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A History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival

A digital archive of first-person accounts from the turn of the 19th century chronicling an unusual display of religious ecstasy.
by Douglas Winiarski via University of Richmond on April 9, 2018

Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker: A Scandal of the Self

The long historical roots and continuing relevance of the disgraced preacher's story.
by Martyn Wendell Jones via Weekly Standard on March 2, 2018
Aimee Semple McPherson in front of her Gospel Car, painted with the words "Jesus is coming soon - get ready."

The “Lady Preacher” Who Became World-Famous—and Then Vanished

Aimee Semple McPherson took to the radio to spread the Gospel, but her mysterious disappearance cast a shadow on her reputation.
by Casey N. Cep via The New Yorker on April 14, 2025
Painting of the archangel Michael, holding shield, defeating Satan and other angels.

Extremist Pop Culture and the American Evangelical Right

Jack Chick and the origins of the 1980s “Satanic Panic."
by Sean Goodman via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on December 16, 2024
St. Francis on the Brazos church.

How a Mediterranean Spiritual Movement Went Global

From the ruins of the Spanish Civil War to air force bases in Texas.
by Philip Jenkins via Anxious Bench on October 17, 2024
A Christian cross in an open field, with a sunset in the background.

Jesus Freaks: On the Free Spirited Evangelicals of the 1970s and 80s

Chronicling the emergence of a unique blend of counterculture and Christianity.
by Eliza Griswold via Literary Hub on August 8, 2024
An image of the "Pine Tree Flag," a revolutionary era flag, waving over a crowd. On the flag is written "An Appeal to Heaven."

Revival and Revolution

A controversial historical claim grounds MAGA evangelicalism's embrace of the "Appeal to Heaven" flag.
by John Fea via Commonweal on July 2, 2024
A man standing at a crossroads holding an American flag.

The Wasting of the Evangelical Mind

The peculiarities of how American Christianity took shape help explain believers’ vulnerability to conspiratorial thinking and misinformation.
by Michael Luo via The New Yorker on March 4, 2021
Erie Canal historical marker

The ‘Psychic Highway’ that Carried the Puritans’ Social Crusade Westward

Elements of the Puritans’ unique worldview were handed down for generations and were carried westward by their descendants, the people we call Yankees.
by Gregory Rodriguez via Contra Mundum on November 22, 2020

How Cults Made America

A new book argues that, politically, messianic movements were often light-years ahead of their time. But at what cost?
by Tom Bissell via The New Yorker on April 24, 2019
Jemima Wilkison.

The Person Formerly Known as Jemima Wilkinson

Awakening from illness, the newly risen patient announced that Jemima had died and that her body had been requisitioned by God for the salvation of humankind.
by Adam Morris via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 26, 2019

God Gave Rock and Roll to You

Fiery, energetic and preached by charismatic frontmen, Pentecostal Christianity had a big influence on rock and roll in its formative years.
by Randall J. Stephens via History Today on May 16, 2018
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Billy Graham, ‘America’s Pastor’?

He became known as an apolitical preacher. But Graham started out as an ardent conservative.
by Kevin M. Kruse via Made By History on February 22, 2018
Billy Graham

Billy Graham Was On the Wrong Side of History

Racial tensions are rising, the earth is warming, and evangelicals are doing little to help. That may be Graham’s most significant legacy.
by Matthew Avery Sutton via The Guardian on February 21, 2018

Why Billy Graham Was Determined to Globalize Evangelicalism

Recognizing that Americans are not the future of his religion, the late preacher embraced a global world.
by Melani McAlister via The Atlantic on February 21, 2018
A painting of George Whitefield preaching to a crowd.

Darkness Falls on the Land of Light

Divisions in society and religion that still exist today resulted from the "Great Awakenings" of the 18th Century.
by Douglas Winiarski via American Heritage on February 1, 2018
Illustration of the harmful effects of alcohol on a Seneca village

America's First Addiction Epidemic

The alcohol epidemic devastated Native American communities, leading to crippling poverty, high mortality rates — and a successful sobriety movement.
by Christopher Finan via Longreads on August 29, 2017

The Most Successful First 100 Days Of An Administration Didn't Belong To Who You Think

Dwight Eisenhower did more in his first hundred days than change laws—he changed a culture.
by Kevin M. Kruse via Esquire on April 27, 2017

Born a Slave, Emma Ray Was The Saint of Seattle’s Slums

Emma Ray was a leader in battles against poverty, and for temperance.
by Lorraine McConaghy via Crosscut on February 26, 2016
European fur traders trading rum to Native Americans
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Liquid Poison

American Indians and the tumult in their cultures precipitated by the arrival of alcohol.
via BackStory on January 1, 2016

Prayers for Richard

Reflections on the life of Little Richard, the star who mistook a satellite for a ball of fire.
by David Ramsey via Oxford American on December 11, 2015
Cover of Matthew Avery Sutton's "American Apocalypse" featuring a drawing of people being raptured.
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Back to the Fundamentals

Apocalyptic thinking in early Christian fundamentalism.
via BackStory on December 14, 2012
Aimee Semple McPherson addresses a crowd.

An Eerily Familiar 20th-Century Hoax

Aimee Semple McPherson created a wildly popular personal brand as a preacher—then suddenly disappeared.
by Dorothy Fortenberry via The Atlantic on May 12, 2025
A boy scout yawns as he holds a U.S. flag at an event in Maine in 1984.
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The Christian Nationalism at the Heart of Jim Crow America

The Trump campaign is signaling that it intends to make the U.S. a "Christian nation." Here's what that idea looked like in history.
by William Horne via Made By History on October 17, 2024
Horseddrawn carts and shoppers in a bustling Haymarket Square in 1893.

The Chicago Evangelist Who Held a Gospel Revival To Stop a Strike

Dwight L. Moody and the 1884 Haymarket Affair offer a look at what happens when Christians side with the wealthy instead of working class.
by Matt Bernico via Sojourners on April 28, 2023
"Sinners In The Hands of an Angry God" title page.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
by Ed Simon via JSTOR Daily on February 20, 2023
Drawing of enslaved persons harvesting sugarcane.

Wesley, Whitefield, and a Gospel That Disrupts

Two preachers who shaped American Christianity diverged sharply on whether to protest or exploit slavery, with consequences that persist today.
by Ian Olson via Plough Magazine on August 22, 2022
Johnathan Edwards.

How Jonathan Edwards Influenced Southern Baptists

Southern Baptists were seeking a religion of the heart, and in Edwards they discovered a trove of treatises, biographies, and sermons on Christian spirituality.
by Obbie Tyler Todd via The Gospel Coalition on July 29, 2022
In 1972, Ray Womack, wearing an “Explo 72" shirt, begins a 900-mile run to Dallas, for an evangelical rally.
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An Evangelical Youth Event Could Offer Clues About the Movement’s Future

TOGETHER ’22 aims to mimic EXPLO ’72 — which provided hints about the rising conservative evangelical tide.
by Benjamin J. Young via Made By History on June 24, 2022
Man holding up a sign during the Capitol Siege

The Post-Trump Crack-Up of the Evangelical Community

Its embrace of an ignominious president is forcing a long-overdue reckoning with the movement’s embrace of white supremacy and illiberal politics.
by Audrey Clare Farley via The New Republic on March 16, 2021
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