Rewilding American Christianity
by Justin LeeWhat does it mean to cultivate Christian wildness in North America? There are few markers of deep memory by which to orient ourselves to the work of concentration. Continue Reading »
The New Medievalism
by John DugganNot very long ago, an eminent British editor tweeted an article from his own publication showing (he said) that “in the Middle Ages, some 100,000 women over Europe were burned, hanged, drowned, or put to death in other ingenious ways on suspicion of being witches.” “Three centuries of . . . . Continue Reading »
The Spice Road of Today
by Mark BauerleinRachel Fulton Brown, professor of history at the University of Chicago and author of the blog Fencing Bear at Prayer, joins the podcast to discuss the importance of studying the medieval era and its relevance to issues within modernity. Continue Reading »
Intellectual Freedom in Medieval Universities
by James HankinsThe monstrous regiment of administrators in modern universities could learn a thing or two from medieval models of university governance. Continue Reading »
Loving and Hating the Middle Ages
by John DugganModern people, despite being drawn to medieval aesthetics and artificats, cannot seem to bear to examine what those artifacts are modeled on: the intelligible order glimpsed by the eye of faith. Continue Reading »
In the Academic Sandbox
by Charlotte AllenDuring the late summer and early fall of 2017, Rachel Fulton Brown, a fifty-two-year-old associate professor of medieval history at the University of Chicago, found herself a pariah among many of her fellow medievalists in academia. A member of the Chicago faculty since 1994, Brown had won two . . . . Continue Reading »
A Medieval Perspective on Modern Identity Politics
by Carl R. Trueman Current debates about identity might seem unprecedented but they have roots deep in medieval discussions.
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Medieval Golden Age, Modern Barbarism
by Andrew Doran Earlier this year, as conflict raged in northern Syria, two professors, one Lebanese and the other American, both from elite universities in the Washington, D.C. area, passed the long night at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, drinking tea. They pondered the weighty issues of the region: whether the nation-state paradigm was the residue of colonialism or a reality to which nations of the Middle East must conform; American military engagement and its consequences; and, of course, the sources of violent extremism. At one point, the Lebanese professor lamented, “These extremists are the worst thing ever to happen to Islam.” The American professor casually observed that they wished to reject modernity and return to the Middle Ages. “But the Islamists are themselves modern,” the Lebanese professor responded. “The violence against ideas and freedom and the dignity of the person—this is all modern, not medieval. Islam’s Golden Age was actually fairly free and tolerant of diverse thought.” The American professor arched a skeptical brow.
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Christians and Postmoderns
by Joseph BottumJoseph Bottum, a young medievalist, made his debut in First Things with an account of faith in a postmodern age. From the February 1994 issue. I We are living at a time near the end of the world. Not that our age is apocalyptic: apocalypse means an uncovering, a revelation, and revelation is what . . . . Continue Reading »
The Irrational and the Limits of Human Reason
by Peter J. LeithartChristians see an ultimately knowable universe while acknowledging their own . . . . Continue Reading »
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