Apart from the usual academic history stuff:
Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood. Hazel Motes has to be one of the strangest and most unusual characters in American literature.
John Baskin, New Burlington: The Life and Death of an American Village. Baskin explores life in a 1970s Ohio village that was abandoned to allow construction of a dam.
T.H. Breen, Imagining the Past: East Hampton Histories. A great model for thinking about a how a professional historian does local history. This is my third go-around with this book.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Peter Lawler on Glenn Beck
Here is Peter Lawler's take on Glenn Beck. From Postmodern Conservative:
Someone has asked why I haven’t made GLENN BECK a strange and stupid conservative trend. Well, for one thing, Glenn is strange but not stupid. (Sarah Palin is not even particularly strange and not stupid–although still fairly ignorant and inexperienced [and remarkably savvy].) Do I think Glenn is the great founder of some civic theological, libertarian, Founderistic, anti-Progressive movement to restore America’s honor, trust, treasure, etc.? No. Do I think DIVINE PROVIDENCE guided him to choose the day on which to hold his rally? No. Do I think it’s a great idea to attempt to refocus the inspiration of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement away from the injustices done to African-Americans and toward the oppression we all suffer from a century of Progressive dominance? No. Do I think Glenn exaggerates–sometimes in a creepy way–the conspiratorial evildoing of President Obama, Progressives, liberals, and people who use “social justice” in a sentence. Yes. Do I think the New Deal was basically unconstitutional? No. Can I stand to watch his show? No. Do I think I’m better than him because I’m a refined postmodern conservative who’s completely ineffectual? No. Do I share many of the concerns of many of his followers? Yes. Do I think refined and religious conservatives should stop whining about him and realize he’s filling a vacuum created by the absence of better conservative popular leadership. Yes. Do I know how many people really showed up for his rally? No. Do I care? No. Do I think the mainstream media is lowballing the number? Yes.
I think I agree with all of this. Does this make me a "postmodern conservative?"
Someone has asked why I haven’t made GLENN BECK a strange and stupid conservative trend. Well, for one thing, Glenn is strange but not stupid. (Sarah Palin is not even particularly strange and not stupid–although still fairly ignorant and inexperienced [and remarkably savvy].) Do I think Glenn is the great founder of some civic theological, libertarian, Founderistic, anti-Progressive movement to restore America’s honor, trust, treasure, etc.? No. Do I think DIVINE PROVIDENCE guided him to choose the day on which to hold his rally? No. Do I think it’s a great idea to attempt to refocus the inspiration of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement away from the injustices done to African-Americans and toward the oppression we all suffer from a century of Progressive dominance? No. Do I think Glenn exaggerates–sometimes in a creepy way–the conspiratorial evildoing of President Obama, Progressives, liberals, and people who use “social justice” in a sentence. Yes. Do I think the New Deal was basically unconstitutional? No. Can I stand to watch his show? No. Do I think I’m better than him because I’m a refined postmodern conservative who’s completely ineffectual? No. Do I share many of the concerns of many of his followers? Yes. Do I think refined and religious conservatives should stop whining about him and realize he’s filling a vacuum created by the absence of better conservative popular leadership. Yes. Do I know how many people really showed up for his rally? No. Do I care? No. Do I think the mainstream media is lowballing the number? Yes.
I think I agree with all of this. Does this make me a "postmodern conservative?"
What Librarians at Historical Societies Think About
Elaine Grublin has written a very interesting post about traffic this summer at the Massachusetts Historical Society. July is the busiest month of the year at the MHS (February is the slowest), but this year the number of July visitors did not meet expectations and the number of August visitors exceeded expectations. Here is a taste:
Long story short, what looked like it was shaping up to be a slow summer, was indeed just a statistically unusual summer, proving to be the busiest summer we have seen in the recent past. Perhaps the airlines and hotels were offering better fares in August this summer. We will need to look at why this happened. Yet with two business days remaining in the month, the library already surpassed the total number of researchers for the combined months of July and August for the past five years, reaching 675 total visits as of Saturday.
Long story short, what looked like it was shaping up to be a slow summer, was indeed just a statistically unusual summer, proving to be the busiest summer we have seen in the recent past. Perhaps the airlines and hotels were offering better fares in August this summer. We will need to look at why this happened. Yet with two business days remaining in the month, the library already surpassed the total number of researchers for the combined months of July and August for the past five years, reaching 675 total visits as of Saturday.
The Numbers are Rising
According to this Newsweek poll the number of Americans who think Barack Obama is a Muslim has now reached 24% of the American population. The number who thinks he "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world" is now at 31 percent.
Should Historian's Use Newspapers as Sources?
When I wrote The Way of Improvement Leads Home I did not find newspapers to be particularly helpful primary sources. I certainly thought I could learn things about the eighteenth century by reading newspapers, but because I was writing more about a private life than a public one I did not need them.
I do, however, find myself using newspapers often in my ongoing project on the Greenwich Tea Burning. In fact, I could not write about the memory of this event without them.
Over at U.S. Intellectual History, Tim Lacy challenges the idea--advanced in a Slate article by Jack Shafer--that historians do not find newspapers particularly helpful in their research. Lacy writes:
From my perch, Shafer has no idea what he is talking about. I have found newspaper reports to be valuable---if not invaluable---tools for thinking about a historical period. The value of newspapers is, of course, relative to the strength of other sources---the ones he mentions. But sometimes newspapers are the only source for some kinds of information.
I do, however, find myself using newspapers often in my ongoing project on the Greenwich Tea Burning. In fact, I could not write about the memory of this event without them.
Over at U.S. Intellectual History, Tim Lacy challenges the idea--advanced in a Slate article by Jack Shafer--that historians do not find newspapers particularly helpful in their research. Lacy writes:
From my perch, Shafer has no idea what he is talking about. I have found newspaper reports to be valuable---if not invaluable---tools for thinking about a historical period. The value of newspapers is, of course, relative to the strength of other sources---the ones he mentions. But sometimes newspapers are the only source for some kinds of information.
The Dignity of Blue Collar Work
A former student of mine graduated from Messiah College with a history degree and then went to work in the oil fields of Wyoming. Those who read my blog know that my father is a general contractor (retired), my brother is a carpenter, and my other brother is a plumber. Though I did not pursue a life in the trades, I was raised with a great deal of respect for those who do this kind of labor.
This is probably why I enjoyed reading R.R. Reno's commentary on Camille Paglia's recent article on blue collar work in The Chronicle of Higher Education. I would encourage you to read both articles, but here is a snippet from Reno's post:
Plumbing, electrical trades, construction, welding, small scale manufacturing—these sorts of jobs bring the pride that comes from mastering a practical skill. It’s part of economic life that I discovered working on oil rigs thirty years ago. (I gasp as I could those decades!)
This is probably why I enjoyed reading R.R. Reno's commentary on Camille Paglia's recent article on blue collar work in The Chronicle of Higher Education. I would encourage you to read both articles, but here is a snippet from Reno's post:
Plumbing, electrical trades, construction, welding, small scale manufacturing—these sorts of jobs bring the pride that comes from mastering a practical skill. It’s part of economic life that I discovered working on oil rigs thirty years ago. (I gasp as I could those decades!)
A friend back in Omaha quit his office job a few years ago. He took up home remodeling. Overall, his wages held up pretty well, though he’s now more vulnerable to economic downturns. But overall he’s much happier—doing something well, as he says, rather than just doing something. And, as he put it to me, “I like to control my own destiny.”
I think a liberal arts education is a priceless opportunity for a young person. But I also think Paglia is right. We need to recognize the dignity of work and stop making the four year college degree into the new high school degree—something everyone is expected to complete. At the end of the day, a skill one can take pride in does not depend accumulating credit hours.
What do you do on the first day of class?
I start teaching tomorrow. I have never given much thought to the first day of class. I usually introduce myself and the course and then go over the syllabus and the assignments. If you do something unique on the first day, especially if you teach history, I would love to hear about it.
Students: What would you like to see happen on the first day of class?
Gina Barecca has clearly given more thought to the rules of her classroom than I have. She does not allow laptops or cell phones. Drinks are permitted. She does not tolerate students coming into class late. She does not tolerate too many absences. She calls randomly on her students to answer questions. She requires that everyone in the class speak at some point. And she concludes:
Students: What would you like to see happen on the first day of class?
Gina Barecca has clearly given more thought to the rules of her classroom than I have. She does not allow laptops or cell phones. Drinks are permitted. She does not tolerate students coming into class late. She does not tolerate too many absences. She calls randomly on her students to answer questions. She requires that everyone in the class speak at some point. And she concludes:
A final note: I will never ask you how you “feel” about a text; in this course, the focus is on what you think, and the reason you think something about a work is because you have read a particular passage. When you make a comment explaining what you think, I‘ll expect you to be able to draw our attention to the page illustrating your argument.
I am happy to discuss how you feel, however, about what goes on in class or almost anything else when I'm in my office. I take my coffee, unflavored, with milk, no sugar, and we can talk as long as you like.
I like it!
Pre-Order Your Copy of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation
Its not due out until February, but you can pre-order at Amazon for the low, low price of $19.77. We are still waiting on cover art.
New York Daily News Op-Ed
I synthesized some of my Glenn Beck blog posts into an op-ed which appears in today's New York Daily News. I am especially excited to appear in the Daily News since this was the paper I grew up reading everyday as a kid!
Monday, August 30, 2010
African-American History on Martha's Vineyard
Today's New York Times is running an interesting article on African-American heritage trail of Martha's Vineyard.Here is a taste:
The heritage trail includes stops at the houses of former Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, the first black senator after Reconstruction and the first from the North; former Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; and Dorothy West, a Harlem Renaissance writer who for two summers in the 1990s was visited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, another Vineyard resident and a Doubleday editor who guided Ms. West to finish her novel “The Wedding.”
Also on the tour is the oceanfront mansion of Joseph Overton, the onetime Harlem labor leader, which was known as the Summer White House of the civil rights movement. It faces the Inkwell beach, named long ago by black youths or black writers — no one seems certain. The house’s visitors included the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who vacationed on the island with his family a number of times, as well as Joe Louis, Harry Belafonte and Jesse Jackson.
The exclusive Chilmark area has Rebecca’s Field, land that the enslaved Rebecca Amos inherited and farmed until 1801. Edgartown has a plaque honoring the daughter who was taken from her to be enslaved elsewhere, Nancy Michael, called “Black Nance.” It calls her “a most singular character” — in the words of an 1857 obituary — for the spells she conjured for departing ship captains.
