John Quincy Adams: Christian Nationalist?
In the February of 1824, politically active Calvinists across the northern United States finally got their wish for a godly devout president who made the American republic a more explicitly Christian and righteous nation. The House of Representatives chose John...
A Puritan Founding?
Earlier this year Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry published The Flag + the Cross, a sociological expose on what they identified as the threat to American democracy from what they called white Christian nationalism. It’s a work of sociology more...
The Uselessness of “Christian Nationalism”
Over the past several years the topic of Christian nationalism has occupied the minds of Evangelical intellectuals and pastors. No less than half a dozen books have been written on the subject in the past year. Three of them have...
The Danger of Forgetting America’s Anti-Racist History
Jake Meador has offered a thoughtful and challenging piece concerning the relationship between Christianity and the United States. Meador’s most salient point is that he has “become very suspicious of accounts of Christianity’s place in American life that leave out...
Who’s Afraid of John Calvin? Answer: Thomas Jefferson
In 1822, Thomas Jefferson was enjoying a quiet retirement at his beloved Monticello. His family troubles gave him sleepless nights but he found solace in his correspondence and, as always, in his books. The former president’s mind turned over Virginia’s...
Liberalism’s Tax on the Unborn
By Miles Smith In 1781 Thomas Jefferson left the office of governor of Virginia and wrote the sole book-length work attributed to him. In Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson reflected on what he knew was the great moral...
Evangelical Indifference to the Immigrant in Historical Perspective
By Miles Smith Last week, reputable reports appeared that the United States government had begun forcibly separating children from their parents at the border and even at installations within the United States. An op-ed at the Los Angeles Times by...
Reviewing Archbishop Charles Chaput’s “Strangers in a Strange Land”
We’re pleased to publish this review by Dr. Miles Smith. Recent cultural and social changes in the United States have prompted concerned Christians to pick up their pens and address their respective flocks on the question of how to maintain...
Reviewing Nancy Isenberg’s “White Trash”
This guest review is by Dr. Miles Smith. In 2014 The King’s College professor Anthony Bradley wrote an article on the plight of poor whites for World Magazine. That Bradley, an African American, first raised the issue seems strange, but...
Reviewing John Wilsey’s “American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion”
I’m pleased to publish this guest review today by Hillsdale College visiting professor Dr. Miles Smith. You can learn more about Dr. Smith from his bio below this post. You can also follow him on Twitter @IVMiles A book exploring...