AN #EARLYMODERN POST!! They still exist! And a lovely one at that, for five years and with the brilliant people at KCL who have turned that place in quite the hub of exciting early modern research. Run, don’t walk.

"Gender studies scholars and experts on domestic violence have long known that gender-based bigotry is a gateway to violent extremism. It’s time for national security officials to catch up, says @milleridriss.bsky.social" 19thnews.org/2025/09/how-...

I’m not going to comment on anything being broadcast on TV right now for (ahem) reasons, other than to say: we need scholars—and students—who understand religion and the power of religious rhetoric perhaps now more than ever. Religious literacy is *essential* to understanding the current moment.

Loving the responses and how much people enjoy beautiful historical writing! Do have a look through the replies for excellent reading commendations and add your own, #SkyStorians 🗃️

Republicans legislatures across the South have passed laws preventing communities from legally removing statues. Now they are passing laws ordering that new statues be raised. It was never about protecting history. 🗃️ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

There's still time to submit a paper proposal for our autumn conference on the theme of 'Church and Society'. For more information and to book tickets - www.eventbrite.com/e/schs-autum... #scothist #churchhist

this exists it is called thinking

I genuinely cannot believe that Ezra Klein said we should run pro-life candidates in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri; three states that recently held abortion referendums where the pro-choice side won!

The destruction of the Gaza city mosque is a devastating loss to humanity as a whole. A part of our global medieval heritage destroyed in furtherance to a genocide. I despair.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Charlie Kirk and the pundits and politicians sanitizing his legacy.

The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...

"Every state has an obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs. That obligation requires action ... using all available diplomatic and legal means to stop the killing. To do nothing is not neutrality. It is complicity."

Yeah okay but they seldom make history

Very happy surprise: my latest book, Plagues of the Heart: Crisis and covenanting in a seventeenth-century Scottish town, has been longlisted by the Saltire Society for Scotland's Research Book of the Year. I am honored to be in such great company! 🎉 @manchesterup.bsky.social www.thesaltires.org.uk

I don’t know who needs to hear this (actually I do), but if you’re a media person or institution, you can’t claim to care about “bringing down the temperature” if you’re also uncritically repeating or publishing unsubstantiated claims. It’s disingenuous and irresponsible.

🚨THIS IS NOT A DRILL🚨 #batw2026 is celebrating two decades over two weeks! Join us online 18-19 April 2026 or in person in Boston 24-25 April 2026! Check out and share the CFP. You won’t want to miss it! britainandtheworld.org/2026-20-year...

wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend

“We have a right to know the charges against us, to know who has made the charges and to review them and defend ourselves,” they said. “But none of that has happened, which is why we’re in Kafka-land … It is an enormous breach of trust.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

We don't yet have any idea what the ideology of the Kirk shooter was. But we do know that the Denver school shooter was a far-right white supremacist. www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...

A threat to authoritarianism anywhere is a threat to authoritarianism everywhere

Meanwhile…

The shooting of Charlie Kirk was the 46th school shooting of the year. The 47th one happened moments afterwards. www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/u...

Among the many reasons I love teaching at 8am: seeing these sweet babies on our campus.

The Atlantic and NYT lost their minds if there was so much as a trigger warning in classes. Now, professors and Deans are being fired for a class that discussed the existence of trans people and those same publications are quiet. It was never about free speech. www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/t...

This is also a scenario where students will have to stand up against this kind of behavior from their classmates. If you’re a Texas A&M Aggie and you don’t want this to be what you’re known for, you’re going to have to come forward and say so.

Can we hand the Mamdani social media team the keys to all the DNC comms and lock everyone else out of the room?

10/10, no notes. Incredible work.

In the initial self-reflection that my students fill out, I added a question on how they feel about AI/LLMs. To a person, they've expressed discomfort w/ the technology and its consequences. IMHO, assuming students are chomping at the bit to use it is a mistake--better, surely, to ask them first.

Just the POTUS sharing a meme about declaring war on an American city, nothing to see here. (I’ve honestly run out of words for how obscene and dangerous this sort of nonsense is)

had a conversation with a prominent pundit recently who did not seem to realize that the departments of the executive branch are congressional creations, so not surprised at this

Live footage of historians these days

And I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.

Friends who study all things demonic: For the CHA this coming June at UPEI, my colleagues and I are arranging sessions that explore aspects of devil belief & their consequences in any historical period, w/ any geographical focus. Please get in touch with @devilprof.bsky.social if you have questions!

Okay. I just came back to this and you aren’t calling these efforts resegregation yet, you absolutely should be

Good. Every Democratic state and city should follow suit.

"Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel--not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God." --W.E.B Du Bois

Yeah. It’s happening here.

I’m fine with folks turning to blue books, but when the choice is made, I do want to know how much of it is a desire to preserve “school,” and how much is a desire to spur student learning?

Via @fiona-ndre.bsky.social: DHS is using the Bible to promote ICE, claiming ‘righteous’ fight against immigrants religionnews.com/2025/08/19/h...

Lol there is far more than "one problem" unless you define "everything" as a singular descriptor

This reminds me of the time I told a self-described history buff that I was a historian of religion in early modern Scotland. He then asked for the title of my first book. I told him. He then proceeded to "explain" the Scottish Reformation to me. "Reformation" was in the title of said book.

the reason this discourse will never end is because it is completely untethered from any kind of evidentiary standard. as long as there is a 19-year-old barista somewhere saying “cultural appropriation,” guys like nichols will complain that “democrats” use alienating language.

New term for misogynistic history bro just dropped

I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.

This Cracker Barrel discourse is bananas and so hilarious ("I gave my life to Christ in their parking lot"--do what now?!), but it also reveals some real culinary prejudices out there. Some of y'all did not grow up appreciating the joys of mediocre chain restaurants, is all I'm saying.

I'm a US History professor, not a Communications Professor, but aside from that, this 100% describes my state of mind in the week before classes start. open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...

Trump’s paramilitary is blatantly committing way more crimes, causing terror, in DC & LA than they are stopping.

imagine being the historian in 200 years--assuming there are historians in 200 years--who finds this post and has to unpack its meaning. such a rich text.

Rigorous historical research, grounded in evidence and communicated to the public through museums and other venues, is a critical hindrance to fascism. There is only one reason Trump wants to do this.