God Has No Grandchildren
Check out Randall Balmer's short piece at Religion Dispatches on why Franklin Graham's recent remarks about Barack Obama carrying the "seed" of Islam contradicts the evangelist's evangelical faith, or at least the evangelical faith preached by his father, Billy Graham.
Here is a taste:
But one of the mottos of evangelical Christianity (the faith that Graham espouses) is that “God has no grandchildren.” I heard that refrain many, many times as I was growing up within evangelicalism in the 1950s and 1960s. The purpose of that statement was to impress upon young people in particular, but everyone in general, that a person’s religious identity derived from claiming the faith for himself and was not ascribed by birth.
Here is a taste:
But one of the mottos of evangelical Christianity (the faith that Graham espouses) is that “God has no grandchildren.” I heard that refrain many, many times as I was growing up within evangelicalism in the 1950s and 1960s. The purpose of that statement was to impress upon young people in particular, but everyone in general, that a person’s religious identity derived from claiming the faith for himself and was not ascribed by birth.
Individualism and the Tea Party Movement
While I was riding my exercise bike on Sunday morning I watched Chris Wallace interview Glenn Beck on Fox News.
I thought Wallace did a good job of getting Beck to admit the fundamental differences between Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement and Glenn Beck's "reclaimed" Civil Rights movement. Despite the fact that the interview was conducted on Fox, I thought Wallace asked the right questions.
What particularly struck me about the interview was Beck's strong defense of Protestant individualism. At one point in the Wallace interview Beck said:
I would love to have an open conversation (with Barack Obama) about collective salvation...most Christians would look at collective salvation, which is my salvation, my redemption, is incumbent (sic) upon what the collective does, so I can't be saved unless the collective is saved. Well that is a direct opposite of the what the gospel talks about. Jesus came for personal salvation. It's why people say 'you just accept Jesus and your saved.' That's not what my church teaches...you need to change your heart as well. OK, that's what I happen to believe. What does the president believe?...In four different speeches he has told, mainly students, that your salvation is directly tied to the collective salvation. That's not something that most Christian recognize. I'm not demonizing it--I disagree with it...
Beck is just the latest American public figure to fuse Protestant individualism and the individualism that stems from American libertarianism. The equating of Protestantism and political liberty has been around for a long time in this country, as several historians, from Mark Noll to Nathan Hatch, have shown us.
Over at Religion Dispatches, Alex McNeill reflects a bit more on Beck's individualism. McNeill spent the day on Saturday talking to people at Beck's rally. On average he found them to be sensible, friendly, and polite. If there was unifying principle that brought them all together it was this emphasis on individualism.
McNeill writes:
I thought Wallace did a good job of getting Beck to admit the fundamental differences between Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement and Glenn Beck's "reclaimed" Civil Rights movement. Despite the fact that the interview was conducted on Fox, I thought Wallace asked the right questions.
What particularly struck me about the interview was Beck's strong defense of Protestant individualism. At one point in the Wallace interview Beck said:
I would love to have an open conversation (with Barack Obama) about collective salvation...most Christians would look at collective salvation, which is my salvation, my redemption, is incumbent (sic) upon what the collective does, so I can't be saved unless the collective is saved. Well that is a direct opposite of the what the gospel talks about. Jesus came for personal salvation. It's why people say 'you just accept Jesus and your saved.' That's not what my church teaches...you need to change your heart as well. OK, that's what I happen to believe. What does the president believe?...In four different speeches he has told, mainly students, that your salvation is directly tied to the collective salvation. That's not something that most Christian recognize. I'm not demonizing it--I disagree with it...
Beck is just the latest American public figure to fuse Protestant individualism and the individualism that stems from American libertarianism. The equating of Protestantism and political liberty has been around for a long time in this country, as several historians, from Mark Noll to Nathan Hatch, have shown us.
Over at Religion Dispatches, Alex McNeill reflects a bit more on Beck's individualism. McNeill spent the day on Saturday talking to people at Beck's rally. On average he found them to be sensible, friendly, and polite. If there was unifying principle that brought them all together it was this emphasis on individualism.
McNeill writes:
Individualism is beneficial for leaders to peg success or failure of a movement on each person’s virtue rather than the power of the collective to effect change. Individualism is focused on personal attainment, personal happiness, and personal livelihood, and fails to see how each relies on a system that empowers, privileges, or dispossess either the individual or others in the process. As I discovered at the rally, to shift the conversation from “I” to “we” in speaking of a collective liberation was quickly flagged as anti-American and dismissed.
Since when did “we the people” become synonymous with Socialism? How can we convince people that “loving their neighbor” means more than just praying for them, that it means supporting a system that raises each of us up through access to education, health care, jobs, and a livable life? How can we encourage people to stop thinking of themselves as living in subdivisions and start living in neighborhoods? How can we shift from the Jesus of the comfortable to the “sell all your possessions” Jesus?
I don’t think we change the nature of the conversation by berating those with whom we disagree, further sowing the seeds of resentment and faction. We change the nature of the conversation by connecting our own work to the values or faith by which it is motivated. The Christianity I practice requires that I love my neighbor even when it isn’t easy, that I work for “the least of these” even when I want to quit, that I give my two coins even if they are the last two I have, and that Jesus died not only for my sins but also those of the tax collector, the Samaritan woman, and the Pharisee.
I cannot, in good conscience, profess to be a Christian and not see the world as composed of a “we” rather than just “me.” It is also, because I am a Christian that I cannot dismiss the Tea Party outright as I hear their cry of suffering. Many people at the rally spoke to me about losing their jobs, nearly losing their homes, and losing their spirit. That suffering is real, despite whatever else may be said. The Tea Party offered hope, if nothing else, and a direction for anger at individuals rather than towards a system of disempowerment. All I know is, as I surveyed the crowd, I couldn’t help but think about what could happen if all these people suddenly transformed their anger into a movement bent not on equality, but justice.
A Neo-Anabaptist Critique of Saturday's Glenn Beck Rally
At times like these we need neo-Anabaptists like Stanley Hauerwas to remind us that the nation and the church are two different things. At her blog "Intersections," Debra Dean Murphy, a professor of religion at West Virginia Wesleyan College, channels Hauerwas to remind us, in the wake of the Glenn Beck "Restoring Honor" rally, that Christians are "alien citizens" of whatever country they live in. She writes:
I wonder how many people attending the “Restore Honor” rally on Saturday heard the gospel reading from Luke 14 on Sunday? The kind of honor Jesus is interested in “restoring” has nothing to do with patriotic pride or the valorization of death in war and everything to with humility and charity; with serving the poor; with standing alongside those who suffer; that is, with bearing witness — with our very bodies – to an alternative way of being in the world.
One minor clarification. Murphy writes: "As Stanley Hauerwas has noted, 'America is a synthesis of evangelical Protestantism, republican political ideology, and commonsense moral reasoning.'" While I have no doubt that Hauerwas said this, it should be noted that much of the credit for advancing this "synthesis" belongs not to Hauerwas, but to historian Mark Noll. This is the argument of his landmark, America's God.
I wonder how many people attending the “Restore Honor” rally on Saturday heard the gospel reading from Luke 14 on Sunday? The kind of honor Jesus is interested in “restoring” has nothing to do with patriotic pride or the valorization of death in war and everything to with humility and charity; with serving the poor; with standing alongside those who suffer; that is, with bearing witness — with our very bodies – to an alternative way of being in the world.
One minor clarification. Murphy writes: "As Stanley Hauerwas has noted, 'America is a synthesis of evangelical Protestantism, republican political ideology, and commonsense moral reasoning.'" While I have no doubt that Hauerwas said this, it should be noted that much of the credit for advancing this "synthesis" belongs not to Hauerwas, but to historian Mark Noll. This is the argument of his landmark, America's God.
Did Glenn Beck Pave the Way for Mitt Romney in 2012?
Rice University sociologist Michael Lindsay, the author of Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, explains the Glenn Beck phenomenon. In the process he makes an interesting observation. As a Mormon, does Beck's appeal to evangelicals mean that Mitt Romney might have a chance to win the evangelical vote in 2010? You may remember that in 2008 Romney failed to win over evangelicals since too many of them feared his Mormonism. But Glenn Beck is a different story. Evangelicals love this guy. Can Romney capitalize on this new found evangelical love for Mormons?
Lindsay writes:
Fundamentally, the Tea Party movement has mobilized economic conservatives but not the religious faithful. That's a problem for anyone interested in electoral victory, because religious voters remain the most organized constituency of the Republican Party. On Saturday, Glenn Beck began the process of bringing back together these two segments of the conservative movement. Who will benefit the most if this rapprochement holds? Look no further than the second most prominent Mormon in American conservatism today. Indeed, Beck's call to the faithful in Washington this weekend may very well signal the second coming of Mitt Romney.
Lindsay writes:
Fundamentally, the Tea Party movement has mobilized economic conservatives but not the religious faithful. That's a problem for anyone interested in electoral victory, because religious voters remain the most organized constituency of the Republican Party. On Saturday, Glenn Beck began the process of bringing back together these two segments of the conservative movement. Who will benefit the most if this rapprochement holds? Look no further than the second most prominent Mormon in American conservatism today. Indeed, Beck's call to the faithful in Washington this weekend may very well signal the second coming of Mitt Romney.
Gordon Wood on C-SPAN's IN DEPTH
Once every month C-Span spends three hours interviewing a famous author. The "In Depth" program features live call-ins and an insider tour of the author's writing space.Early American history buffs will want to tune in on Sunday when the guest on "In Depth" will be Pulitzer Prize winning historian Gordon Wood.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday Night Odds and Ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week:
Five great books about obscure presidents.
Jim Cullen is writing about Clint Eastwood.
Andrew Bacevich: How Washington Rules.
Joseph Berger reviews Eric Jaffe, The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America.
Roundup on Glenn Beck and the use of the past.
"Today he sounded like Billy Graham."
Is America a Christian nation? Will Bunch and Robert Knight debate.
Courtney Weller on going to seminary on the Gettysburg battlefield.
What will be the defining ideas of the coming decade?
Kids who are pop-culture illiterate. A defense of homeschooling.
The history of textbooks and history standards.
Roger Olson: Is there one evangelicalism?
