That Was The Week That Was
November 3-9, 2024
This week at Substack I suggested a prayer for Election Day, reflected on the results of this year’s voting, wrote a rare devotional on Revelation, and shared the first full chapter in College for Christians. (I also talked about that book at Current.) At my sabbatical blog I wrote about anti-feminist Christian authors like Elisabeth Elliot and looked back at how Bethel’s student newspaper covered earlier women who ran for president (or vice president). Elsewhere:
Obviously, there are thousands of pieces out there about Donald Trump’s remarkable return to the White House. I’ll skip past all the agonizing appraisals by Democrats and elated celebrations by Republicans…
…and instead draw your attention to some thoughtful reflections by Christian commentators:
• For Bible reading in this confusing moment, Bonnie Kristian recommended Ecclesiastes 8, “which is brimming with prudence and equanimity in the face of political and social turbulence,” and Hebrews 13, with its “many instructions for the Christian life under duress.”
• My favorite ancient historian online, Nadya Williams, suggested that Roman history offers helpful advice for living under flawed leaders.
• “Whatever the outcome,” wrote Catholic philosopher R.J. Snell, “whether today you are waiting, watching, weeping, or rejoicing, there is no reason each of us cannot, in our way and place, in keeping with our station and responsibilities, be as Lincoln. If our media and political elites are unwilling, there is no reason why you and I cannot be patient, gracious, decent, calm, charitable, and act in ways keeping with the responsibility of self-governance for the commonweal.”
• Most of these pieces were written to apply to a Harris or Trump victory, but the fact that it proved to be the latter made Katelyn Beaty wonder if we’re about to see even more women leave evangelicalism and led Justin Giboney to emphasize the need for accountability by the many evangelicals who supported the president-elect: “Those who backed Trump’s political resurgence, must arouse themselves to their responsibilities as citizens and—more importantly—as disciples of Jesus Christ.”
(Speaking of evangelicals… I’ll be teaching part one of a class on evangelicalism and politics tomorrow morning at Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater, MN.)
In other news:
• Ryan Burge’s latest analysis parses out the role that fear plays for various groups of voters, including those who are most religious.
• Buyer’s remorse already seems to be setting in for so-called “low information voters.”
• Beth Moore hasn’t (yet) joined many others in deactivating her Twitter account, but she did finally join Threads.
• Historian Katherine Goodwin Lindgren explained what Christians could learn from the fields of women’s and gender studies.
• “What if,” wondered Shirley Mullen, “Pascal rather than Descartes had been taken as the founder of the modern Western intellectual world?”
• Believe it or not, there are still lots of great historical films yet to be made.
• Maybe one on the time in the late 19th century when competitive walking was one of this country’s favorite sports…
• Or one on the life of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, perhaps based on the new biography forthcoming from John Turner, now available for pre-order.
• Christian colleges aren’t churches… but they may have something in common with the Second Temple — at least, with its economic model.
• Finally, back to the election for a question that’s important to people in my line of work: what will the second Trump presidency mean for higher ed?