history
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Can We Live with Ourselves?
What does it take to resist totalitarianism? In the years following the Holocaust, German-Jewish-American philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) devoted herself to this question. Arendt believed that trying to understand how and why the Holocaust had happened was an essential task… Continue reading
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I Remember, I Believe
Friends, the beginning of repentance is facing the truth of who we are, so that we know exactly what it is we need to turn away from. Our hope is not in a universe which arcs towards justice by itself,… Continue reading
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Haunted by Hope
The Regular Contributors to WIT are participating in a round table series, titled “Haunted.” This series will appear every (or every other) week throughout the Fall 2024 semester. Each current contributor to the blog will spend some time reflecting on… Continue reading
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An Historian’s Reaction to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
To my eye, as a piece of historical analysis Dobbs is weak. Its reasoning is circular and lacks contextualization, and its chronology is poor. That’s not to say it doesn’t make some defensible points, but its historical arguments are not among them. Continue reading
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Fratelli Tutti and the Importance of the Histor(ical Theolog)ian
Namely, at several points in the encyclical, Pope Francis discusses the importance of learning from our history. He discusses this in relation to learning from the pandemic in chapter one, but also earlier bemoans a lack of historical consciousness more… Continue reading
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What is Now Uncovered / Don’t Waste an Apocalypse
The increased precarity of living in a pandemic makes the existing precarity in which so many were already living their lives completely untenable. In this sense the pandemic is a true apocalypse—an uncovering of the truth of the forces at… Continue reading
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Can We Bring History and Theology Back Together?
The point that I want to make is that this lack of historical understanding of theology is ultimately the fault of the structure of theology departments across the United States. Continue reading
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How Our Theology Keeps Us Racist
How could it be possible for a group of Christians to think twice about collectively condemning white supremacy? Many were asking this question last month as we watched the drama of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention unfold… Continue reading
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Coffin Ships and Hypocrisy: A Lament for Irish-America
About half of my ancestors immigrated to this country as a result of the aftermath of Irish famine, an event in which people were found dead on the side of the road walking hopelessly in search of food with grass stained… Continue reading
