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Articles by D. G. Hart
How Scottish Dissent Built American Liberty
June is the usual month for the convening of Presbyterian assemblies, but the jewel in the crown of Presbyterian reforms, replacing bishops with lengthy committee meetings, seems less impressive today than it did in 1560 when the Scots held their first General Assembly. In fact, the June assemblies have genuine significance for the history of the Americans, which can be seen in two national holidays separated by forty-eight hours. Canada went first on July 1 with Canada Day.
Journalism’s Better Days – D. G. Hart
Younger Americans, born after 1985, may have no frame of reference for the current state of journalism which is highly partisan and considered untrustworthy (at least to partisans on the opposite side). The Gallup Organization’s data shows that trust in “Mass Media” (not identical to but related to journalism) is way down, from 72 percent in 1976 to 28 percent in 2025. The reverse is also true.
American Presbyterianism Was Born Amid Chaos
An excerpt from Protestants and Patriots: Presbyterians in the Age of Revolution. Francis Makemie is sometimes called the father of American Presbyterianism, and he earned that status thanks to two episodes during the last two years of a life that ran from 1658 to 1708. The first, in 1706, was his organizing the Presbytery of Philadelphia, a grassroots effort of six other pastors that created structures for ordination and church discipline.
D.G. Hart: Mr. President, open these doors!
Photo by National Park Service D.G. Hart: Mr. President, open these doors! A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. Controversy over the removal of the slavery exhibits at Independence National Historical Park (INHP), has diverted attention from National Park Service’s refusal to display a remarkable collection of portraits of Continental Congress’ members that hang in one of the parks’ prized Philadelphia buildings.
‘On the Altar’ Review: Sacrifice Across the Centuries
Early Christian writers condemned pagan sacrifices while debating among themselves the meaning of the death of Jesus. One of the most shocking poems in Protestant hymnbooks is William Cowper’s “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” A 1772 meditation about the crucifixion by a man who struggled with depression all his life, the hymn dwells on Christ’s gory death and evokes the metaphor of sinners bathing in blood.
The prejudice of American historians
The government shutdown blocked access to national parks, but the debate over the nation’s past at public institutions continues. One specific site of contention is the President’s House at Independence Park in Philadelphia. Originally the home of Robert Morris, the Revolutionary War’s financier, it became George Washington’s residence when the federal government moved to Philadelphia.
Between Rome and the Republic
July/August 2025 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The winding path of American Catholicismfrom underdog to the Papal Palace. Illustration by Jon Krause The recent election of Bishop Robert Prevost as pope is one more wrinkle in the history of Roman Catholicism.
The Faces Of a Young Nation
The Faces Of a Young Nation The Wall Street Journal | June 28, 2025 Philadelphia was once the Athens of America. Here are some of the citizens who added class and style to the nation's birth. - D.G. Hart BROTHER-IN-ARMS The Marquis de Lafayette, ca. 1826, by Thomas Sully. This story is from the June 28, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal. Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers. SUBSCRIBE NOW Already a subscriber? Sign In
Leo from Chicago
Assessments of the recent election of Bishop Robert Prevost as pope have highlighted the significance of his chosen name—Leo XIV. Many have read into that choice the notable parts of the last pope named Leo, Leo XIII (1878-1903), who was sandwiched between two of the most conservative popes in modern church history—Pius IX (1846-1878) and Pius X (1903-1914).
‘Taking Manhattan’ Review: The Birth of Gotham
In 2014, New York state declined to celebrate its own 350th anniversary. It was a strange decision considering the memorializing fervor elsewhere: Seven years earlier, the U.S. Mint had observed the 1607 settlement of Jamestown by producing a commemorative silver dollar. In 2008 Canada’s government approved spending $155 million on the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s founding of Quebec. Yet New York chose not to acknowledge its origin in 1664.
Let your light shine-in secret
One of children’s favorite Sunday school songs is “I’m Gonna Let It Shine.” It has a catchy tune and at one point invites children to blow instead of singing the word “blow.” The song is even Biblical.
Jimmy Carter and Progressive Evangelicals – D. G. Hart
Reactions to Jimmy Carter’s death have a bit of the feel of socialism’s defenders who say the system, despite apparent failures, has never really been tried. Evangelicals who lean left are using Carter’s legacy to take a win for their brand of faith-based politics and jab at both the Religious Right and MAGA evangelicals.
