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January 2023

January 20, 2023

Christianity and the Abolitionist Movement in the U.S.

Misunderstanding abounds about the role of Christianity and the abolitionist movement, the 19th century movement...

January 15, 2023

Ikkō-ikki: Buddhism and the Japanese Peasant Revolts

Ikkō-ikki was a name given to peasants' revolts in 15th and 16th century Japan. Most of...

January 11, 2023

Pope Celestine V, the Reluctant Pope

The short list of Popes Who Resigned has only three names. These are the late...

January 07, 2023

The Legend of Pope Joan

Pope Joan was a woman disguised as a man who allegedly became Pope John VIII...

January 03, 2023

Why Pope Gregory XII Resigned

Newspaper obituaries of the late Pope Emertus Benedict XVI (1927-2022) mention that he was the...

December 2022

December 30, 2022

A Brief History of China’s Shaolin Temple

It is the legendary location of hundreds of martial arts action movies, including Shaolin Temple...

December 28, 2022

Hildegard of Bingen, Medieval Christian Mystic

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179; also called Hildegard von Bingen) was a nun, an author, a...

December 23, 2022

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Even if you are not into World War I history, you may have heard of...

December 20, 2022

Salamone Rossi, Jewish Composer of the Renaissance

There are several Jewish composers among the greats of classical music -- Copland, Bernstein, Mahler,...

December 17, 2022

An Appreciation of Jewish Cantors

This is an appreciation of Jewish cantors. Although I am not Jewish, I am a...

December 16, 2022

The First Dalai Lama

Even if you know little else about Buddhism, you've heard of the Dalai Lama. The...

December 10, 2022

How Many Days Did Buddha Sit Under the Bodhi Tree?

How many days did Buddha sit under the Bodhi Tree? The standard answer is forty-nine...

December 07, 2022

The History of Budai, the Laughing Buddha

You may wonder why the Buddha is so often depicted as chubby and laughing. The...

December 02, 2022

Will Ancient Gandharan Scrolls Change Buddhist History?

The Gandharan scrolls are ancient scrolls, mostly in fragments, that in recent years have been...

November 2022

November 28, 2022

The Surprising History of Handel’s Messiah

There are a number of dubious stories about George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah. (The formal...

November 23, 2022

Arguments Against the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

I've written a number of columns looking at issues involving religion and the U.S. Constitution....

November 21, 2022

Jefferson’s Wall of Separation Between Church and State

There is no more controversial phrase in U.S. history than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation...

November 18, 2022

Thomas Jefferson v. Establishment of Religion

In the 18th century establishment of religion, or designating an official state religion, was common...

November 16, 2022

James Madison and Religious Freedom

Among the U.S. founding fathers, nobody cared more about religious freedom than James Madison. Madison...

November 12, 2022

The Problem With Bible Readings in U.S. Public Schools

In 1956, a student in a public high school near Philadelphia protested his school's daily...

November 10, 2022

When the U.S. Supreme Court Didn’t Ban School Prayer

It has been sixty years since a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended class recitations of...

November 05, 2022

Piety and Peril: Life in Medieval Irish Monasteries

The 6th to 8th centuries were a golden age for Irish monasteries. The hand copying...

November 02, 2022

Monastic Book Production in the Middle Ages

Monastic book production in the Middle Ages began in Ireland. This is recorded in the...

October 2022

October 29, 2022

A Brief History of Christian Nationalism: Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority

This is a continuation of A Brief History of Christian Nationalism that will look at...

October 27, 2022

Christian Nationalism: Power, Politics, & a Distorted Gospel

Christian nationalism is much in the news these days, at least in the United States....

October 23, 2022

Presentism in Religious History

Watch out for presentism in religious history. "Presentism" in history is judging the past by...

October 19, 2022

The Evolution of Witches

The last post was on the history of witches and how the European witch was...

October 17, 2022

A History of Witches

Let's explore the history of witches, the queens of Hallowe'en. Witches inhabit spaces where religion...

October 15, 2022

Publishing Jewish Books in 16th Century Venice

This post tells the story of publishing Jewish books in 16th century Venice. What was...

October 11, 2022

The Impact of Printing on Religion: Printing the Quran

This is the third column in a series that explores how the invention of printing...

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