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Articles
Tunnel Vision
Alice Roberts is a familiar face in British media. A skilled archaeologist, she has for years hosted the television show Digging for Britain . . .
Witch Ways
The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by ronald hutton yale, 376 pages, $30 In 1768, John Wesley expressed concern about the decline of...
Going South
From Every Tribe and Nation: A Historianโs Discovery of the Global Christian Story by mark a. noll baker, 224 pages, $19.99 In 1900, over 80 percent of Christians lived...
The Alpha Course: British Christianityโs Biggest Success Story
The British newspaperย The Independent ย has an article by Matthew Bell on theย Alpha Course , which it describes, interestingly, as “British Christianity’s biggest success story.” Being theย Independent...
Easter Stories
Felices Pascuas ,ย Joyeuses Pรขques ,ย Buona Pasqua ,ย Glad Pรฅsk . . . Around the world, Christians use very similar words to wish each other aย happy Easter...
Christian Influence on Islam
I posted recently ย about the network of small states that existed between the Roman and Persian empires, the two superpowers of Late Antiquity. Most of these buffer states are...
From Cranmer to Welby
This year more than most, March 21 is a date of multiple significance in the Church of England. You might justly ask whether the English church still matters much...
Patrick Wasnโt Irish: He Was British. Deal with It.
This weekend, many millions of people around the world will commemorate St. Patrick as a symbol of Irish national pride. I intend no slight whatever to that national consciousness,...
Turfan and the Christians of the Silk Route
Some years ago, I publishedย The Lost History of Christianity , which traced the early expansion of Christianity into Asia and Africa, as well as Europe. For perhaps a...
Thatโll Be the Day That I Die
March 1 is the feast of ย David , the early medieval bishop and missionary who became patron saint of Wales. We actually know strikingly little of David apart from...
Economics as Eugenics
Gregory Clark’s A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World is not quite as bad as either its author or publisher try to make it. As...
Who Is Harry Sylvester?
If the Ministry of Truth had devoted their full attention to obliterating the memory of Harry Sylvester, his elimination from the public consciousness could not have been more total....
Believing in the Global South
Though prophecy rarely lends itself to empirical verification, one exception might be an observation of St. Vincent de Paulโs, writing about the year 1640. This was one of the...
Strange Spirits
Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality By Leigh Eric Schmidt HarperSanFrancisco, 352 pages, $26.95 Where two or three Americans are gathered, they will sooner or later discuss religion....
Accomplishmentโโor Fame
Human Accomplishment: the Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 BC to 1950.by Charles Murray.Harper Collis. 668 pp. $29.95 Charles Murray has an admirable penchant for tackling...