Review: Still Protesting: Why the Reformation Still Matters By D. G. Hart - The Heidelblog
In 2008, Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom published Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism.1 The book was measured in its answer, but in an interview at the time of publication, Noll said, yes, the Reformation is over.
The Puritan as Preacher: Ministers of the Word
In the debates between Roman Catholics and Protestants (such as they abide), the former have the advantage of a worship service that ends generally in an hour and features a rite that combines both mystery and communal feeling (the Eucharist). For their part, Protestants on the lower side of the high-church-to-low-church spectrum limp along with a service that, to finish in an hour, needs the pastor to preach for no more than 30 minutes.
‘Philadelphia’ Review: A City’s History, Warts and All
On the subject of America, academic historians these days seem to live by the adage—the opposite of what their mothers taught them—that if they can’t write anything negative, they shouldn’t write anything at all. The persistent scolding in Paul Kahan’s “Philadelphia: A Narrative History” is typical. What might have been a story that observed both the triumphs and failings of America’s first capital is instead a soup-to-nuts treatment of the city’s failings.
‘The Memory of ’76’ Review: Reinventing the Revolution
For nearly 2½ centuries, Americans have built monuments, written plays, painted scenes of battle, marched in parades, published books and showcased documents for the simple purpose of keeping alive memories of the American Revolution. Michael D.
Historians Should Celebrate America
Imagine if professional historians commemorated the American Founding the way they honor colleagues who die. On the flip side, what would obituaries written by historians about their colleagues look like if they applied the same jaundiced perspective that they apply to U.S. history? Even if “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, the double standards of professional historians deserve some scrutiny.
The Genius of Franklin
The United States’ Office of the Historian “Milestones” webpage “1776–1783: Diplomacy and the American Revolution” devotes one of its eight sections to Benjamin Franklin, “the most distinguished scientific and literary American of the colonial era” and “the first American diplomat.” Franklin is the only person to receive separate notice in “Milestones,” though of course this overview of American diplomacy during the War for Independence includes other prominent Americans such as John Adams...
Kids These Days - D. G. Hart
The power of Hollywood is such that “The Big Lebowski” may be as well-known as Tom Hayden. Both were members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the national student activist association founded in the 1960s. In the film, the fictional Jeff Lebowski claimed to be the author of SDS’s “original Port Huron Statement, not the compromised second draft.” Hayden was a real member of SDS, sometimes credited as the founder of the gold standard of campus activist organizations.
Seinfeld at Duke: Channeling Ben Franklin
Two hundred and fifty years from now, Americans will probably not be watching a television series about Jerry Seinfeld, the way some of us are following Michael Douglas’s starring turn in Apple TV’s Franklin. No matter how profound Seinfeld’s comedy about ordinary life in the city may be, he will never approach Franklin’s significance; he’ll never be one of the Founders of a country that became a superpower.
What’s Left to Say About Evangelicals? – - D.G. Hart
Since 2017 the study of American evangelicalism has featured a barrage of books that seemingly prove this religious group’s bad manners and uncivil politics. This perspective circulated even before the 2016 election of Donald Trump, to be sure. But with the election of Trump and the four-year, almost daily reminder of evangelical hypocrisy—headlines regularly repeated that “Eighty-One Percent of White Evangelicals Voted for Donald Trump”—the study of evangelicalism took an abrupt U-turn.
Retelling evangelical history
Several years ago, during heated debates about Confederate soldiers’ statues, one common refrain was that these monuments were the products of local Southern communities that used war memorials to signal white supremacy to black residents. Thus, it is argued, only Jim Crow conditions could explain honoring officers who led an insurrection against the United States, the same soldiers who went to war to preserve slavery.
It’s a Religious Movement, Not a Disease
Everyone understands that scientists, both natural and humanistic, interpret evidence, whether viruses, presidents, or evangelists. Historians evaluate data as much as public health experts. Still, the best historical judgments do not change with the headlines. A virus may require government to respond, but Protestants from the past do not. Calls for amnesty among those who defended and implemented the protocols of the COVID-19 pandemic are hardly news.
It’s a religious movement, not a disease
Calls for amnesty among those who defended and implemented the protocols of the COVID-19 pandemic are hardly news. Emily Oster was the first to call for clemency of advocates for governments’ restrictive measures. She argued that many officials simply did not have sufficient knowledge for a better outcome. Since then Gavin Newsom, governor of California, and Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, have also pled for understanding.
