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Putting the Protest in Protestant

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Evangelical

H. L. Mencken

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Select a Month January 2022 October 2021 August 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 2020

December 11, 2020

Do Anglicans in N. America Talk Funny?

H. L. Mencken thought that English Protestants used a different vocabulary from their fellow communicants...

July 2019

July 31, 2019

Make Baltimore Great Again

Actually, the city that has contributed more to national culture than many natives realize --...

May 2019

May 24, 2019

What If American Wars Had Turned Out Differently?

From a review of Michael Kazin's War against War: The American Fight for Peace: Kazin...

February 2019

February 22, 2019

What’s Good for Lincoln Is Good for Washington

Today is the anniversary of George Washington's birthday, a holiday that became collapsed with Lincoln's...

February 12, 2019

If Abraham Lincoln were Donald Trump

We might not have apotheosized the POTUS. We might have regarded them as real life...

October 2018

October 02, 2018

Before Kavanaugh, Mencken

White men can become toxic for different reasons. Once it happens, it's almost impossible to...

July 2018

July 10, 2018

Should Alan Jacobs Read (more) H. L. Mencken?

Alan Jacobs asks what's the point of writing another book: What is the point? and...

April 2018

April 16, 2018

The 252nd Way that Evangelicalism Is Not Like Historic Protestantism

Evangelicals have no way of excluding others who self-apply the label born-again. Historic Protestants actually...

March 2018

March 12, 2018

How Much do Christians Care about Theology (and should they)?

Massimo Faggioli is a theologian who teaches at Villanova. With a name like that (trigger...

November 2017

November 21, 2017

Just In Time for Thanksgiving

Americans recover their inner-Puritan. H. L. Mencken summarized the Puritan outlook wittily when he said...

October 2017

October 06, 2017

The Greatest Show on Earth

I was catching up on Bloggingheads TV podcasts this morning and heard Robert Wright (around...

September 2017

September 12, 2017

If Only the New Atheists Were Funny

Today is the anniversary of H. L. Mencken's birth. Arguably, one of the greatest American...

August 2017

August 04, 2017

How Skeptics View Christianity

J. Gresham Machen was by most accounts a fundamentalist. In 1923 he wrote, Christianity and...

April 2017

April 05, 2017

Calvinists Go to Heaven (not sure of everyone else)

Total depravity, the T in the infamous mnemonic, T-U-L-I-P, the so-called Five Points of Calvinism,...

February 2017

February 14, 2017

Some of Us Were Worried About America before the Election

If you read H. L. Mencken with any sense that he has a point, you...

December 2016

December 08, 2016

Why Atheists Should Read H. L. Mencken

Mencken has lessons to teach all Americans (which expands potentially the market for my new...

December 06, 2016

Why Christians Need to Read H. L. Mencken

The most self-serving reason is the publication of my new book, Damning Words: The Life...

September 2016

September 01, 2016

Lost In Trespasses and Sins

Is she describing Donald Trump or President Obama? I get Evangelicals, those hard-working, hard-loving, hard...

March 2016

March 25, 2016

The Great Thing about being a Calvinist

You don't have to sweat the commercialization of Easter. Mollie Hemingway, a Lutheran, is right...

February 2016

February 24, 2016

The Book Business You Will Always Have With You

Is Amazon's decision to open brick-and-mortar bookstores an indication that the business is turning around....

February 04, 2016

Why Not Give Up Being Evangelical?

James Bratt thinks the evangelical brand has lost its usefulness, thanks in part to all...

October 2015

October 22, 2015

The PG Bible

Most Americans are familiar with Thomas Jefferson's edition of the Bible, the one in which...

October 14, 2015

When Mean is Funny

So John Fea and Scott McKnight have a little fun at Calvinists' expense by linking...

January 2015

January 29, 2015

The Bible Alone?

So here I am reading through the scriptural pairings for January that come from Max...

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