Historiann defends paper.
John Stackhouse on the Muslim mosque in New York City.
Five great books about obscure presidents.
Jim Cullen is writing about Clint Eastwood.
Andrew Bacevich: How Washington Rules.
Joseph Berger reviews Eric Jaffe, The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America.
Roundup on Glenn Beck and the use of the past.
"Today he sounded like Billy Graham."
Is America a Christian nation? Will Bunch and Robert Knight debate.
Courtney Weller on going to seminary on the Gettysburg battlefield.
What will be the defining ideas of the coming decade?
Kids who are pop-culture illiterate. A defense of homeschooling.
The history of textbooks and history standards.
Roger Olson: Is there one evangelicalism?
Historiann defends paper.
John Stackhouse on the Muslim mosque in New York City.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Some Thoughts on Today's Glenn Beck Rally
I spent the better portion of my Saturday on a soccer field in Gettysburg watching my daughter's team go 4-0 and advance into today's Gettysburg Tournament winner's bracket.
But I was also aware that Glenn Beck was doing his thing down in Washington. As I strolled the grounds of the soccer tournament I saw reminders everywhere. Several soccer parents were sitting on the sidelines with one eye on their daughters and another on their I-Phones watching Beck's rally. (Needless to say, they were not doing objective research).
Much has been made about the fact that Beck held today's rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Beck claims that he did not realize it was the anniversary of this event when he planned the rally, but when he found out he said it must have been "providential."
Perhaps the best thing I have read on the King-Beck comparison is by Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. In yesterday's column, Robinson wrote:
The most offensive thing about the rally is Beck's in-your-face boast that the event will "reclaim the civil rights movement." But this is just a bunch of nonsense -- too incoherent to really offend. Beck makes the false assertion that the struggle for civil rights was about winning "equal justice," not "social justice" -- in other words, that there was no economic component to the movement. He claims that today's liberals, through such initiatives as health-care reform, are somehow "perverting" King's dream.
But Beck's version of history is flat-out wrong. The full name of the event at which King spoke 47 years ago was the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." Among its organizers was labor leader A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a vice president of the AFL-CIO, who gave a speech describing the injustice of "a society in which 6 million black and white people are unemployed and millions more live in poverty."
But there is more to say. As a historian I can't help but comment on the irony of it all.
Like Beck, King loved America. And like Beck, King also promoted the idea of a Christian nation. King believed that such a Christian nation was rooted in equality for all. Apparently so does Beck.
Consider King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963). Here King understood social justice in Christian terms. The rights granted to all citizens of the United States were "God given." Segregation laws were unjust not only because they violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal") but because they did not conform to the laws of God. King argued, using the views of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and theologian Paul Tillich, that segregation was "morally wrong and sinful" because it degraded "human personality." Such a statement was grounded in the biblical idea that all human beings were created in the image of God and as a result possess inherent dignity and worth. King also used biblical examples of civil disobedience to make his point. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago took a stand for God's law over the law of King Nebuchadnezzar. St. Paul was willing to "bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." And, of course, Jesus Christ was "an extremist for love, truth, and goodness" who "rose above his environment...."
By fighting against segregation, King reminded the Birmingham clergy that he was standing up for "what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence." The Civil Rights Movement, as King understood it, was in essence and attempt to construct a new kind of Christian nation--a beloved community of love and equality.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail was written to clergy who believed that segregation was something that needed to be dealt with locally. They did not want "outside agitators" such as King or, presumably the federal government, intruding in their local affairs. They did not want the government taking away their liberties, even if it was the liberty to uphold segregation.
In the end, as the Letter from a Birmingham Jail makes clear and the entire Civil Rights Movement confirms, local action--especially by the clergy--failed to defend the basic human and civil rights afforded to all people, including Blacks. Since the churches and local municipalities were not willing to do anything about this social injustice, it was up to the federal government to step in--with a show of force in some cases--to take away the liberty of some (white segregationalists) so that the liberty of all could be preserved.
This is why a massive rally of libertarian tea partiers commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. and claiming his legacy is so ironic. I am not saying here that the tea partiers are racist, but I am pointing out the fact that there have been times in American history--the Civil Rights Movement being one of them--when local initiative has failed and the only way to bring justice has been through "outside agitators" such as the federal government.
Beck also had his "Black Robe Brigade" come out today and take a bow. This "Brigade" consisted of 240 clergy representing many different denominations and ethnic groups. In case you don't know, the "Black Brigade" was a term used to describe eighteenth-century Protestant ministers who supported the American Revolution.
There is a lot more I could say about the way that Glenn Beck and his new friend David Barton are using the past to promote their political agenda. I have spent a lot of time doing this at "The Way of Improvement Leads Home." (Browse around a bit or do a search of "David Barton" to learn more).
If you can be patient, you can read more of my thoughts about religion and the American Founding--including the role of Protestant clergy--in Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction which is due out in February with Westminster/John Knox Press. In the meantime, check out some of the advance praise the book has been getting from the likes of Thomas Fleming, Mary V. Thompson, Randall Balmer, Richard Bushman, Scot McKnight, John Wigger, Doug Sweeney, Stanley Hauerwas, and Ira Stoll.
But I was also aware that Glenn Beck was doing his thing down in Washington. As I strolled the grounds of the soccer tournament I saw reminders everywhere. Several soccer parents were sitting on the sidelines with one eye on their daughters and another on their I-Phones watching Beck's rally. (Needless to say, they were not doing objective research).
Much has been made about the fact that Beck held today's rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Beck claims that he did not realize it was the anniversary of this event when he planned the rally, but when he found out he said it must have been "providential."
Perhaps the best thing I have read on the King-Beck comparison is by Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. In yesterday's column, Robinson wrote:
The most offensive thing about the rally is Beck's in-your-face boast that the event will "reclaim the civil rights movement." But this is just a bunch of nonsense -- too incoherent to really offend. Beck makes the false assertion that the struggle for civil rights was about winning "equal justice," not "social justice" -- in other words, that there was no economic component to the movement. He claims that today's liberals, through such initiatives as health-care reform, are somehow "perverting" King's dream.
But Beck's version of history is flat-out wrong. The full name of the event at which King spoke 47 years ago was the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." Among its organizers was labor leader A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a vice president of the AFL-CIO, who gave a speech describing the injustice of "a society in which 6 million black and white people are unemployed and millions more live in poverty."
But there is more to say. As a historian I can't help but comment on the irony of it all.
Like Beck, King loved America. And like Beck, King also promoted the idea of a Christian nation. King believed that such a Christian nation was rooted in equality for all. Apparently so does Beck.
Consider King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963). Here King understood social justice in Christian terms. The rights granted to all citizens of the United States were "God given." Segregation laws were unjust not only because they violated the principles of the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal") but because they did not conform to the laws of God. King argued, using the views of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and theologian Paul Tillich, that segregation was "morally wrong and sinful" because it degraded "human personality." Such a statement was grounded in the biblical idea that all human beings were created in the image of God and as a result possess inherent dignity and worth. King also used biblical examples of civil disobedience to make his point. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago took a stand for God's law over the law of King Nebuchadnezzar. St. Paul was willing to "bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." And, of course, Jesus Christ was "an extremist for love, truth, and goodness" who "rose above his environment...."
By fighting against segregation, King reminded the Birmingham clergy that he was standing up for "what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence." The Civil Rights Movement, as King understood it, was in essence and attempt to construct a new kind of Christian nation--a beloved community of love and equality.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail was written to clergy who believed that segregation was something that needed to be dealt with locally. They did not want "outside agitators" such as King or, presumably the federal government, intruding in their local affairs. They did not want the government taking away their liberties, even if it was the liberty to uphold segregation.
In the end, as the Letter from a Birmingham Jail makes clear and the entire Civil Rights Movement confirms, local action--especially by the clergy--failed to defend the basic human and civil rights afforded to all people, including Blacks. Since the churches and local municipalities were not willing to do anything about this social injustice, it was up to the federal government to step in--with a show of force in some cases--to take away the liberty of some (white segregationalists) so that the liberty of all could be preserved.
This is why a massive rally of libertarian tea partiers commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. and claiming his legacy is so ironic. I am not saying here that the tea partiers are racist, but I am pointing out the fact that there have been times in American history--the Civil Rights Movement being one of them--when local initiative has failed and the only way to bring justice has been through "outside agitators" such as the federal government.
Beck also had his "Black Robe Brigade" come out today and take a bow. This "Brigade" consisted of 240 clergy representing many different denominations and ethnic groups. In case you don't know, the "Black Brigade" was a term used to describe eighteenth-century Protestant ministers who supported the American Revolution.
There is a lot more I could say about the way that Glenn Beck and his new friend David Barton are using the past to promote their political agenda. I have spent a lot of time doing this at "The Way of Improvement Leads Home." (Browse around a bit or do a search of "David Barton" to learn more).
If you can be patient, you can read more of my thoughts about religion and the American Founding--including the role of Protestant clergy--in Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction which is due out in February with Westminster/John Knox Press. In the meantime, check out some of the advance praise the book has been getting from the likes of Thomas Fleming, Mary V. Thompson, Randall Balmer, Richard Bushman, Scot McKnight, John Wigger, Doug Sweeney, Stanley Hauerwas, and Ira Stoll.
How New Jersey's Women Voters Became Disenfranchised
Yesterday we called your attention to J.L. Bell's post on the fact that women were permitted to vote in New Jersey at the time of the American Revolution.
Today, J.L. Bell continues the story.
Today, J.L. Bell continues the story.
What the History of American Catholicism Teaches Us About the Mosque Controversy
R. Scott Appleby and John T. McGreevy, two of our best historians of American Catholicism, have a post at the blog of the New York Review of Books comparing the nativism levied against Muslims who want to build a mosque in lower Manhattan with the the nativism levied in the nineteenth century against American Catholics.
Here is a taste:
Here is a taste:
Historical comparisons are bound to be inexact; but American Muslims, like American Catholics, are now building their own religious and cultural institutions, and they are seeking guidance from a wide variety of religious sources—some few from jihadists, most from accommodationists.
Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam at the center of the New York controversy, is an accommodationist. He claims, correctly, that the vast majority of the nation’s Muslims abhor al-Qaeda. Moreover, Rauf seeks to demonstrate that Muslims are no less Americans than are their Christian and Jewish counterparts. They, too, pray for (and were among) the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorists and beg God’s forgiveness for atrocities committed in his name.
