d r a f t For the futures file as I rework my paper "Swedes in Roger Williams' Garden" -- More information on John Lewis Peyton, whose description of northern European immigrants I quoted in the original paper, including an important correction on his background. Turns out he was more of a blueblood than I … Continue reading Swedes in Chicago: A mise en scène in 1848 and a potential tie-in (?) with Glissant?
Historians, including Ken Burns, cite historical parallels between today, the slavery crisis of the 1850s and the anti-Semitism of the 1930s
d r a f t More quotes for my Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden project — Two disturbing historical parallels in print this week, both suggesting that America faces a more difficult crisis -- more accurately a series of cascading crises -- now than it did in the runup to the Civil War. It's hard to know … Continue reading Historians, including Ken Burns, cite historical parallels between today, the slavery crisis of the 1850s and the anti-Semitism of the 1930s
Sounding the alarm on CNN in Trump’s America: ‘Two inimical factions’ split along ‘racial and religious lines’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS2trMvo4aM Most of the time, CNN's weekend anchor Jim Acosta makes me break out in hives. I saw enough of his brand of performative journalism to last me a lifetime a long time ago, when the bigfoot TV reporters from Chicago would descend on the Illinois Statehouse at the end of the legislative session. But … Continue reading Sounding the alarm on CNN in Trump’s America: ‘Two inimical factions’ split along ‘racial and religious lines’
Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Nov. 29, 1863. Wikimedia Commons) “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun "[...] le monde entier s’archipélise et se créolise." Édouard Glissant Traité du Tout-Monde My inner child was an English major, but before that he majored in history. In fact, he got … Continue reading Archipelagos? Can a French postcolonial novelist’s creole metaphor help us head off a new Civil War?
A trail of breadcrumbs in Roger Williams’ garden — short takes on theological hair-splitting, mix-and-match spirituality and an ongoing research project
Cartoon by Man Martin (rpt. Winnipeg Free Press, March 16, 2019) Short takes on a general theme that didn't start to jell until I'd been thinking about it for the better part of a month. It's still not completely jelled -- can we think of it as a Jell-O fruit salad? -- but I think … Continue reading A trail of breadcrumbs in Roger Williams’ garden — short takes on theological hair-splitting, mix-and-match spirituality and an ongoing research project
‘Conviviality at the Crossroads’: Open-source studies from Malmö on creolization, hybridity, etc.
Link here to open-source copy on Springer Nature Switzerland AG website Woo hoo! I found a new book. It's available online under a Creative Commons license, and finding it was like Christmas in July -- with Easter, St. Paddy's and the annual Jordbruksdagarna (ag days) festival at Bishop Hill, Illinois, all rolled into one. Forgive … Continue reading ‘Conviviality at the Crossroads’: Open-source studies from Malmö on creolization, hybridity, etc.
For the futures file? Another look at ‘Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden’ in light of new circumstances
d r a f t In memoriam, Oley the Cat, ca. 2006-March 13, 2022. LTK Seems like the tectonic plates are shifting again, in my life and in the world at large ... In ways that may give a new context for my study of the church-planting stage of Swedish-American immigration and the foundation of … Continue reading For the futures file? Another look at ‘Swedes in Roger Williams’ Garden’ in light of new circumstances
UConn sociology prof explores a multi-faceted backlash against the religious right in the light of religious pluralism
d r a f t A recent article in The Guardian that makes sense of some of the cross-currents roiling today's culture wars. It might also suggest a conceptual framework -- or, at the very least, 21st-century parallels -- for the kind of religious pluralism I find in my study of immigrant Swedish pastors in … Continue reading UConn sociology prof explores a multi-faceted backlash against the religious right in the light of religious pluralism
Oh, joy! Are the ‘culture wars’ taking us into a new civil war? or sectarian conflict like in Northern Ireland?
Battle of Chickamaugua, lithograph, ca. 1890 (Wikimedia Commons). Here's a cheery note: If civil war comes to America as Barbara Walter of the University of California San Diego and other scholars are now predicting, it won't involve armies marching out to Gettysburg and Chickamauga in blue and gray uniforms -- it'll be more like the … Continue reading Oh, joy! Are the ‘culture wars’ taking us into a new civil war? or sectarian conflict like in Northern Ireland?
Notes & quotes: Heather Cox Richardson
Verbatim quotes from interviews with Heather Cox Richardson of Boston College pointing up parallels between the 1850s and the crisis of American democracy today ... also the parallel between Christian nationalism and "illiberal/Christian democracy" in Hungary today Mass Humanities (interview) "What Was at Stake in Our History," interview with Michelle Wilson, Mass Humanities, Aug. 24, … Continue reading Notes & quotes: Heather Cox Richardson
Ordinary Time 