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anxiousbench

Thomas Kidd

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January 2013

January 01, 2013

New Year’s Resolution: Read More Books!

Happy New Year! I have routinely resolved at the New Year that I'd like to...

December 2012

December 25, 2012

George Whitefield’s Christmas, 1739

In December 1739, the great evangelist George Whitefield was completing a treacherous overland trip from...

December 18, 2012

Christmas in 1776

From the Patheos archive: ‘Tis the season to argue about religion. Or more specifically, to...

December 11, 2012

The “Regulated Freedom” of James Henley Thornwell, Antebellum Southern Presbyterian

Sunday was the 200th birthday of James Henley Thornwell, the South Carolina Presbyterian pastor and...

December 04, 2012

Five Compelling Religious Biographies

People love biographies, and I am regularly asked to recommend good ones during the lead-up...

November 2012

November 27, 2012

Albert Mohler on Leadership

I did a 2011 podcast interview with Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,...

November 20, 2012

Not All Turkey and Touchdowns

My Thanksgiving column, from the Patheos archives: The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony weren’t the first...

November 13, 2012

Culture-Changing Christians

When Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election, many disappointed supporters - including a number...

November 06, 2012

Are Evangelicals Welcome on the “Front Porch”?

I have written here several times about thoroughly conservative evangelicals who are "reluctant" Republicans. I...

October 2012

October 30, 2012

Do’s and Don’ts for Evangelicals on Election Sunday

A couple weeks ago I wrote about "Paleo Evangelicals as Reluctant Republicans," and I am...

October 23, 2012

Should a Candidate’s Faith Matter to Paleo Evangelicals?

In last week's column, "Paleo Evangelicals as Reluctant Republicans," I argued that there are many...

October 16, 2012

Paleo Evangelicals as Reluctant Republicans

The mainstream media loves politically liberal evangelicals, especially at this time of year, as we...

October 09, 2012

Slavery, Historical Heroes, and “Precious Puritans”

A fascinating controversy has erupted between the worlds of modern rap music and the early...

October 02, 2012

A Balanced Evangelical View of America’s Founding

I recently reviewed David Aikman's excellent book One Nation Without God? for Christianity Today. As I note in...

September 2012

September 25, 2012

“Volunteering” to Pray: Church, State, and College Football

The Freedom from Religion Foundation's (FFRF) campaign to remove religion from American public life has...

September 18, 2012

“Thenceforward, and Forever Free”: Remembering Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation

This week marks the 150th anniversary of two of the most significant events of the...

September 11, 2012

“Tweet for Youcef”: Social Media and Religious Liberty

The happy news came this weekend that long-imprisoned Iranian Christian convert and pastor Youcef Nadarkhani had...

September 04, 2012

Barack Obama: Self-Professed Evangelical?

One of the most peculiar moments of the Republican National Convention -- at least among those that did...

September 02, 2012

Welcome New Anxious Bench Bloggers, Agnes and Tal Howard

A very warm welcome to the newest additions to our Anxious Bench roster of bloggers,...

August 2012

August 28, 2012

Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity

Our church recently hosted a presentation by Owen Strachan, who teaches theology and church history...

August 21, 2012

Paul Ryan and the Curious Case of the Missing Evangelicals

We now have a presidential ticket without at least one candidate who is nominally Protestant....

August 14, 2012

Farewell to My Favorite Used Bookstore

From Waco it takes about three and a half hours to get to Archer City,...

August 07, 2012

Puritans: The Original Republicans?

What political legacy did the Puritans leave to America? There was a time when historians...

July 2012

July 31, 2012

The National Parks’ Best Kept Secret? Junior Rangers

The National Parks may well be "America's best idea" (goodness knows the government has had...

July 24, 2012

Patrick Henry, Homeschooler

Here's a popular post I wrote last year at Patheos: Patrick Henry, the greatest orator...

July 17, 2012

Best 5 Books on the Puritans

I recently reviewed Michael Winship's Godly Republicanism: Puritans, Pilgrims, and a City on a Hill,...

July 10, 2012

“Ask Jesus into Your Heart”: A History of the Sinner’s Prayer

Many an evangelical pastor has concluded a sermon by asking non-Christians to "ask [or receive,...

July 03, 2012

The Top 5 Forgotten Founders

When Americans speak of the "Founding Fathers," they usually have a group of about six...

July 02, 2012

New York Times on Mormon History

The New York Times has an excellent piece on the "growing cadre of young scholars of...

June 2012

June 26, 2012

How Significant is Fred Luter’s Election for Southern Baptists?

This week my Baylor colleague Barry Hankins and I published a USA Today editorial, "Southern...

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