The Myth of the Papal Toilet Chair
Legend holds that newly elected popes in the Middle Ages had to present their genitals for inspection to confirm that they were male.
Visiting Christ’s Prison Cell
After Christian crusaders captured Jerusalem, the Prison of Christ featured on pilgrims' itineraries. But was Christ actually ever imprisoned there?
Unmaking a Priest: The Rite of Degradation
The defrocking ceremony was meant to humiliate a disgraced member of the clergy while discouraging laypeople from viewing him as a martyr.
Women’s Search for Women Leaders in the Early Church
Some nineteenth-century women writers argued that the first Christians included women who were close to Paul—and maybe apostles themselves.
The Conservative Christian War on Rock and Roll
Tracing an early front in the culture wars to a trio of evangelical opponents of rock music in the 1950s and '60s.
Why Did Christianity Thrive in the U.S.?
Between 1870 and 1960, Christianity declined dramatically across much of Europe. Not in America. One historian explains why.
Why Covenant Marriage Failed to Take Off
Three states have legalized covenant marriage, which makes divorce difficult. Why didn't it stick among communities preoccupied with family values?
Did Kongolese Catholicism Lead to Slave Revolutions?
The legacy of Kimpa Vita, a Kongolese Catholic mystic, was felt from the U.S. to Haiti.
When Science and Religion Were Connected
During the Second Great Awakening of 1830, science and religion were seen as “two aspects of the same universal truth.”
How Antebellum Christians Justified Slavery
After Emancipation, some Southern Protestants refused to revise their proslavery views. In their minds, slavery had been divinely sanctioned.