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September 2026

September 21, 2026

Angelina Grimké’s Forgotten Turn to Apocalyptic Faith

Angelina Grimké and the Turmoils of Perfection Angelina Grimké shot like a meteor across the...

March 2026

March 10, 2026

Evangelicalism and Interstices: A 19th Century Intervention

Before jumping into this piece, I want to make an acknowledgement. First, Professor Sutton has...

September 2024

September 10, 2024

Jeremiah Evarts and the Spirit of Early Republic Activism

Writing under the name “William Penn” in 1829, Jeremiah Evarts penned a series of essays...

August 2024

August 30, 2024

Seeing the Second Great Awakening on Every Electoral Map

by Janine Giordano Drake I think a lot about the Second Great Awakening. I think...

January 2024

January 17, 2024

“Each Separate Anguish”: Death, Influence, and Carrying On

One of America’s greatest poets and bards, Billy Joel, told us only the good...

October 2023

October 09, 2023

American Evangelicals’ Categorical Problem

American evangelicals have a categorical problem. I’m not talking about our denominations, our broader theological...

September 2023

September 27, 2023

The Oberlin Option: A Sending City on a Hill

Can we create a perfect world? That was the title of a talk I gave...

September 26, 2023

Why Did Jonathan Edwards Think That Slavery Was Morally Right?

John Piper, the Minnesota-based Baptist pastor who has popularized Jonathan Edwards’s Calvinist theology for a...

May 2023

May 24, 2023

A Christian Woman for Polarized Times: Nancy Koester on Sojourner Truth

I am delighted to welcome Nancy Koester to the Anxious Bench today to discuss her...

January 2023

January 31, 2023

Jonathan Edwards, An Enslaver and Progenitor of Abolitionism

Today we welcome a guest contribution from John T. Lowe, Ph.D.. Lowe teaches American History...

March 2022

March 12, 2022

Can We Curse Putin? A Brief History of American Christians Using Imprecatory Psalms

Christians often struggle with the cursing language of the imprecatory psalms. But Chris found that...

February 2021

February 04, 2021

Tornado God: An Interview with Peter Thuesen

We are pleased to welcome Peter J. Thuesen to the Anxious Bench. Thuesen is Professor...

October 2020

October 29, 2020

Evangelicalism Is Not Rounding the Corner

We welcome Peter Choi back to the Anxious Bench today. Choi is Dean of Newbigin...

October 05, 2020

Rereading Gilead

It’s time to reread Gilead. Last week’s release of Marilynne Robinson’s new novel about the...

July 2020

July 06, 2020

Of Whittier and Black Lives

I have been posting on how historians can use American poetry as valuable primary sources,...

September 2019

September 18, 2019

Can Suffragists Teach Us About Religion’s Relationship to Politics?

Suffragists fascinate me. I have always been impressed by their steadfast commitment to political equality...

July 2019

July 09, 2019

The Self-Education of Frederick Douglass

David Blight's biography of Frederick Douglass inspires Chris to consider the history of self-taught Americans.

July 02, 2019

The Honest Patriotism of Frederick Douglass

Ahead of America's national holiday, Chris considers the patriotism of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who said...

June 2019

June 20, 2019

The City-State of Boston

I am used to thinking of the New England colonies as commonwealths, as what Michael...

January 2019

January 24, 2019

The Sins of Early Evangelicalism

Today Peter Choi, author of the new book George Whitefield: Evangelist for God and Empire...

September 2015

September 30, 2015

“You Know Where Else They Have May-Day Military Exhibitions?”

Wes Craven wasn’t the only rebel at Wheaton. Many students in the 1960s and 1970s...

January 2015

January 15, 2015

Evangelical Anti-abolitionists

Even in slaveholding states, many white Americans were uneasy about the morality of black slavery...

June 2014

June 17, 2014

Phillis Wheatley and the Evangelical Anti-Slavery Movement

When the evangelical poet Phillis Wheatley published an pamphlet-length elegy on George Whitefield upon the...

May 2014

May 01, 2014

The Good Lord Bird

My series on visions will resume in a few weeks. In the meantime, it's worth...

February 2014

February 18, 2014

Recovering Lemuel Haynes: Patriot Hero, African American Pastor

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, the implications of "all men are created...

January 2014

January 23, 2014

Evangelicals and the Death Penalty

Anthony Santoro's Exile and Embrace: Contemporary Religious Discourse on the Death Penalty features one of...

October 2013

October 02, 2013

Rock the Desert: Evangelical Activism in Texas and Sudan

In 2001, just one month before 9/11, 32,000 evangelical youth invaded Midland, Texas. Drawn to...

August 2013

August 13, 2013

The Bible, Slavery, and Sin

I have been reading Molly Oshatz's thought-provoking new book Slavery and Sin: The Fight against Slavery...

January 2013

January 09, 2013

The Evangelical Impulse Behind the Abolition of Slavery

Did you get a chance to watch The Abolitionists last night on PBS? If you...