Anxious Bench

There lies in Boston harbor an eroding island called Nix’s Mate.

As a seasonal Halloween offering, I am here reposting something I originally presented at this site several years ago If you must, you can read scary recent stories of ghosts and horrors for Halloween, but why not just go right back to the original sources

In the early fourth century, an emperor decided to convert to Christianity.

When Jimmy Carter hosted a small gathering of supporters and media at his home to announce his presidential candidacy, one person asked him if he was a born again evangelical.

I have in recent years been working a good deal on the topic of folk horror, which focuses a great many issues concerning history and religion.

In his prefatory letter to the king of France in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin bemoans the use of the early theologians against the protestant cause: “It is a calumny to represent us as opposed to the Fathers (I mean the ancient wr…

Last time I discussed the spiritual crisis that engulfed Angelina Grimké in the late 1830s, abruptly ending her career as a feminist abolitionist and luring her into the end-times prophecies of William Miller.

Pursuing my Scottish theme from last time … In the 1690s, Europe was definitively entering an era of Enlightenment, rebelling against what were portrayed as the medieval superstitions that dominated religious life.

The Neighbor on the Screen My recent study of music history, especially as it relates to faith, has taught me a few things.

Is “Race” a Biblical Idea?

Last time, I described the dazzling work of the Scottish writer James Hogg, and his radical reimaginings of historical witchcraft.

Who do we think of as a theologian?

In recent months I have been posting a lot about forgeries through the centuries, and especially how they have shaped religious and spiritual perceptions.

How Do You Take Your Evangelicalism?

In the early twelfth century, the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux began work on a series of sermons on the Song of Songs, a book of Hebrew love poetry in the Old Testament.

The history of faith and doubt in Christian history is often written around the publication of epoch-making books.

A Pentecostal in “Hellywood” In my last post, I explored how early-20th-century conservative groups, like Pentecostals, reacted to the burgeoning movie industry, or as one Pentecostal minister referred to it, “Hellywood.”

Origen the Literalist?

Angelina Grimké and the Turmoils of Perfection Angelina Grimké shot like a meteor across the firmament of American abolitionism.

La Peregrina: Our Lady of Guadalupe on Pilgrimage Friends, my heart is heavy as I write.

The second part of a guest contributor series by Steven Tyra In the last installment, I introduced Ludwig Lavater’s advocacy on behalf of Zurich’s immigrant population.

Renaissance thinkers were entranced by the idea of finding ancient manuscripts and texts that would illuminate the history of religion and of spiritualities broadly defined, and in many cases they invented the evidence they wished they could have found le…