Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical

Reformation

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

September 2026

September 18, 2026

John Calvin: Pastor. Theologian. Immigrant Nuisance?

The second part of a guest contributor series by Steven Tyra In the last installment,...

November 2025

November 14, 2025

Walking in Henry’s England: The English Church Revisited

Last Thursday evening, just past 9pm, I hurried across the central green of Keble College...

September 2025

September 12, 2025

Toward Healing? Teaching the Reformation in Mixed Company

Lisa Clark Dillon’s recent post, Teaching History in Hard Times: Denominational Colleges, addressed some things...

January 2025

January 24, 2025

Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Reformation Roleplay, Pt 1

Evangelicalism and ecstatic Spirit-filled movements have long had an uneasy relationship. The inclusion of Pentecostal...

September 2024

September 20, 2024

Teaching the Faith and Fomenting Contempt in the Reformation

I have been preoccupied over the last few months by the subject of tradition in...

August 2024

August 17, 2024

The Beginnings of Becoming the Pastor’s Wife

“I still do the bulletin.” She was the wife of a retired small-town pastor....

July 2024

July 19, 2024

Pastors Complaining About Church Attendance: A Tradition

I’m old enough to remember going to Sunday evening services at my Baptist church growing...

February 2024

February 23, 2024

The Radical Reformation as Renewal (?)

I have been reading Matthew Barrett’s The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic,...

February 06, 2024

Worship Wars: The Early Modern Versions

Worship wars. The phrase might bring to mind debates about contemporary or traditional music, or...

August 2023

August 18, 2023

Medieval Christians’ Most Burning Questions Answered: “Why do we say ‘Amen’ to end a prayer?”

Have you heard the one about Bernard of Clairvaux, the peasant, and the horse? The...

August 03, 2023

Spiritual Travel: Biking the Camino on a Protestant Pilgrimage

My husband Tommy just turned fifty. For the last 5 years he has planned to...

June 2023

June 06, 2023

Martin Luther and “Shiny Happy People”: Reflections on Parenting, God, and Reformations

Parenting has been something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. With a recently...

January 2023

January 11, 2023

How the English Reformation was Named: Historiography as Political Mythology (Guest Post by Benjamin Guyer)

It is a new year and a wonderful time to welcome a new guest contributor...

January 11, 2022

Why I’m Still a Protestant

According to a new survey, the term Protestant is becoming much less common among younger...

December 2021

December 08, 2021

Why I Love Advent

I love Advent. It is the season in the church calendar that I have observed...

December 23, 2020

God’s Christmas Gift To Women, Revised

One year ago, in my post God's Christmas Gift to Women, I reflected on how...

June 2020

June 09, 2020

A Tale of Two Luthers: Reflections on the Reformation in the Wake of the George Floyd Riots

Chris considers what the inconsistent response of Martin Luther to violent rebellion in the 16th...

March 2020

March 31, 2020

The Christians Who Didn’t Take Communion… for 350 Years

As COVID-19 temporarily keeps millions of Christians from taking Communion, Chris recalls the story of...

March 18, 2020

A Tale of Three Kates: Authors, Wives, and the Precarity of Protestant Women

Today we welcome Katherine Goodwin to the Anxious Bench. Katherine is a PhD student in...

March 17, 2020

About Martin Luther’s Letter on the Plague…

As the world responds to a new pandemic, Chris offers some historical and theological context...

January 2020

January 14, 2020

What Is a Heretic?

What does it mean to call someone a heretic? Guest blogger Joey Cochran surveys the...

December 2018

December 05, 2018

The Amish Farmer and the Pietist Prince

Wrestling with my Anabaptist heritage during a recent trip to Germany

October 2018

October 28, 2018

On Celebrating Reformation Sunday after a Synagogue Shooting

In the wake of yesterday's mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Chris spent Reformation Sunday...

May 2018

May 19, 2018

The Centuries-Old Words of a Modern Royal Wedding

One of the oldest elements of today's rather modern royal wedding - the liturgy -...

April 2018

April 24, 2018

Did Evangelicals “Kidnap” the Word Evangelical?

Did evangelicals kidnap the word "evangelical" from other Christians? If so, says Chris, they were...

February 2018

February 20, 2018

When Did Evangelicals Start Observing Lent?

While they inherited the Reformers' concern about mandatory fasting and other disciplines, evangelical interest in...

November 2017

November 02, 2017

American Christianity Needs More Sin

Sola gratia. By grace alone. With the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Protestants around the...

October 2017

October 31, 2017

The Best of The Anxious Bench: The Protestant Reformation

On this 500th anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses... some of the best Anxious Bench writing...

October 25, 2017

More Than a Tragic Necessity

More than a half-century ago, the great church historian Jaroslav Pelikan described the Reformation as...

October 24, 2017

3 Ways to Remember the Reformation

How should we remember the Protestant Reformation?