Kirk Memorial turned out to be a blend of funeral, revival, and rally," writes Joey Cochran. "The three features of which had so much permeability that it was tough to discern where one began and the others ended."
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I’m Only Human: Sin As The Rejection Of Human Nature 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,

"I'm only human!" It seems natural to us to root our shortcomings in human frailty.

But for Origen of Alexandria, our moral faults reflect more of an animalistic rejection of human nature as created by God and perfectly displayed in Jesus Christ.
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An Ecumenical Moment: Cesar Chavez & The 3 Faiths "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

"Why does it often take terrible spectacles of violence to get people to finally sit down and talk?"
Michael Jimenez writes on what we can learn from the interfaith embrace of Cesar Chavez's farmworkers' union in the 1970s.
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Feminists, Lost Gospels, And A Lost History Of Christianity 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

Today at The Anxious Bench, Philip Jenkins reveals how a 19th century fringe group of religious freethinkers, the Theosophists, were pioneers in the "rediscovery" of early Christianity's esoteric egalitarianism.
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Theology, History, And Contexts For Reading Well 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...

What do board games have to do with the doctrine of creation? Lynneth Miller Renberg explores the visual theology of a medieval Scandinavian church, and tells us why theologians and historians need each other to understand the worlds of religion.
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James Dobson's Death Was The End Of An Era 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

James Dobson's death marks the end of a generation of conservative evangelical influencers. Daniel Williams writes that what propelled Dobson was a potent blend of Silent Generation political persuasion and Sunbelt evangelical ingenuity.
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John Mark Comer, Penal Substitution, And Evangelical Power 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.

When John Mark Comer posted a pic in praise of Andrew Rillera’s new book on atonement, it triggered a flurry of responses from Reformed evangelical social media.
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Cracker Barrel, Anglican Converts, And Tradition's Aesthetic What does Cracker Barrel's branding woes tell us about the relationship between tradition and modernity in Christianity?

What do the Cracker Barrel rebrand and the conversion of a prominent Southern Baptist theologian have to do with one another? www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiou...

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

In 1896 and 1897, several breakthrough discoveries in Egypt changed the landscape of biblical studies and scholarly speculation about the figure of Jesus. Philip Jenkins continues his work on the "Lost Scriptures" of the late 19th century.
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Zion: Televangelists And Worldwide Theocracy 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

At the turn of the twentieth century, Alexander Dowie foresaw an apocalyptic revolution and worldwide theocracy, where Jesus Christ would personally speak his message via--what else?--the nascent power of telecommunications.
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Is Faith Required For Reading The Bible Properly? 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

Who reads scripture better--an unbelieving scholar of ancient texts or an aged saint, dedicated to years of devotional reading? Adam Renberg looks at ancient Christian reading practices that point to the necessity of virtue for understanding the Bible.
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The First Discovery Of The Lost Scriptures 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

When thinking about noncanonical scriptures, we typically start with the discoveries at Qumran in the 1940s, but alternative texts had been known from as early as the 1890s. How did these texts shape biblical studies and religious piety?
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Surprised By History: Telling The Story 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

What do Christians have to offer the world in the "ahistoric age" in which we live?

We have a story to tell, Michael Jimenez writes--an old, beautiful, complex, surprising story.
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Interview With Historian Daniel K. Williams 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

Today at The Anxious Bench, Paul Thompson interviews fellow Anxious Bench contributor Daniel K. Williams on being a professional historian and the relationship between faith and scholarship.
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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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