Is it imprudent for Rauf and his supporters to locate the proposed Islamic center so close to the site of terrible violence against Americans committed in the name of Islam? In fact the fault lies less with Rauf than with a debased effort to whip up partisan fervor around the issue. Must Muslims unequivocally reject all forms of terrorism—especially those Muslims who wish to promote full Muslim participation in American society? Of course. But if the Catholic experience in the United States holds any lesson it is that becoming American also means asserting one’s constitutional rights, fully and forcefully, even if that assertion is occasionally taken to be insulting. The genius of the American experiment in religious liberty is precisely this long-term confidence that equal rights for all religious groups builds the loyalty every democratic society needs. Certainly American Catholics learned that lesson long ago.
What do you think, my loyal readers? Is the comparison a fair one?
Quote of the Day
From Andrew Bacevich:
Worldly ambition inhibits true learning. Ask me. I know. A young man in a hurry is nearly uneducable: He knows what he wants and where he’s headed; when it comes to looking back or entertaining heretical thoughts, he has neither the time nor the inclination. All that counts is that he is going somewhere. Only as ambition wanes does education become a possibility.
Worldly ambition inhibits true learning. Ask me. I know. A young man in a hurry is nearly uneducable: He knows what he wants and where he’s headed; when it comes to looking back or entertaining heretical thoughts, he has neither the time nor the inclination. All that counts is that he is going somewhere. Only as ambition wanes does education become a possibility.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Most Popular Posts of the Last Week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home
1. Super-Sizing DaVinci's Last Supper (March 2010)
2. Dinesh D'Souza is the New President of The King's College (August 2010)
3. U.S. Intellectual History Conference (July 2010)
4. Calvinist Revival (March 2010)
5. Fred Barnes at Messiah College (September 2008)
6. Survivor: Academe (July 2010)
7. Does Sarah Palin Speak in Tongues? (August 2008)
8. Is Barack Obama a Muslim? (August 2010)
9. Writing Sheds (June 2009)
10. Jesus Will Return on May 22, 2011 (July 2010)
2. Dinesh D'Souza is the New President of The King's College (August 2010)
3. U.S. Intellectual History Conference (July 2010)
4. Calvinist Revival (March 2010)
5. Fred Barnes at Messiah College (September 2008)
6. Survivor: Academe (July 2010)
7. Does Sarah Palin Speak in Tongues? (August 2008)
8. Is Barack Obama a Muslim? (August 2010)
9. Writing Sheds (June 2009)
10. Jesus Will Return on May 22, 2011 (July 2010)
A Nation of Know-Nothings?
Timothy Egan rips all those who still insist, among other things, that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Here is a taste:
On the Muslim deception, Limbaugh has sprinkled lie dust all over the place. “Obama says he’s a Christian, but where’s the evidence?” he said on Aug. 19. He has repeatedly called the president “imam Obama,” and said, “I’m just throwing things out there, folks, because people are questioning his Christianity.”
You see how he works. He drops in suggestions, hints, notes that “people are questioning” things. The design is to make Obama un-American. Then he says it’s a tweak, a provocation. He says this as a preemptive way to keep the press from calling him out. And it works; long profiles of Limbaugh have largely gone easy on him.
Once Limbaugh has planted a lie, a prominent politician can pick it up, with little nuance. So, over the weekend, Kim Lehman, one of Iowa’s two Republican National Committee members, went public with doubts on Obama’s Christianity. Of course, she was not condemned by party leaders.
It’s curious, also, that any felon, drug addict, or recovering hedonist can loudly proclaim a sudden embrace of Jesus and be welcomed without doubt by leaders of the religious right. But a thoughtful Christian like Obama is still distrusted.
“I am a devout Christian,” Obama told Christianity Today in 2008. “I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” That’s not enough, apparently, for Rev. Franklin Graham, the partisan son of the great evangelical leader, who said last week that Obama was “born a Muslim because of the religious seed passed on from his father.”
Actually, he was born from two non-practicing parents, and his Kenyan father was absent for all of his upbringing. Obama came to his Christianity like millions of people, through searching and questioning.
A Different Kind of College Ranking System
Rather than relying on U.S. News and World Report alone to identify what makes a good college, Washington Monthly has established a new system of college rankings. These rankings are based on three things:
1. Community service: participation in ROTC, alumni in the Peace Corps, work-study money channeled toward service projects.
2. Research: production of research in the sciences and humanities.
3. Social mobility: the matriculation and graduation of lower-income students.
If these characteristics are taken into consideration, Messiah College is ranked fifth in the nation in the "Baccalaureate College" category. Not too shabby.
Hat tip: Steve Thorngate at Theolog
1. Community service: participation in ROTC, alumni in the Peace Corps, work-study money channeled toward service projects.
2. Research: production of research in the sciences and humanities.
3. Social mobility: the matriculation and graduation of lower-income students.
If these characteristics are taken into consideration, Messiah College is ranked fifth in the nation in the "Baccalaureate College" category. Not too shabby.
Hat tip: Steve Thorngate at Theolog
Why I Am Not an Intellectual
My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger. -Unknown source.
HT: University Diaries.
HT: University Diaries.
Did You Know That Women Had the Right to Vote in New Jersey in 1776?
That is correct. As Boston 1775 reminds us, the first New Jersey constitution allowed anyone who was a "head of household" to vote. As a result, women who owned land were given the right to cast a ballot. A New Jersey election law referred to a voter as "he or she."
Read more at Boston 1775.
Read more at Boston 1775.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Advice for New Graduate Students
From Prof Hacker at The Chronicle of Higher Education:
Expect to feel lost and out of place for a bit
Recognize that graduate school is a job.
"Networking" is not just a word for MBAs.
Recognize that graduate school should not be your entire life.
Understand that you're not locked into a particular field, project, or personality.
Plan ahead for more than one job.
Build an online profile.
Build a personal research library.
Meet your subject librarian.
Use Dropbox.
Share what you know with others.
Read the entire post to see how ProfHacker develops each one of these suggestions.
Expect to feel lost and out of place for a bit
Recognize that graduate school is a job.
"Networking" is not just a word for MBAs.
Recognize that graduate school should not be your entire life.
Understand that you're not locked into a particular field, project, or personality.
Plan ahead for more than one job.
Build an online profile.
Build a personal research library.
Meet your subject librarian.
Use Dropbox.
Share what you know with others.
Read the entire post to see how ProfHacker develops each one of these suggestions.
Christine Stansell on the 19th Amendment
Christine Stansell gives us a rapid-fire overview of the passing of the 19th amendment. It happened 90 years ago.
Here is a brief taste:
Later in the first decade of the new century, though, an influx of bold young women, allergic to the old pieties about female purity and comfortable working with men, displaced their moralistic, teetotaling elders. Black women, working women and immigrants joined white reformers in a stunningly successful coalition. From 1909 to 1912, they won suffrage in Oregon, California and Washington. More states followed, so that by the 1916 presidential election, 4 million new votes were in play....
Here is a brief taste:
Later in the first decade of the new century, though, an influx of bold young women, allergic to the old pieties about female purity and comfortable working with men, displaced their moralistic, teetotaling elders. Black women, working women and immigrants joined white reformers in a stunningly successful coalition. From 1909 to 1912, they won suffrage in Oregon, California and Washington. More states followed, so that by the 1916 presidential election, 4 million new votes were in play....
Six Montville High School Graduates Set for Hall of Fame
From The Citizen of Morris County:
MONTVILLE TWP, NJ. - Six graduates of Montville Township High School, including a deputy attorney general, a doctor and entrepreneurs, as well as the champion 1983 Girls’ Field Hockey team, will be inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 15.
The honorees will be recognized and formally inducted into the Hall of Fame at a dinner on Friday, Oct. 15, at the Lake Valhalla Club, 13 Vista Road.
Individual inductees include Karen Carnegie of the Class of 1990, a television art illustrator; Frank Cooney, a Montville Township police officer and entrepreneur; Lisa Epstein of the Class of 1984, a food services entrepreneur; and Patricia O’Dowd Donohue, a deputy attorney general and member of the bar in New Jersey and New York.
Also being inducted into the Hall of Fame are John Fea of the Class of 1984, a professor of history at Messiah College, and Samir Shah of the Class of 1991, a distinguished diagnostic radiologist.
The Hall of Fame will also induct Richard Dewey Slayton, a retired staff member in the township schools who served as a teacher, vice principal and director of guidance, and the members of the 1983 Girls’ Field Hockey team, which won the State Group 3 championship.
The dinner also will honor the memories of two longtime members of the Hall of Fame Committee, the late Fred Eckhardt, the township’s longest serving mayor, and John Petrozzino.
The two recipients of the Hall of Fame scholarships, Rich DeChino and Lisa Surowiec from the Class of 2010, will be recognized as well.
For more information on sending messages of congratulations, placing ads in the dinner journal or to buy tickets should call Maureen at 973 713-7955.
MONTVILLE TWP, NJ. - Six graduates of Montville Township High School, including a deputy attorney general, a doctor and entrepreneurs, as well as the champion 1983 Girls’ Field Hockey team, will be inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 15.
The honorees will be recognized and formally inducted into the Hall of Fame at a dinner on Friday, Oct. 15, at the Lake Valhalla Club, 13 Vista Road.
Individual inductees include Karen Carnegie of the Class of 1990, a television art illustrator; Frank Cooney, a Montville Township police officer and entrepreneur; Lisa Epstein of the Class of 1984, a food services entrepreneur; and Patricia O’Dowd Donohue, a deputy attorney general and member of the bar in New Jersey and New York.
Also being inducted into the Hall of Fame are John Fea of the Class of 1984, a professor of history at Messiah College, and Samir Shah of the Class of 1991, a distinguished diagnostic radiologist.
The Hall of Fame will also induct Richard Dewey Slayton, a retired staff member in the township schools who served as a teacher, vice principal and director of guidance, and the members of the 1983 Girls’ Field Hockey team, which won the State Group 3 championship.
The dinner also will honor the memories of two longtime members of the Hall of Fame Committee, the late Fred Eckhardt, the township’s longest serving mayor, and John Petrozzino.
The two recipients of the Hall of Fame scholarships, Rich DeChino and Lisa Surowiec from the Class of 2010, will be recognized as well.
