Ask the Author: Tim Gloege on Guaranteed Pure

by Kristin Du Mez. Several years back, I heard Tim Gloege give a conference paper on Henry Crowell, Quaker Oats, and American Fundamentalism at a meeting of the American Society of Church History. To this day, that talk stands as one of the smartest, most engaging papers I’ve heard presented at an academic conference. I …

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Hella Haasse, Threshold of Fire

by Frans van Liere. During spring break I was asked by my church friend Phyllis Van Andel to conduct a book discussion for the Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL). It could be on any book I wished to discuss, she said. CALL classes are always fun to teach, because of the great enthusiasm of …

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The Crime is the Fruit of the Theology: Christian Responses to 50 Shades of Grey

by Kristin Du Mez. [This piece originally appeared in the Oxford University Press Blog on March 21, 2015. The first portion is republished here with permission of the author.] The much anticipated Valentine’s Day release 50 Shades of Grey set off a flurry of activity on social media sites, with bloggers lining up to cajole, shame, reason, or plead with …

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February is over: What does an African-American Historian do in March?

by Eric M. Washington. For African-American historians, February can be a busy month. For me, I did a podcast for the Reformed African American Network, I give a short presentation to AHANA[1] students here at Calvin about my journey into African-American history, and I gave a short presentation on the history and centrality of Black …

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Gordon Wood on Bernard Bailyn: American Religious History and ‘An Honest Picture of the Past’

by Kristin Du Mez. [This piece originally appeared as a guest contribution to Religion in American History. The first portion is republished here with permission of the author.] I wasn’t going to write on Gordon Wood and Bernard Bailyn. I’m not a colonialist. It’s been years since I’ve read their work, which in my recollection is far and …

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Czesław Miłosz’s Century

by Bruce Berglund. While visiting a friend’s house recently, I noticed a new copy of Czesław Miłosz’s Collected Poems on his shelf. With my friend out of the room, I snuck the book down and turned to my favorite poems by Miłosz – which are my favorite poems by any poet. As a historian, I …

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