Creative Joy

Linford D. Fisher

Moravians are about as exotic as early American history can ever hope to be. And, seemingly, I cannot stop writing about them. Officially, they are not part of my research agenda, but books about them mysteriously appear on my shelves, squeeze their way onto my course reading lists, and land in my mailbox for possible review. This past January, once again, I found myself immersed in the world of early American Moravians as I picked my way through the 1300 hundred pages that comprise one of the most recent publications related to Moravians in early America: an enormous two-volume translation of the German diaries of the Moravian mission in Pachgatgoch, Connecticut, translated and edited by husband and wife team William A. Starna and Corinna Dally-Starna, titled, Gideons People: Being a Chronicle of an American Indian Community in Colonial Connecticut and the Moravian Missionaries Who Served There (2009). The diaries span from 1747 through 1763, even though the mission officially started in 1743 and was maintained on and off until 1770. My official evaluation of the volumes will be forthcoming in the New England Quarterly later this year, but the diaries themselves prompted more reflection that I could possibly fit into a book review, so I thought Id share some of the overflow here.

Read the rest of this entry »

The leader of a French sect in detention at a hospital in Malta has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday morning after he was denied bail, according to his lawyer.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I drove home from school yesterday, I listened with interest to NPR report on the wobbly state of the Unification Church in the United States.

Read the rest of this entry »

Patty Griffin is a singer-songwriter whose latest recording, “Downtown Church,” was done at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. It includes some wonderful covers (beginning with Hank Williams’ “House of Gold”) and some of her fine tunes, too.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Steven P. Miller

Thomas Frank made easy sport today of a recent piece by Glenn Harlan Reynolds (the ur-blogger of popular conservatism) in which Reynolds touted the Tea Party movement as Americas Third Great Awakening. Upon reading the article in question, I realized that Reynolds did indeed have Whitefield, Finney, et al, in mind when referring to those earlier awakenings, which he does concede were religious in nature. Now, he writes, its different. Its not Americas churches and seminaries that are in trouble: Its Americas politicians and parties.

Read the rest of this entry »

The death sentence for former senior AUM Shinrikyo cult member Tomomitsu Niimi has been finalized for his roles in 11 crimes killing 26 people.

Read the rest of this entry »

Randall Stephens

Just got the latest issue of Newsweek in the mail today. And, behold, there’s this very interesting article on Harvard University’s trouble with religion in the curriculum. (Lisa Miller, “Harvards Crisis of Faith,” Newsweek, February 11, 2010.) So while the Texas board of education is intent on getting the word out to students that the founders were born-again believers, many of Harvard’s cultured-despiser profs would rather their students spend more time learning about anything but religion. (I exaggerate.)

Read the rest of this entry »

The American Psychiatric Association is proposing a new version of its manual that classifies various personality disorders. Quite a few disorders were reclassified. For example, the reviewers of the existing manual felt that too many children were being misdiagnosed with an early onset of bipolar disorder. So, they created a category called “temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Three men accused of killing six Coptic worshipers and a security guard pleaded not guilty on Saturday (Feb. 13) as the Coptic community mourned the loss of yet another victim of apparent anti-Christian violence.

Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »