The Sacrifice at Calvary
May 12, 2020
Terry Eagleton— Walter Benjamin’s theory of tragedy in his The Origin of German Tragic Drama has some affinities with the Christian view of Calvary. Tragedy for Benjamin is essentially sacrifice,… READ MORE
Category: History
The Legacy of Anthony Wayne
May 8, 2020
Mary Stockwell— The statue of Anthony Wayne that looks out over the Maumee Rapids where he won his battle for America on the morning of August 20, 1794, is a… READ MORE
Social Order in the New World
May 7, 2020
J. H. Elliott— Family and hierarchy were the twin pillars supporting the social structure of Early Modern Europe. The ordered family, under the control of the head of the household,… READ MORE
The Epic of Gilgamesh
April 30, 2020
John Carey— The oldest surviving literary work is The Epic of Gilgamesh. It was composed nearly 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (roughly equivalent to where Iraq and eastern Syria… READ MORE
The Paradox of Democratic Reforms
April 29, 2020
Frances McCall Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro— Since the 1960s, powerful movements across the democratic world have pursued reforms meant to bring politics closer to the people. Many political parties have… READ MORE
The Epitaph of Matilda
April 28, 2020
Catherine Hanley— Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring Here lies the daughter, wife and mother of Henry. So reads the epitaph inscribed on the tomb of… READ MORE
Social Control, Political Power, and Epidemics
April 27, 2020
Manuel Barcia— I should probably begin this blog with a confession. A couple of days ago, when I started writing it, I had a very appropriate and colourful anecdote taken… READ MORE
Revolutionary or Impostor . . . Who Was Ahmed Khan?
April 24, 2020
Ian Coller— O Lydian lord of many nations, foolish Croesus,Wish not to hear the longed-for voice within your palace,Even your son’s voice: better for you were it otherwise;For his first… READ MORE
Material Culture and the Ethnicity of Non-Jewish Christians
April 23, 2020
Christopher Stroup— The cities of the Roman Empire were filled with gods and the citizens who honored them with festivals, processions, buildings, and benefactions. The followers of Jesus—later called Christians—lived… READ MORE
Coming to Terms with the Catholic 1950s
April 16, 2020
Leslie Woodcock Tentler— The streets of my suburban childhood were peopled by two religious tribes—the Catholics, who were in the majority, and the Protestants, a quasi-tribe to which every non-Catholic… READ MORE
From 9/11 to 9/11: The Widening of the Atlantic