For more information on sending messages of congratulations, placing ads in the dinner journal or to buy tickets should call Maureen at 973 713-7955.
The Promise
Here is a short preview of Bruce Springsteen's forthcoming documentary: The Promise: The Making of 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'. It will be available on November 16 and will include 21 previously unreleased Springsteen songs from the original Darkness recording sessions.
Bruce Springsteen - "The Promise: The Making of 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'" Sneak Peek from Columbia Records on Vimeo.
New Book on Natalie Zemon Davis
As I was browsing the website of The New Republic today I came across a review of a book about the life and career of historian Natalie Zemon Davis. It is entitled A Passion for History: Conversations with Denis Crouzet.Though I am an American historian, I have learned a lot from Davis's work in European history, especially as it relates to the field of microhistory.
From what I have been able to glean from the review, this book is a series of interviews, conducted by Crouzet, chronicling Davis's interesting life. Here is a taste:
But there is another factor that comes through from the conversations (and Crouzet deserves great credit for eliciting such frank and fascinating responses). In the middle of a serious discussion of her early political commitments, Davis cannot resist mentioning that at Smith she was also an accomplished composer of satirical (but non-political) college songs, including a ditty entitled “You Can’t Get a Man with Your Brains.” (“You can’t cram for a man / As you can an exam”.) While the song has an obvious edge, foreshadowing Davis’s future role in feminist history-writing, it also highlights the sense of playfulness and the imagination which has arguably been central to her success. It is no accident that so many of Davis’s subjects have been play-actors, tricksters, and impostors of one sort or another (“I think I’ve acquired a sort of style…of always looking for questions about self-fashioning, of fashioning one’s inner and outer self, and even of imposture.”) The story of Martin Guerre was one of multiple, overlapping impostures, including (Davis argued controversially) the decision of Martin’s wife Bertrande to knowingly accept the con-man Arnaud du Tilh as her long-lost husband, because of the benefits and the security that it brought her and her children.
Putting on a Landfill
Head over to Front Porch Republic to read this great post by Susan McWilliams on the world's most expensive golf course. It just happens to be located at Liberty State Park. Yes, that Liberty State Park. The same New Jersey park where some of you may have climbed into a boat and traveled to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Here is a snippet:
Here is a snippet:
Liberty National Golf Course, for those who have not yet been asked to play there, is the most expensive golf course ever built. It opened in 2006, having cost an estimated $250 million to create, and is the centerpiece of the Liberty National Golf Club. Membership in the club is by invitation only, and those lucky few who are invited may join for the low, low “initiation fee” of $500,000. The course’s website reassures would-be members that the course is easy to reach … because there are five landing strips for private jets nearby.
Some have justified Liberty National’s existence by saying that if it hadn’t been built, the site “would still be a toxic waste dump rotting on the banks of the Hudson River.” Because, I guess, the only way to fix something broken is to sell it off to the highest bidder, who will then paint it pretty colors and tell other people that if they want to look at it, they have to pay half a million dollars.
(I’m not sure how much legitimate environmental cleanup went into the construction of Liberty National, although I am sure that golf courses themselves tend to be environmentally dubious propositions, albeit environmentally dubious propositions that are aesthetically pleasing.)
Indeed, people who have had occasion to visit Liberty National Golf Course report that it is very pretty. I’m sure it is, what with “the huddled masses” and “the tempest-tost” kept a safe distance away from the “state of the art heliport.” And isn’t that what America is all about?
What's It Like to Work in the British Library?
My colleague Bernardo Michael spent ten days this summer at the British Library working in the map collections of the English East India Company. If you want to get a sense of what it was like, and what he was working on, check out the latest post on the Messiah College History Department blog. In the meantime, here is a taste:
The map collection I worked on belonged to the India Office Records—the archival holdings of the East India Company (1600-1858)—pertaining to the survey and mapmaking activities of the Company in the nineteenth century. In particular I examined British maps of the Anglo-Nepal frontier and the Revenue Surveys, both from the nineteenth century. I also examined a number of indigenous Nepali maps lying in the Hodgson Collection (Mss Eur K474, volumes 56 & 59) collected by Brian Hodgson Houghton, the British Assistant Resident and later Resident in Kathmandu (1820-1844). Finally, I unexpectedly came across some old 17th century Dutch and Portuguese maps of port cities and the western coastline of south India which formed the historical stage for the activities of some branches of my family (I am trying to write a family history as well!). It was a nostalgic moment for me as I wondered about the encounters between these European seafarers and my ancestors who traded along the coast.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Dinesh D'Souza: Catholic or Evangelical?
Last week we commented on the decision by The King's College to appoint Dinesh D'Souza as its new president. Evangelicals are making a big fuss over whether or not D'Souza is a Catholic or an Evangelical. And if he is a Catholic, does he meet the doctrinal requirements to run an Evangelical college?
Christianity Today has posted an article exploring the nature of D'Souza's faith. He claims that he is Catholic in "background" but is also "part of" the Evangelical world. His wife is an Evangelical and they have attended Calvary Chapel in San Diego for the past ten years. He even goes so far as to claim that he does not describe himself as Catholic today. His views, he claims, align with the Apostle's Creed and C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I would think this qualifies as "Evangelical."
I am struck by two things about the buzz surrounding D'Souza's appointment.
First, King's seems to be OK with D'Souza's faith. That is all that matters. Like I said in my earlier post, I am not sure Percy Crawford or Bob Cook would have been completely happy with the choice, but D'Souza must have convinced the folks at King's that he can work within an Evangelical Protestant framework. If Sarah Pulliam Bailey's CT article is accurate, it does seem that D'Souza can work within this framework.
It also seems, and someone correct me if I am wrong, that D'Souza may have been more attractive to the folks at King's for his conservative political and cultural views than his commitment to Protestant Evangelicalism.
Second, it always fascinates me how Evangelicals tend to be overly concerned with defining who is an Evangelical and who is not an Evangelical. Why are we so obsessed with this?
I remember a few years ago one of my Evangelical students enrolled in the very fine M.A. program in American religious history at Wheaton College. After taking a semester of classes and getting to know his fellow graduate students, he was very surprised at how much theological and historical discussion was devoted to trying to define Evangelicalism.
Messiah College is rooted in the Evangelical tradition, but we are a more ecumenically diverse place than Wheaton. Our Evangelical students--and they are a strong majority-- often engage with fellow students who either do not speak Evangelical language or come from another Christian tradition. In the best of all possible worlds, the faith of our Evangelical students is enriched by this encounter, much in the same way that the lives of our Catholic, Episcopalian, Orthodox, and Lutheran students are enriched by their encounter with the Evangelical majority.
My student, who had a very embracing Christian college experience, could not grasp why his fellow Evangelical students and professors in his graduate program were so concerned about what he perceived to be narrow definitional issues.
So I would tell my Evangelical friends to avoid spending too much effort trying to figure out if D'Souza is part of the club. There are a lot more important projects that we of orthodox Christian faith need to tackle, and we need to do it together.
Christianity Today has posted an article exploring the nature of D'Souza's faith. He claims that he is Catholic in "background" but is also "part of" the Evangelical world. His wife is an Evangelical and they have attended Calvary Chapel in San Diego for the past ten years. He even goes so far as to claim that he does not describe himself as Catholic today. His views, he claims, align with the Apostle's Creed and C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I would think this qualifies as "Evangelical."
I am struck by two things about the buzz surrounding D'Souza's appointment.
First, King's seems to be OK with D'Souza's faith. That is all that matters. Like I said in my earlier post, I am not sure Percy Crawford or Bob Cook would have been completely happy with the choice, but D'Souza must have convinced the folks at King's that he can work within an Evangelical Protestant framework. If Sarah Pulliam Bailey's CT article is accurate, it does seem that D'Souza can work within this framework.
It also seems, and someone correct me if I am wrong, that D'Souza may have been more attractive to the folks at King's for his conservative political and cultural views than his commitment to Protestant Evangelicalism.
Second, it always fascinates me how Evangelicals tend to be overly concerned with defining who is an Evangelical and who is not an Evangelical. Why are we so obsessed with this?
I remember a few years ago one of my Evangelical students enrolled in the very fine M.A. program in American religious history at Wheaton College. After taking a semester of classes and getting to know his fellow graduate students, he was very surprised at how much theological and historical discussion was devoted to trying to define Evangelicalism.
Messiah College is rooted in the Evangelical tradition, but we are a more ecumenically diverse place than Wheaton. Our Evangelical students--and they are a strong majority-- often engage with fellow students who either do not speak Evangelical language or come from another Christian tradition. In the best of all possible worlds, the faith of our Evangelical students is enriched by this encounter, much in the same way that the lives of our Catholic, Episcopalian, Orthodox, and Lutheran students are enriched by their encounter with the Evangelical majority.
My student, who had a very embracing Christian college experience, could not grasp why his fellow Evangelical students and professors in his graduate program were so concerned about what he perceived to be narrow definitional issues.
So I would tell my Evangelical friends to avoid spending too much effort trying to figure out if D'Souza is part of the club. There are a lot more important projects that we of orthodox Christian faith need to tackle, and we need to do it together.
Advice for New Faculty
The longer I serve as a faculty member at Messiah College, the more I realize how much I did not know when I first arrived on campus. I really had no clue about how things worked and how to get things done. There is still a lot I don't know.
Over at Brainstorm, Gina Barreca offers some good advice for new faculty. Here is a taste:
Introduce yourself to everybody. And when you meet a person again, reintroduce yourself. You might remember him or her, but it’s perhaps less likely that your name is coming immediately to mind. Make eye-contract, smile, and make conversation in the hall even with the people who intimidate you. Some of them will become your greatest allies and best friends, despite the fact that you might not be able to believe it when you first meet...
...Take better notes. These first days don’t come again, and some day you might want to look back on them. Make a better record of the details—the first impressions, the sense of place, the feel of the new environment, and the dreams from the first nights—so that you can help your friends and students when their time comes to start somewhere new.
I would also advise first-year faculty, or even veteran faculty starting at a new school, to spend a lot of time listening before speaking in meetings. It is important to learn something about the way in which the academic culture at your college works before diving in.
In graduate school we are told to speak-up right away. We want to impress faculty and fellow students alike by offering intelligent and insightful ideas during seminar discussions. We want to establish our reputations.
This is good advice for graduate school, but I am not sure if this is the best advice for new faculty members.