Comparing Christian Liberal Arts Colleges (part two)
The first of these posts compared Hillsdale College and Covenant College as Christian liberal arts colleges by their course requirements in each respective institution’s core curriculum. This follow up calls attention to Professor Jay Green’s initial suspicions about Hillsdale calling itself a Christian college because its mission is more civilizational than confessional.
Comparing Christian Liberal Arts Colleges (part one)
Professor Jay Green’s thoughts about Covenant College and Hillsdale College have come and gone but his two articles do raise a couple of questions that may be worthy of further comment. The first has to do with the curriculum of a Christian college. The second has to do with that vexing question of Christ and culture, which runs to notions about transforming culture or integrating faith and learning.
Rethinking the "Danger" of Public Christianity – D.G. Hart
In 1923, a middle-aged professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary, J. Gresham Machen, produced a book that asserted liberal Protestantism was not simply a defective version of Christianity but a different religion altogether. Talk about provocative. Was Machen trolling liberal Protestants? One hundred years later, white conservative Protestants in the US spent a good chunk of last year commemorating Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism. The reasons are not hard to imagine.
English Reformation Big and Small – - D.G. Hart
James Anthony Froude was an unlikely candidate to defend British Protestantism among his nineteenth-century contemporaries. As a student at Oriel College during the Oxford Movement, and with a brother, Richard Hurrell Froude who was a pronounced Anglo-Catholic polemicist, Froude appeared to be following John Henry Newman into the Roman Catholic Church.
Making Sense of the PCA
From the Archives: Nicotine Theological Journal (Spring, 2009) Making Sense of the PCA I have been a minister of the Presbyterian Church in America from its founding. I attended the Convocation of Sessions, the Advisory Convention, and the first General Assembly in 1973.
‘The Opening of the Protestant Mind’ Review: The Early Evangelical Outlook
Did a heightened emphasis on religious conversion in the 18th century promote reasonableness and open debate? George Whitefield preaches in London in 1742. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo ‘Evangelicals,” or born-again Protestants—Christians who believe in converting non-Christians to their faith—haven’t had a lot of great press of late. The mainstream media all but blamed them for the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Going further back are evangelical ties to the Moral Majority and the religious right.
Christianity and Liberalism: The Spirituality of the Church in a Politicized World
J. Gresham Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism, published 100 years ago, was a curious mix of theology and politics. Readers and commentators commonly miss the political part if only because Machen, a Southern Presbyterian who labored in exile among Northern Presbyterians (the two communions were divided from the Civil War to 1983), was a proponent of the spirituality of the church, a hallmark doctrine of the Southern denomination.
Opinion | Christians Err if They Give Up on America
American Christians sometimes do unusual things in pursuit of patriotism. During World War I, many Lutheran congregations raised American flags in their sanctuaries and hung patriotic bunting from their balconies. It was a sensible show of national pride since many Lutherans still worshiped in their religion’s native language and the U.S. was at war with the German Kaiser. Brandishing patriotic symbols was a plausible way to answer charges of disloyalty.
Christianity and Liberalism Revisited
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Are we commanded to forgive our government?
Imagine being Martin Luther in 1517 and hearing that leadership in the church is hard and you should be gracious in your call for reformation. Do the same in 1776—this time, you are John Witherspoon—and you receive counsel that you need to be forgiving in your reply to British authorities. Of course, it could be that a Christian’s duty to forgive—as many as 70-times-seven, as Jesus instructed Peter—should apply to Luther and American Christian patriots. But when Paul D.
The Rise and Fall of J. Gresham Machen's Christianity and Liberalism
Liberal democracy relies on debate. Candidates running for office need to attract voters through messages that persuade. Of course, political speeches include denunciations of a political rival, but in a society with free elections and a free press, candidates smeared by their political foes have outlets for response. The back and forth between competing political candidates continues in political administration.
The Book That Packed A Punch: 100 Years of Machen's "Christianity and Liberalism"
Marking time is an odd aspect of human existence. Anniversaries divisible by five, ten, or twenty-five have more significance than those using lesser divisors. A centennial or bi-centennial raises the stakes even higher. The hundredth anniversary this year of Christianity and Liberalism, penned by the then Princeton Seminary professor J.
Reforming Worship by D. G. Hart
Reforming Worship by D. G. Hart Reverence, the Reformed Tradition, & the Crisis of Protestant Worship by D. G. Hart Within evangelical circles the clergy and laity alike are giving great attention to worship. Should congregations sing “praise songs” (complete with overhead projectors and guitars) or should trained choirs (complete with robes and pipe organ) sing the great works of sacred music?
