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Evangelical

David Swartz

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December 2017

December 06, 2017

When Evangelicals Campaigned for Family Values

On the campaign against loose morals in the 1920s and how contemporary support for Roy...

November 2017

November 22, 2017

“Take an Indian to Lunch”

In “Take an Indian to Lunch,” Freberg sings about an early Puritan politician who strategically...

November 08, 2017

African Spiritism Meets Halloween’s Ghouls in a Small Kentucky Town

Why global Christians are circumspect about Halloween

October 2017

October 25, 2017

Losing Faith in Humanity

Reflections on evil and the Holocaust

October 11, 2017

My Grandma and Colin Kaepernick

Reflections on my grandma and Colin Kaepernick's encounter with civil religion

September 2017

September 13, 2017

Empty Pews? Invite Some Immigrants to America!

Why Steve Bannon's comments on immigration make some sense

August 2017

August 30, 2017

A Highly Trained Nonviolent Peacekeeping Force

The Mennonites behind the Clergy Protests in Charlottesville

August 16, 2017

Losing Faith in God

Elie Wiesel died one year ago at the age of 87. A ghastly genocide, one...

August 02, 2017

The End of the Mainline as America’s Public Conscience

This is Part II of my interview with Mark Lempke, author of the new book...

July 2017

July 19, 2017

George McGovern and the Religious Left

I'm pleased to post this interview with Mark Lempke, who just published the terrific book...

July 05, 2017

4 Reasons Why John Wesley Opposed the American Revolution

American Christians invoke John Wesley on all manner of subjects including sanctification, the sacraments, and...

June 2017

June 21, 2017

This Thai Is Not Like the Others

My research on the antitrafficking movement in Thailand primarily tracked American Christian networks. As I...

June 07, 2017

A Farang Scholar in Thailand

It’s good to be back at the Anxious Bench after a spring semester hiatus. As...

June 06, 2017

The Anxious Bench’s Favorite Historic Sites East of the Mississippi

Let The Anxious Bench help you plan your summer travels, as we share some of...

December 2016

December 27, 2016

Changes Coming in 2017 at The Anxious Bench

As is often the case with group blogs, change is a constant at The Anxious Bench. Just six...

December 21, 2016

A Very Not-So-Merry Christmas: How Protestantism Nearly Killed St. Nick

Relics and indulgences weren’t the only casualties of the Reformation. So was Christmas. Christmas was...

December 07, 2016

You Might Be a Mennonite If…

Ervin Beck, a folklorist at Goshen College, recalls growing up in a Mennonite congregation where...

November 2016

November 09, 2016

I Thought Hillbilly Elegy Was Just about Kentucky

My university—located on a relatively conservative campus in the very red state of Kentucky—was subdued...

November 08, 2016

Election Day Reading Material from The Anxious Bench

Whether you want to read more about the 2016 election - or find something to...

October 2016

October 26, 2016

Homeless: The Evangelical Left in 2016

2016 would appear to be the perfect moment to launch a revitalized evangelical left. Donald...

October 12, 2016

The Culture Wars and Evangelical “Evangelism”

Christians, who are people of the Book, follow political scripts as well as biblical scripts....

September 2016

September 28, 2016

Hey White Evangelicals, Welcome to Anabaptism

After centuries of relying on sky-high Amish birthrates for church growth, Anabaptism has exploded in...

September 14, 2016

Mother Teresa, Eastern Kentucky, and Transnational Charity

The canonization of Mother Teresa on September 4 was a global affair. The coronation occurred...

August 2016

August 17, 2016

Notes to First-Year Students on Mystery and the Liberal Arts

Today's post comes from a talk I gave several years ago at Asbury University, where...

August 03, 2016

How Activists Claimed Primary Season (for awhile)

During the Democratic National Convention, supporters of Bernie Sanders denounced the superdelegate system as rigged....

July 2016

July 20, 2016

Trump, Evangelicals, and the Democratic Party

White evangelicals have become such an entrenched bloc in the Republican Party that four out...

June 2016

June 08, 2016

The Limits of a Narrow Evangelical Advocacy

Today's guest post comes from David Bronkema, Associate Professor of International Development at Eastern University...

May 2016

May 25, 2016

How Evangelicals Turned from a Born-Again Christian to a Divorced Hollywood Actor

Many evangelicals became deeply disillusioned with Carter's presidency. The sharp decline in ticket-splitting from 1976...

May 11, 2016

The Limits of Evangelical Identity Politics

Jimmy Carter’s born-again credentials drew many evangelicals to the polls in 1976. Evangelicals who had...

April 2016

April 27, 2016

J.C. Can Save America

Ted Cruz marshals a rhetoric of Christian America in his campaign for president. Christians should...