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May 2026

May 20, 2026

When Did Business Go Bad?

We are living in a New Gilded Age. Or, so said Paul Krugman in 2014...

November 2025

November 19, 2025

Whence AI Apostle Ron? A Christian History of AI (Pt. 1)

In December 2024, Apostle Ron Carpenter, Jr. made waves across the Christian world when his...

April 2025

April 01, 2025

Is Christian Education Meant to Protect or Expand?

In Support of Expansive Education I saw a debate play out in the comments of...

September 2024

September 03, 2024

A Good Neighbor? Election Debates in a Medieval Framework

"But I’ll tell you what. Growing up in a small town like that, you learn...

August 2024

August 20, 2024

Lectio Divina and the Unchristian Assumptions of AI

As teachers prepare for the approaching fall semester, questions surrounding artificial intelligence in the classroom...

August 06, 2024

Hearing and Doing? Medieval Preaching and Modern Podcasts

Summer for many academics means visiting archives or writing, and I’m certainly not an exception...

May 2024

May 07, 2024

Everybody and Everyman: Medieval and Modern Morality Plays

Maybe let’s just all be a little better about recycling. Also really really listening to...

March 2024

March 05, 2024

Seats at the Table: Lessons from a Medieval Queen’s Policies

Framed as just another part of the long and interesting reign of Margrete I, the...

December 2023

December 05, 2023

Joy in the Waiting: Medieval Plays and Advent Reflections

Tinsel halos and cardboard wings, bathrobes and blankets and staffs, giggles, somewhat out-of-tune singing, and...

September 2023

September 05, 2023

What We Leave Behind: Objects, Priorities, and Faith

Summer for professors often means reworking classes or developing new courses, along with doing our...

July 2023

July 04, 2023

Medieval Christian Nationalism? Crusades and Christian Nations

For those of us who are American, today is the Fourth of July: a day...

May 2023

May 02, 2023

Thoughts from Julian of Norwich for Changing Seasons

For me, the first of May always feels like the changing of a season– perhaps...

April 2023

April 04, 2023

Who is the Center of the Story? Medieval Maps and Modern Margins

At a conference a few weeks ago, in a keynote on medieval cosmologies, the keynote...

November 2021

November 04, 2021

Deconstructing the Complementarian Church History Narrative: A (Final) Response to Kevin DeYoung

“On the road from Galway to the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of...

May 2019

May 29, 2019

Because Jesus Choosing Male Disciples Doesn’t Mean What We Think….

In fifteenth-century England, a (probably Franciscan) friar lived on the east coast near the cathedral...

April 2019

April 16, 2019

Resurrection Hope For Notre Dame

"a fire burnt the whole parish of St. Alkmund's starting at daybreak on the eve...

January 2019

January 15, 2019

12 Books by Women You Should Read This Year

An Anxious Bench book club: 12 books by - and mostly about - women that...

January 01, 2019

Is New Year’s Day a Christian Holiday?

Greetings from London, England, where I've just arrived to start Bethel University's World War I...

July 2018

July 25, 2018

To Submit or Not to Submit? A Medieval Woman’s Tale….

It was a bright, sunny day in King's Lynn last week. A faint breeze of...

March 2018

March 21, 2018

Paul Interrupted: A Medieval Perspective

Just a few years ago, my entire family (parents, siblings, aunts, and my grandfather) attended...

February 2018

February 21, 2018

Paul on Women: A Modern Obsession?

On August 4, 2009, John Piper, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, former pastor of...

January 2018

January 24, 2018

Could Medieval Women Preach? Stop Using Paul Against Women Pt 3

Two days ago, John Piper answered the question of a male seminary student at Desiring...

November 2017

November 29, 2017

Because Xmas really is Xpian…

This is from my Anxious Bench archives. It is still one of my favorites, even though...

October 2017

October 18, 2017

Romans 8:31, Chris Tomlin, And The Faith Of A Medieval Woman

"Water You turned into wine; Opened the eyes of the blind; There's no one like...

October 17, 2017

Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians

With the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses at hand, Chris looks back to...

September 2017

September 06, 2017

The Medieval Counsel of Biblical Womanhood

The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood exploded my twitter feed last week. As a...

June 2017

June 30, 2017

The Anxious Bench Half-Year in Review

Presenting our most popular posts halfway into a turbulent 2017. (Plus a few you might...

May 2017

May 17, 2017

The Bible in Medieval Sermons: Part I for Understanding the Top Ten Bible Verses in Medieval England

My husband recently noted in his facebook series on local church highlights in Waco, TX,...

April 2017

April 09, 2017

The Christian History of “Pagan” Easter

This is a slightly updated post from my Anxious Bench archives. Happy Easter! I bought...

March 2017

March 22, 2017

A Reasonable Reading List for Medieval Christianity: Part 2

If you ever have the chance, visit the church of St. Bartholomew the Great in...