‘Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land’ Review: Faith in Freedom
First graders in a moment of silent prayer at the start of their day in a South Carolina school, 1966. Christianity and political liberalism used to be synonymous for students of U.S. history and culture. In 1970 the historian Winthrop S.
Reviews Archives - Current
In Abigail Favale’s view, our wholeness as individuals and communities is at stake The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale. Ignatius Press, 2022. 248 pp., $16.16 More authors should emulate Abigail Favale’s approach to writing philosophy. The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory is a philosophy of sex, and sex is always interesting. But a certain type of philosophizing about it can do its darnedest to challenge that truism.
What the history of evangelicalism tells us about the Asbury phenomenon
The revival at Asbury University in Kentucky remains a head-scratcher for Christian insiders and agnostic outsiders alike. Indeed, the Asbury revival has even mystified Protestants who stress a “born-again” experience — the very type of life-changing moment that revivals are supposed to produce. Analysis from Christianity Today’s authors conveys both caution and hope. Mike Cosper is impressed the Asbury revivals didn’t rely on celebrities and that its promoters avoided wading into the culture wars.
Opinion | What to Make of the Asbury Revival
Revivals used to divide American Protestants. From the First Great Awakening in the 18th century to the Billy Graham crusades in the 20th, some thought the unusual religious gatherings were the works of God, some insisted they were driven by emotional manipulation, and others saw in them mixtures of both. The recent episode at Asbury University—a Methodist institution in Wilmore, Ky., where students lingered in prayer for two weeks after a chapel service—has received only praise.
REVIEW: Evangelicals + Celebrity = ?
Katelyn Beaty’s book makes this much clear: It’s a codependent love Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty. Brazos Press, 2022. 193 pp., $24.99 Celebrity is a funny aspect of modern life. In the religious world, as Katelyn Beaty argues, it comes with all sorts of dangers.
We shall overcome?
News of the results from a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution has again stoked fears about the influence of Christian nationalism in the United States. The poll measured respondents’ attachment to propositions that indicate support for Christian nationalism. For some, the numbers are alarming. What adds to the survey’s import is its reach.
The Existential Threat of Anti-Christian Nationalism
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic—well beyond the initial two weeks to flatten the curve, but in August of 2020—the New York Times reported, in an article entitled “Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be,” on scientists’ worries about the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The means by which public health workers and government officials (not to mention journalists) were assessing the spread of the virus was, some feared, too sensitive.
‘Fascism Comes to America’ Review: It’s Always Happening Here
Popcorn doesn’t come with books published by respected university presses, but in the case of Bruce Kuklick’s “Fascism Comes to America,” maybe it should. The book is as much about Hollywood as it is about a movement or ideology. Mr. Kuklick, a professor emeritus of history at Penn and an accomplished historian of ideas, turns his skills to Hollywood’s treatment of fascism.
Two Books on the Vatican in the Modern World
’Prisoners” is the word New York Times columnist Ross Douthat recently used to describe the Second Vatican Council, an assembly that 60 years ago brought thousands of bishops from around the world to Rome. In four stages between 1962 and 1965, the Council produced four constitutions, three declarations, and nine decrees. Mr. Douthat contends that Vatican II incited a never-ending struggle among the faithful.
'Christianity's American Fate' Review: The Faith and Its Keepers
'Christianity's American Fate' Review: The Faith and Its Keepers D.G. Hart Wall Street Journal October 7, 2022
‘Christianity’s American Fate’ Review: The Faith and Its Keepers
‘Christianity’s American Fate’ Review: The Faith and Its Keepers In the 1990s liberal intellectuals complained that evangelicals were moralistic on political questions. Now the complaint is reversed.
‘Christianity’s American Fate’ Review: The Faith and Its Keepers
Whatever happened to fundamentalism? When Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell Sr. were alive, people knew that the former, a poster boy for evangelicalism, was winsome, and the latter, a fundamentalist TV preacher and head of the Moral Majority, was not. That was also a time when journalists classified Islamic terrorists as fundamentalists. Now “evangelical” carries most of the baggage fundamentalists packed.
Ron Sider's Evangelical Legacy | D. G. Hart
What if scholars and pundits writing about white evangelicalism in the United States have it all wrong? What if the books published since 2017 arguing that white nationalism, racism, and toxic masculinity explained the outcome of the 2016 election missed the real story? These questions came to mind while reading the obituaries of Ronald J. Sider, one of the most prominent evangelical scholars and activists on the left from the late 1970s until his recent death in late July.
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