This does not mean that first-year faculty have nothing to say or should not speak when they have something important to add to a conversation.
It does mean that sometimes it is best to get a good lay of the land on the particular issue being discussed in a faculty meeting before diving into the conversation.
At many colleges faculty are not required to serve on committees in their first year. We normally view this as a way to ease the work-load of new faculty. But faculty are also excused from committee work in their first year because they probably don't yet know the college well enough to contribute.
Frankly, it took me several years before I really understood the academic culture at Messiah College well enough to offer something worthwhile in a meeting.
Have a great semester!
Over at Brainstorm, Gina Barreca offers some good advice for new faculty. Here is a taste:
Introduce yourself to everybody. And when you meet a person again, reintroduce yourself. You might remember him or her, but it’s perhaps less likely that your name is coming immediately to mind. Make eye-contract, smile, and make conversation in the hall even with the people who intimidate you. Some of them will become your greatest allies and best friends, despite the fact that you might not be able to believe it when you first meet...
...Take better notes. These first days don’t come again, and some day you might want to look back on them. Make a better record of the details—the first impressions, the sense of place, the feel of the new environment, and the dreams from the first nights—so that you can help your friends and students when their time comes to start somewhere new.
I would also advise first-year faculty, or even veteran faculty starting at a new school, to spend a lot of time listening before speaking in meetings. It is important to learn something about the way in which the academic culture at your college works before diving in.
In graduate school we are told to speak-up right away. We want to impress faculty and fellow students alike by offering intelligent and insightful ideas during seminar discussions. We want to establish our reputations.
This is good advice for graduate school, but I am not sure if this is the best advice for new faculty members.
This does not mean that first-year faculty have nothing to say or should not speak when they have something important to add to a conversation.
It does mean that sometimes it is best to get a good lay of the land on the particular issue being discussed in a faculty meeting before diving into the conversation.
At many colleges faculty are not required to serve on committees in their first year. We normally view this as a way to ease the work-load of new faculty. But faculty are also excused from committee work in their first year because they probably don't yet know the college well enough to contribute.
Frankly, it took me several years before I really understood the academic culture at Messiah College well enough to offer something worthwhile in a meeting.
Have a great semester!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Let's Save the TAH Grants
AHA Today is running an article by Bruce Craig, former director of the National Coalition for History, on the importance of saving the Teaching American History grants. (You may recall that we blogged about this last week).
Here is a taste of Craig's article:
Here is a taste of Craig's article:
Whatever the structure that ultimately is adopted, it is important to understand that keeping the TAH program intact will be hard work. Legislators and the Obama administration need to hear from those who have benefited from one or more of the hundreds of TAH training programs. We need to make our voices heard and communicate to legislators just how the TAH program has been valuable and how it has made history a more vital part of communities, and, most importantly, student’s appreciation and love of history. Lee White tells me that no one expects reauthorization to happen this fall. So there is time to get our message out, but those efforts need to be coordinated in order to make it clear to decision-makers that there is a large and cohesive community that wants this program to continue.
History advocacy is not always easy but one thing I have learned is that if you want to bring a smile to the face of the tired Hill staffer sitting across the table as you explain history’s needs and issues, you can just mention Teaching American History grants. TAH is a program many in Washington like. Senator Byrd knew this. Historians need to know it too. Please act.
Seaside Heights vs Wildwood
Who has New Jersey's best boardwalk? The guys at the Star-Ledger debate:
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Advance Praise for Was America Founded as a Christian Nation
This is a timely book that will help make sense of one of the most important divides in American politics. John Fea does more than simply point out the shortcomings of arguments on either side of the debate over Christian America. He offers a clear and balanced reinterpretation of how this debate has shaped American culture and society for more than 200 years.
John Wigger, University of Missouri; author, American Saint and Taking Heaven by Storm
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction will appear in February with Westminster/John Knox Press.
John Wigger, University of Missouri; author, American Saint and Taking Heaven by Storm
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction will appear in February with Westminster/John Knox Press.
How NOT to Write a Book Review of a Book You Don't Like
Roger Olson is a distinguished theologian who teaches at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. He has written many books. Young evangelical theologians look up to him. He should know better.
Check out Olson's review (actually, it is a blog post about a review) of Steven Knowles's Beyond Evangelicalism: The Theological Meaning of Stanley J. Grenz. As he makes clear in his review, Olson and the late Stanley Grenz--the subject of Knowles's monograph--were friends. And Olson is clearly in the business of defending his friend's legacy. In case you are not inclined to read theologians reviewing other theologians, let me offer a few snippets:
I am reviewing a new book by British evangelical Steven Knowles entitled Beyond Evangelicalism: The Theological Methodology of Stanley J. Grenz (Ashgate). It is neither entertaining nor enlightening. It doesn’t intend to be the former and if it is meant to be the latter if falls miserably short...
In my opinion Knowles has Stan Grenz mostly wrong. I have the advantage of having known Stan very well; we were like brothers. We spent many hours discussing his theology and criticisms of it by fellow evangelicals....
It is sad to me that this is the first book length treatment of Stan’s theology after his passing. It is such a bad book that I hesitate even to review it for a scholarly journal, but I feel compelled to defend Stan’s evangelical credentials and ask who gives Knowles or anybody the authority to declare who is and who isn’t evangelical? Just because someone breaks out of traditional evangelical patterns of thought doesn’t make him or her not evangelical...
I recommend that people interested in understanding Stan Grenz’s theology read Grenz himself and not a secondary source and especially not this one....
Wow! I don't know much about Knowles, but I hope he is not a young scholar and I hope that this was not his first book.
Check out Olson's review (actually, it is a blog post about a review) of Steven Knowles's Beyond Evangelicalism: The Theological Meaning of Stanley J. Grenz. As he makes clear in his review, Olson and the late Stanley Grenz--the subject of Knowles's monograph--were friends. And Olson is clearly in the business of defending his friend's legacy. In case you are not inclined to read theologians reviewing other theologians, let me offer a few snippets:
I am reviewing a new book by British evangelical Steven Knowles entitled Beyond Evangelicalism: The Theological Methodology of Stanley J. Grenz (Ashgate). It is neither entertaining nor enlightening. It doesn’t intend to be the former and if it is meant to be the latter if falls miserably short...
In my opinion Knowles has Stan Grenz mostly wrong. I have the advantage of having known Stan very well; we were like brothers. We spent many hours discussing his theology and criticisms of it by fellow evangelicals....
It is sad to me that this is the first book length treatment of Stan’s theology after his passing. It is such a bad book that I hesitate even to review it for a scholarly journal, but I feel compelled to defend Stan’s evangelical credentials and ask who gives Knowles or anybody the authority to declare who is and who isn’t evangelical? Just because someone breaks out of traditional evangelical patterns of thought doesn’t make him or her not evangelical...
I recommend that people interested in understanding Stan Grenz’s theology read Grenz himself and not a secondary source and especially not this one....
Wow! I don't know much about Knowles, but I hope he is not a young scholar and I hope that this was not his first book.
The Gettysburg Address Without God?
The last time I checked, Abraham Lincoln referenced God in the Gettysburg Address. Here is the pertinent passage:
...But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
So you can imagine how surprised Robert George was when he showed up at a meeting of the American Constitutional Society for Law and Policy to find that the free copy of the Gettysburg Address distributed to the attendees had the words "under God" omitted.
George writes about the whole affair in an article published in First Things. Here is a taste:
At the time, staring at the text, I wondered whether it was an innocent, inadvertent error—a typo, perhaps. It seemed more likely, though, that here is the apex of the secularist ideology that has attained a status not unlike that of religious orthodoxy among liberal legal scholars and political activists. Nothing is sacred, as it were—not even the facts of American history, not even the words spoken by Abraham Lincoln at the most solemn ceremony of our nation’s history.
If George is right, this is pretty pathetic. Shame on the American Constitution Society. Has it now come to the point where it is OK to change historic documents to make them fit better with our political or ideological agendas?
...But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
So you can imagine how surprised Robert George was when he showed up at a meeting of the American Constitutional Society for Law and Policy to find that the free copy of the Gettysburg Address distributed to the attendees had the words "under God" omitted.
George writes about the whole affair in an article published in First Things. Here is a taste:
At the time, staring at the text, I wondered whether it was an innocent, inadvertent error—a typo, perhaps. It seemed more likely, though, that here is the apex of the secularist ideology that has attained a status not unlike that of religious orthodoxy among liberal legal scholars and political activists. Nothing is sacred, as it were—not even the facts of American history, not even the words spoken by Abraham Lincoln at the most solemn ceremony of our nation’s history.
If George is right, this is pretty pathetic. Shame on the American Constitution Society. Has it now come to the point where it is OK to change historic documents to make them fit better with our political or ideological agendas?
Foner Sets the Record Straight on the 14th Amendment and Immigration
Writing for Bloomberg, Columbia University historian Eric Foner reminds us that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution means that anyone born in the United States, "with minor exceptions," is a citizen of the United States...even the children of illegal immigrants.
Foner provides some much needed historical perspective on this issue. Since I could not decide on a good excerpt for the blog, why not just read the entire piece.
Foner provides some much needed historical perspective on this issue. Since I could not decide on a good excerpt for the blog, why not just read the entire piece.
Books and Culture Turns 15
John Wilson and Stan Guthrie discuss the fifteenth-year anniversary of Books and Culture. Wilson reflects on why B&C has continued to thrive when other publications of its kind have failed. He also calls Alasdair MacIntyre an "SOB" for the way the Notre Dame philosopher turned down Wilson's offer to write for the magazine.Books and Culture was launched during my first year of graduate school and I have been reading since day one. It provided the kind of Christian intellectual forum that I needed during those years and continues to help sustain my intellectual life. I have never written for B&C, but I was privileged enough to have The Way of Improvement Leads Home reviewed by Lauren Winner in a 2008 issue.
Here's to another fifteen years!
The End of Peer Review as We Know It?
According to this article in yesterday's New York Times, some humanities scholars are "challenging the monopoly that peer review has on admission to career-making journals and, as a consequence, to the charmed circle of tenured academe."
These scholars propose using the Internet to judge the merits of scholarly writing. The article describes this proposal more fully:
These scholars propose using the Internet to judge the merits of scholarly writing. The article describes this proposal more fully:
That transformation was behind the recent decision by the prestigious 60-year-old Shakespeare Quarterly to embark on an uncharacteristic experiment in the forthcoming fall issue — one that will make it, Ms. Rowe says, the first traditional humanities journal to open its reviewing to the World Wide Web.
