Articles & Essays Archives - Page 3 of 9

American Evangelicalism Articles & Essays Christian Women Purity Culture

Sex, Outrage, and American Religion: Miss America’s God

This year’s Super Bowl halftime show sparked outrage among a contingent of American Christians. Although the halftime show is rarely considered a purveyor of American moral values, this year’s performance by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez provoked new levels of opposition.…

Kristin Kobes Du MezFebruary 20, 2020

Articles & Essays Christian Scholarship Donald Trump

Shepherd or Sheep? Religious Leadership in the Age of Trump

Published in Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, January 23, 2020. Summary: On any given Sunday, many evangelical pastors find themselves preaching to polarized congregations. There are many reasons a pastor might choose this path of least resistance.…

Kristin Kobes Du MezJanuary 24, 2020

image of people gathered in a field dressed in clothes associated with Amish communities

Articles & Essays Christian Thought Purity Culture

Simple Truth: Sex Abuse, the Amish, and the Evangelicals

Last week, journalist Sarah McClure published an investigative report in Cosmopolitan—yes, Cosmopolitan—on the prevalence of sexual abuse among the Amish. Based on a year-long investigation, the report contains disturbing details that are difficult to stomach; I’d call it shocking if we didn’t already have…

Kristin Kobes Du MezJanuary 23, 2020

collage of book from the article by kristin dumez at patheos.com/anxious bench regarding 2020 must-reads

Articles & Essays Christian Scholarship Featured

Coming Soon: 2020 Must-Reads in Christianity and Politics

The frenzied commentary around Mark Galli’s Christianity Today editorial has not only revealed widely diverging opinions within the evangelical community about the Trump presidency, but also about about what, if anything, an anti-Trump editorial in the pages of CT portends. Is this merely…

Kristin Kobes Du MezDecember 26, 2019

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American Evangelicalism Articles & Essays Book Reviews Church History

Evangelicals: The Problem with Insider History

This is a post about the history of evangelicalism. But as with many things these days, it starts with the election of Donald Trump. Or, more precisely, with the night before the election of Donald Trump. ‘Twas the evening of…

Kristin Kobes Du MezNovember 21, 2019

Articles & Essays Christian Feminists Christian Thought Christian Women Featured

Hey, John MacArthur. You have a Culture. It’s Called White (Christian) Patriarchy.

The tricky thing about cultures, though—cultural systems, cultural values, however you want to put it—is that they’re largely invisible to us when we’re inside those cultures. When you’re comfortably ensconced within a culture, it’s really hard to see your culture…

Kristin Kobes Du MezOctober 24, 2019

Articles & Essays Culture Donald Trump

What I Learned from (Almost) Attending a Trump Rally

In January 2016, Donald Trump claimed that he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and not lose supporters. With the impeachment inquiry underway, his words ring prophetic. With blatant corruption in full view, with the…

Kristin Kobes Du MezOctober 4, 2019

Articles & Essays Christian Women Purity Culture

The Problem of Timeless Sexual Morality

The church today might benefit from the wisdom of Lina Herrick and her fellow female preachers. Those asserting and defending a “historic, timeless” sexual ethic might do well to keep in mind that the ideal has masked imperfect—and even immoral—applications…

Kristin Kobes Du MezSeptember 6, 2019

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American Evangelicalism Articles & Essays Christian Feminists Christian Thought

Rachel Held Evans, Beth Moore, and the Power of Evangelical Coalitions

As news spread of Rachel Held Evans’s death, one quote continued to pop up in my social media feed, a quote from her book Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church: But the gospel doesn’t need a coalition…

Kristin Kobes Du MezMay 21, 2019

image of Rachel Held Evans drinking coffee and smiling

American Evangelicalism Articles & Essays Christian Feminists Christian Women

The Legacy of Rachel Held Evans

First published in the Anxious Bench, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Beth Allison Barr, and Chris Gehrz pay tribute to writer Rachel Held Evans, who died this morning at age 37

Kristin Kobes Du MezMay 4, 2019

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