“Thinking in Tongues” from First Things

[This article appeared in the April 2008 issue of First Things; since it takes a few months for articles to become available for free online, I thought I’d here point to it.] Over the past decade, Pentecostalism has become something of an academic darling for historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and scholars of religious studies. Researchers ensconced…

Federal Elections the Canadian Way: Give me 5 Weeks

As a Canadian living the States for a dozen years now, I have found that I’ve never quite shaken the Canadian penchant for understatement–which is just a backhanded way of saying I’ve never warmed up the to gargantuan hype that characterizes so many facets of American life, which all look “Texan” from a Canadian perspective….

What I’m Reading: Wood, Flaubert, Mailer, etc.

Someone had told me that they thought the feed for my other blog, What I’m Reading, was not working properly. I hope that’s now been corrected, but just in case, I’ll here post periodic updates to point those who might be interested over there. Recent reviews include James Wood, How Fiction Works, Flaubert’s Madame Bovary,…

A New Kind of Politics? Or the Same Old “Religion?”

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech was historic, forthright, even “specific” at points. And as expected, it exhibited his rhetorical gifts, echoing the cadences of MLK’s preaching. That said, what purports to be a “new kind of politics” sure sounds pretty familiar. In particular, the following stood out to me: Though Hillary didn’t get the nomination, and…