Mixing traditional and new methods, the journal posted online four essays not yet accepted for publication, and a core group of experts — what Ms. Rowe called “our crowd sourcing” — were invited to post their signed comments on the Web site MediaCommons, a scholarly digital network. Others could add their thoughts as well, after registering with their own names. In the end 41 people made more than 350 comments, many of which elicited responses from the authors. The revised essays were then reviewed by the quarterly’s editors, who made the final decision to include them in the printed journal, due out Sept. 17.
The times they are a-changin.
Read the rest of the articles here.
Velcro Parents
The mother and father of a Colgate University first-year student attended their daughter's classes on the first day of the semester and then went to the registrar's office to change her schedule.
In order to avoid these parental clingers--or "velcro" parents--colleges and universities throughout the country are staging symbolic ceremonies to make the separation between parent and child easier.
The New York Times reports.
In order to avoid these parental clingers--or "velcro" parents--colleges and universities throughout the country are staging symbolic ceremonies to make the separation between parent and child easier.
The New York Times reports.
Post-Doc at the American Antiquarian Association
Scholars who are no more than three years beyond receipt of the doctorate are invited to apply for the Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship, a year-long residential fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society.
The purpose of the post-dissertation fellowship is to provide the recipient with time and resources to extend research and/or to revise the dissertation for publication. Any topic relevant to the Society's library collections and programmatic scope, and coming from any field or disciplinary background, is eligible. AAS collections focus on all aspects of American history, literature, and culture from contact to 1876, and provide rich source material for
projects across the spectrum of early American studies.
The Society welcomes applications from those who have advance book contracts, as well as those who have not yet made contact with a publisher. The twelve-month stipend for this fellowship is $35,000.
The Hench Post-Dissertation Fellow will be selected on the basis of the applicant's scholarly qualifications, the appropriateness of the project to the Society's collections and interests, and, above all,the likelihood that the revised dissertation will make a highly significant book.
Further information about the fellowship, along with application materials, is available on the AAS website.
Any questions about the fellowship may be directed to Paul Erickson, Director of Academic Programs at AAS, at perickson@mwa.org.
The deadline for applications for a Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship to be held during the 2011-2012 academic year is October 15, 2010.
The purpose of the post-dissertation fellowship is to provide the recipient with time and resources to extend research and/or to revise the dissertation for publication. Any topic relevant to the Society's library collections and programmatic scope, and coming from any field or disciplinary background, is eligible. AAS collections focus on all aspects of American history, literature, and culture from contact to 1876, and provide rich source material for
projects across the spectrum of early American studies.
The Society welcomes applications from those who have advance book contracts, as well as those who have not yet made contact with a publisher. The twelve-month stipend for this fellowship is $35,000.
The Hench Post-Dissertation Fellow will be selected on the basis of the applicant's scholarly qualifications, the appropriateness of the project to the Society's collections and interests, and, above all,the likelihood that the revised dissertation will make a highly significant book.
Further information about the fellowship, along with application materials, is available on the AAS website.
Any questions about the fellowship may be directed to Paul Erickson, Director of Academic Programs at AAS, at perickson@mwa.org.
The deadline for applications for a Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship to be held during the 2011-2012 academic year is October 15, 2010.
Fellowship Opportunity at the David Library of the American Revolution
The David Library of the American Revolution offers short term resident research fellowships for conducting research using its collections. The Library's rich resources in microfilm and print on virtually every aspect of the era of the American Revolution are fully listed at its web site,
www.dlar.org.
The stipend is based on $1600 per month ($1200 for those living within a 100 mile radius of the Library) and includes free housing. Term of the Fellowship is a minimum of one month and a maximum of three.
Both doctoral and post-doctoral applicants are welcome; doctoral candidates must have passed their general examinations before beginning their fellowships.
Applicants should submit eight sets of the following:
title page with applicant's name, affiliation and contact information; cover letter briefly describing their reason for applying; project statement (3 to 5 pages); detailed C.V.; writing sample (10-20 pages from proposed project).
Deadline: March 1, 2011 for Fellowships undertaken in
Academic Year 2011-2012. Selections are made by an Academic Advisory Council and will be announced by the end of April, 2011.
Application materials and letters of reference should be mailed to:
Academic Advisory
Council, David Library of the American Revolution
P.O. Box 748,
Washington Crossing, PA 18977.
Do not send applications electronically.
Questions may be directed to tatum@dlar.org, or call (215) 493-6776, ext.103.
www.dlar.org.
The stipend is based on $1600 per month ($1200 for those living within a 100 mile radius of the Library) and includes free housing. Term of the Fellowship is a minimum of one month and a maximum of three.
Both doctoral and post-doctoral applicants are welcome; doctoral candidates must have passed their general examinations before beginning their fellowships.
Applicants should submit eight sets of the following:
title page with applicant's name, affiliation and contact information; cover letter briefly describing their reason for applying; project statement (3 to 5 pages); detailed C.V.; writing sample (10-20 pages from proposed project).
Deadline: March 1, 2011 for Fellowships undertaken in
Academic Year 2011-2012. Selections are made by an Academic Advisory Council and will be announced by the end of April, 2011.
Application materials and letters of reference should be mailed to:
Academic Advisory
Council, David Library of the American Revolution
P.O. Box 748,
Washington Crossing, PA 18977.
Do not send applications electronically.
Questions may be directed to tatum@dlar.org, or call (215) 493-6776, ext.103.
Secessions Conference
The Filson Historical Society's
Fourth Biennial Academic Conference:
Secessions: From the American Revolution to Civil War
October 21-23, 2010
Please join us for The Filson Historical Society's fourth biennial academic conference exploring the calls for secession and disunion in the United States from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War.
The conference, marking the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession, will explore the moments in U.S. history between 1783 and 1865 when Americans threatened or acted upon a perceived right to secede from or nullify the laws of national or state authorities.
The program is now on-line. Conference papers will be posted on this site in the next few weeks.
Highlights of the conference include:
* James Loewen's opening address, "Lies My Teacher Told Me About Secession"
* Manisha Sinha's keynote address, "Revisiting the Political Ideology of Southern Secession in the Age of Obama"
* Panels on Secession in Early Kentucky, the Early Republic, and the antebellum Ohio Valley; Religion and Secession; Abolition and Secession; the Politics of Secession in the Antebellum Era.
Conference participants include:
* Kevin Barksdale, Marshall University
* Diane Barnes, Youngstown State University
* Andrew Cayton, Miami University
* Jon Kukla, Independent Scholar
* Kristopher Ray, Austin Peay State University
* Stacey Robertson, Bradley University
* Paul Quigley, University of Edinburgh
* John Quist, Shippensburg University
* Mitchell Snay, Denison University
* Frank Towers, University of Calgary
The conference will take place a The Filson Historical Society, 1310 South Third Street, Louisville, Kentucky. The conference is free and open to the public.
For more information, please visit our website or call The
Filson at 502-635-5083.
Fourth Biennial Academic Conference:
Secessions: From the American Revolution to Civil War
October 21-23, 2010
Please join us for The Filson Historical Society's fourth biennial academic conference exploring the calls for secession and disunion in the United States from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War.
The conference, marking the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession, will explore the moments in U.S. history between 1783 and 1865 when Americans threatened or acted upon a perceived right to secede from or nullify the laws of national or state authorities.
The program is now on-line. Conference papers will be posted on this site in the next few weeks.
Highlights of the conference include:
* James Loewen's opening address, "Lies My Teacher Told Me About Secession"
* Manisha Sinha's keynote address, "Revisiting the Political Ideology of Southern Secession in the Age of Obama"
* Panels on Secession in Early Kentucky, the Early Republic, and the antebellum Ohio Valley; Religion and Secession; Abolition and Secession; the Politics of Secession in the Antebellum Era.
Conference participants include:
* Kevin Barksdale, Marshall University
* Diane Barnes, Youngstown State University
* Andrew Cayton, Miami University
* Jon Kukla, Independent Scholar
* Kristopher Ray, Austin Peay State University
* Stacey Robertson, Bradley University
* Paul Quigley, University of Edinburgh
* John Quist, Shippensburg University
* Mitchell Snay, Denison University
* Frank Towers, University of Calgary
The conference will take place a The Filson Historical Society, 1310 South Third Street, Louisville, Kentucky. The conference is free and open to the public.
For more information, please visit our website or call The
Filson at 502-635-5083.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday Night Odds and Ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week:
Getting students excited about history.
The most isolated man in the world.
Conference schedule for "Divided by Faith" conference.
New website: American Slavery Debate in the Context of Atlantic History.
Allan Bevere reviews Francis J. Beckwith, Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft.
Obama and expressions of faith.
Patrick Allitt on the Tea Party movement.
Interesting post on the Lenape and Nanticoke Indians of New Jersey.
Thomas Kidd reviews Nick Bunker, Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World
Beth Lewis Pardoe on public houses.
Snakes and chickens
James Davison Hunter: Democracy Through Thick and Thin
Correcting other people's typos.
Richard Samuelson reviews Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty.
Horse playing with ball.
Daniel Walker Howe on the Missouri Compromise.
Peter Berger on Evangelicals and the lower case.
Another example of the way of improvement leading home.
Speed reading in the archives.
John Taylor reviews Jack Rakove, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America.
Thomas J. Daly reviews Richard Archer, As if an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston.
Getting students excited about history.
The most isolated man in the world.
Conference schedule for "Divided by Faith" conference.
New website: American Slavery Debate in the Context of Atlantic History.
Allan Bevere reviews Francis J. Beckwith, Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft.
Obama and expressions of faith.
Patrick Allitt on the Tea Party movement.
Interesting post on the Lenape and Nanticoke Indians of New Jersey.
Thomas Kidd reviews Nick Bunker, Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World
Beth Lewis Pardoe on public houses.
Snakes and chickens
James Davison Hunter: Democracy Through Thick and Thin
Correcting other people's typos.
Richard Samuelson reviews Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty.
Horse playing with ball.
Daniel Walker Howe on the Missouri Compromise.
Peter Berger on Evangelicals and the lower case.
Another example of the way of improvement leading home.
Speed reading in the archives.
John Taylor reviews Jack Rakove, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America.
Thomas J. Daly reviews Richard Archer, As if an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Morality of Football
Lisa Fulliam, a professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, asks if football is ethical.Now it’s inescapably clear that football has long-term neurological sequelae that include syndromes that mimic Alzheimer’s and ALS. (See today’s Boston Globe for one such report.) This is trickier–it seems that getting clonked in the head is unavoidable in the sport. Helmets don’t seem to help. And the problem isn’t only among the pros, where the guys clonking each other are often 300-plus lbs. of solid muscle, but even among high schoolers.
My question isn’t whether football should be banned. My question is whether, knowing this about the long-term risks, it is ethical to watch it, knowing that those brilliant young athletes have a many-times multiplied risk of truly horrific neurological complications in their futures.I like how Fulliam ends her piece: "I will now take cover under my desk to avoid being clonked in the head by fans of a sport beloved by millions..."
FDR was a Jew and Lincoln was a Catholic
OK, not really. But these rumors swirled during the FDR and Lincoln presidencies. Bruce Feiler wonders "Why Americans Don't Like their President's God."
He concludes:
But as reliably as Americans have adopted these views, they've also moved past them. In every case of religious discrimination in the United States, whether it was Methodists in the eighteenth century, Catholics in the nineteenth century, or Jews in the twentieth century, the once reviled and ostracized "outsider" religion in America eventually makes it into the inner circle.
He concludes:
But as reliably as Americans have adopted these views, they've also moved past them. In every case of religious discrimination in the United States, whether it was Methodists in the eighteenth century, Catholics in the nineteenth century, or Jews in the twentieth century, the once reviled and ostracized "outsider" religion in America eventually makes it into the inner circle.
And odds are the pattern will repeat itself with Muslims in the twenty-first century.
Going to the Beach: 1870s Style
The Virtual Dime Museum blog has a post on 1870s beach fashions that would make any reasonable person believe in the virtues of progress. It seems like flannel was "in" in 1870. Here is a taste:
When you go to the beach this summer, take a moment to consider how it would feel to be wearing the equivalent of flannel pajamas - because this is just what you'd be doing if you lived in the 1870s.
In 1872 white or colored flannel "with shaded bands and woven fringe" was suggested for bathing costumes - matched with flannel bathing caps and flannel shoes, too. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 1, 1872, p. 3) Peterson's Magazine agreed: in 1870, they noted that
...the best materials used for bathing-dresses are gray or dark-blue flannel, being the lightest in texture, cheapest in price, but [than?] moreen or tweed [!!]; and some persons recommend common bed-ticking as being better than anything else.
Read the entire post here.
When you go to the beach this summer, take a moment to consider how it would feel to be wearing the equivalent of flannel pajamas - because this is just what you'd be doing if you lived in the 1870s.
In 1872 white or colored flannel "with shaded bands and woven fringe" was suggested for bathing costumes - matched with flannel bathing caps and flannel shoes, too. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 1, 1872, p. 3) Peterson's Magazine agreed: in 1870, they noted that
...the best materials used for bathing-dresses are gray or dark-blue flannel, being the lightest in texture, cheapest in price, but [than?] moreen or tweed [!!]; and some persons recommend common bed-ticking as being better than anything else.
Read the entire post here.
Jim Wallis and George Soros
If you follow life in the evangelical universe, you may find this interesting. Jim Wallis and Sojourners has admitted to taking contributions from George Soros, a billionaire philanthropist and political activist who finances groups promoting atheism, abortion and big government. In 2004, Soros gave a $200,000 gift to Sojourners.
Marvin Olasky initially broke the story in the conservative World magazine. Wallis accused Olasky of lying. Olasky and Jay Richards of the National Review proved that Olasky was not lying. And Wallis admitted he was wrong.
For more details check out Sarah Pulliam Bailey's reporting at Christianity Today's Politics Blog.
Over at Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight has a brief, but insightful reflection on all of this:
What can we learn from this? Besides watching our donor lists more carefully, we are to learn the lesson of Empire: the Church is to stick with the gospel and avoid at all costs political alliances, and this applies to Left and Right.
Marvin Olasky initially broke the story in the conservative World magazine. Wallis accused Olasky of lying. Olasky and Jay Richards of the National Review proved that Olasky was not lying. And Wallis admitted he was wrong.
For more details check out Sarah Pulliam Bailey's reporting at Christianity Today's Politics Blog.
Over at Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight has a brief, but insightful reflection on all of this:
What can we learn from this? Besides watching our donor lists more carefully, we are to learn the lesson of Empire: the Church is to stick with the gospel and avoid at all costs political alliances, and this applies to Left and Right.
The 50 Most Influential Religious Figures in American History
Joe Carter's latest list. It looks pretty good.
Ten Most Visited Posts of the Last Month
1. Super-Sizing DaVinci's Last Supper (March 2010)
2. U.S Intellectual History Conference (July 2010)
3. Veritas Riff (July 2010)
4. Does Sarah Palin Speak in Tongues (August 2008)
5. Fred Barnes at Messiah College (September 2008)
6. Calvinist Revival (March 2010)
7. Survivor: Academe (July 2010)
8. Class Matters at the Jersey Shore (August 2008)
9. Jesus Will Return on May 22, 2011 (July 2010)
10.Good Thoughts on the University of Illinois Catholic Problem (July 2010)
2. U.S Intellectual History Conference (July 2010)
3. Veritas Riff (July 2010)
4. Does Sarah Palin Speak in Tongues (August 2008)
5. Fred Barnes at Messiah College (September 2008)
6. Calvinist Revival (March 2010)
7. Survivor: Academe (July 2010)
8. Class Matters at the Jersey Shore (August 2008)
9. Jesus Will Return on May 22, 2011 (July 2010)
10.Good Thoughts on the University of Illinois Catholic Problem (July 2010)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Obama Needs To Initiate a New Kind of Politics
Georgetown historian Michael Kazin has a great piece up at the New Republic on what Barack Obama must do to be effective as president. Like FDR and Reagan before him, he needs to articulate a "new kind of politics." Kazin writes:
...Obama should learn from the example of both presidents is that each understood the need to replace an outmoded ideological paradigm with a compelling new one suited to the present and future. All that talk of “hope” and “change” was enough to win an election against a stumbling Republican opponent who was weighed down by the debacles of the Bush years. But since taking office, Obama has shied away from ideological pronouncements, talking instead about finding some sort of vague bipartisan consensus on major policies. But FDR and Reagan were transformative presidents because both understood the need to elevate motivation over process—to speak clearly, proudly, and, yes, repetitiously about a new kind of politics.
...Obama should learn from the example of both presidents is that each understood the need to replace an outmoded ideological paradigm with a compelling new one suited to the present and future. All that talk of “hope” and “change” was enough to win an election against a stumbling Republican opponent who was weighed down by the debacles of the Bush years. But since taking office, Obama has shied away from ideological pronouncements, talking instead about finding some sort of vague bipartisan consensus on major policies. But FDR and Reagan were transformative presidents because both understood the need to elevate motivation over process—to speak clearly, proudly, and, yes, repetitiously about a new kind of politics.
Each man had a name for that politics—liberal in FDR’s case; conservative in Reagan’s. Obama’s talk of a “New Foundation,” with which Judis begins his piece, was not just abandoned because it sounded like a piece of decades-old women’s underwear. It did not communicate how Obama would be different from the conservative Republicans and center-right Democrats who occupied the White House in the three decades before him.
Obama may be psychologically averse to populist talk. But that would not matter so much if he had the skill and the courage to speak about how he and his fellow Democrats want to govern the country and why his vision is far better than anything the hard-right GOP has to offer. He needs a name for that vision; liberal is still available but needs some redefinition. He also has to find a way to explain how his various policies—health care, immigration reform, financial regulation, the stimulus, and, perhaps the right of Muslims to build a new community center in lower Manhattan—fit into an attractive whole. Without such a synthesis, the liberal revival many expected after the 2008 election will indeed be stillborn—and populist-spouting conservatives like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich who have no solutions to any of the problems that plague us will keep driving the political discourse of the most powerful nation on earth...Dinesh D'Souza is the New President of The King's College
Back in 2008, when I was blogging more regularly at Religion in American History, I wrote a post about the changing face of The King's College--a school that had, during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, been one of the flagship faces of evangelicalism in the New York metropolitan area.In that short piece I wrote about the way King's had transformed from a "pietistic, evangelistic, subcultural" and relatively "apolitical" Christian college to a campus, now located in the Empire State Building, with a "more pronounced culture war agenda."
Since its move to New York City, King's has definitely ramped up its Christian intellectual profile. It has also become more overtly conservative in its political sensibilities, hiring World Magazine's Marvin Olasky, the man behind the term "compassionate conservatism," as its provost. Last Spring it sponsored a lecture series that included some of the country's leading conservative voices, including Dick Armey, Rich Lowry, Robert George, Norman Podhoretz, Ed Feulner (president of the Heritage Foundation) and Rick Santorum. (To be fair, the college has also hosted Stanley Hauerwas and N.T. Wright).
The Young America's Foundation has picked The King's College as one of the country's "Top Conservative Colleges," a list that includes Hilldale College, Grove City College, Liberty University, Pat Robertson's Regent University, and Patrick Henry College.
The shift from apolitical evangelical college to conservative Christian college was solidified this week when King's announced that best-selling author and Christian apologist Dinesh D'Souza has been chosen as its new president.
What is most surprising about this choice, and perhaps a bit refreshing, is that D'Souza is a Roman Catholic. I am not sure Percy "Youth on the March" Crawford or Robert "walk with the King today and be a blessing" Cook would have made this selection, but we are now living in a time when conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics have found common ground on many issues.
D'Souza told the Chronicle of Higher Education that he wanted to expand the college from 450 students to "four or five thousand." Ambitious indeed.
When asked if his Catholicism would be a problem at an institution rooted in the "Protestant evangelical tradition," D'Souza claimed that he was a "believing Catholic but a poorly practicing one." It looks like D'Souza may need a PR lesson. Those rooted in the "Protestant evangelical tradition" who may still be suspect of Catholics leading their colleges might be even more suspect of a "poorly practicing" Catholic.
It will be interesting to see how The King's College develops over the years. I hope they succeed--New York City needs some smart people with a collective alternative voice to shake things up a bit and bring some intellectual diversity to the place. Tim Keller can't do it alone.
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