My #1 indulgence

RIP Dr Robert Louis Wilken (1936–June 7, 2026). Had to read his Spirit of Early Christian Thought (YUP, 2003) three times. Dr Wilken was a great introduction to the Fathers.

Dr @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social and I are excited to announce that registration for our day conference at the John Rylands Library is open. Please plan to join us on June 22. www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-fro...

So glad the John Rylands Library has agreed to host our day conference this year. We have 6 exciting papers lining up and a document viewing session. Please plan to join us and help us to spread the word. @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social

Our CFP will end in 2 weeks! Please help us to spread the news. It will be an exciting day conference at John Rylands Library this June. royalhistsoc.org/calendar/voi... @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social

Don't forget to register by 12 April to attend Speech/less in the Early Modern World. Free event! All welcome!

It’s interesting that when people commented on the U.S. President’s recent AI image, no one mentioned the practice of the “royal touch,” which was an imitation of Christ’s healing. Shortly after Charles II’s restoration, he held public services of touching the sick in London. 1/2

Here is my new Substack channel, where I will share thoughts, ideas, & anecdotes from archival research. Please subscribe and it's free of any charge. bandrewsong.substack.com

CFP royalhistsoc.org/calendar/voi...

readfoyer.com/article/meet... She is newly identified!

✨Speech/less in the Early Modern World✨ Research Workshop, 23-24 April 2026 Emmanuel College, Cambridge Places limited. Please register as an attendee by 12 April: forms.gle/k9Xnz4gVFhe2Syez9 Thank you event sponsors! @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social @socialhistsoc.bsky.social

Excited to announce that Dr @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social and I will co-host our 4th annual conference this year at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. Call for papers is now alive. Please help us to spread the news. Grateful for the support of ASCH and AFCBS.

Why did clergymen marry? What did a wife offer them in serving their parishes? Why on earth would Charlotte Lucas marry Mr Collins? Answers to these questions, & much more, at this talk using the @thejohnrylands.bsky.social collections with curator Paul Carlyle. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/clerical-c...

Thrilled to announce that Palgrave Macmillan has offered a contract to publish my monograph, Joseph Kinghorn and English Baptist Communion Controversies. This work will also be included in the “Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World” series.

Canadian churches need to collectively pray when our Supreme Court hold hearings over QC’s unconstitutional Bill 21 (March 23-7). This is a case that matters to all Canadians (w/ misuse of the “notwithstanding” clause) & esp concerns religion in the public sphere.

Reading Fr Gerald O’Collins and George Grant side by side is an intellectual treat!

The registration is open now at Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies website. Please help to spread the words! Excited about this research trip.

Looking forward to attend @bsecs.bsky.social this week at Pembroke College! I will present a paper on Andrew Fuller’s portraits on Thursday. Excited to meet colleagues and friends. www.bsecs.org.uk/conferences/...

The @socialhistsoc.bsky.social conference will be at Lancaster in July. Call for papers just released. I'll put putting together a proposal, so hope to see some of you there! #EarlyModern 🗃️ Details here: socialhistory.org.uk/events/confe...

Submit a proposal! cts-stc.ca/2025/11/14/2...

Been reading a lot of & about the fathers this semester. Really regret that at seminary, I wasted too much money on contemporary books rather than buying primary sources. My advice is to buy critical editions of primary sources and only use library copies for secondary sources!

The Nicene-Constantinopletan Creed is not just a historical creed, but a living confession—essential to Christian formation, worship, hermeneutics, theology, and spirituality. Any opposition to it is either premodern heresy or modern nonsense.

Sad to learn Prof Paul A Cohen passed away. I’m so indebted to his works though I’ve never had the privilege to meet him. May he rest in peace!

Absolutely thrilled to find this book in my pigeonhole today, which was written by my great friend Janice Pibworth! Ada Habershon’s hymn “He will hold me fast” has been a great blessing to my life. I’m very sure that Janic/ book could be a brilliant Christmas gift idea!!

As people are fascinated by Tolkien, Lewis, and Rowling, I think Neil Gaiman is really important, especially for those who read theology. I really hope someone to work on Gaiman’s novels from a theological perspective. In particular, to study his American Gods and Good Omens.

“Many vices may [disguise] as virtues” (St Gregory, Book of Pastoral Rule, 2.9).

Self-promotion is really a repulsive vice in today’s academy, especially among evangelical scholars.

Enjoyed reading this fantastic book. Wish there is a sequel on East Asians in British history. Nevertheless, Fatima said it beautifully—pages 184–186—what I would offer as a proposal and call for church historians, i.e., to reimagine a metanarrative. Thank you, Fatima!

CFP: Bound for Devotion: The Prayer Book as Object and Practice, 1300–1800 (1-3 July 2026, Leiden) memorients.com/events/cfp-b... #CallForPapers #earlymodern #earlymodernhistory #medievaltimes #theology

We are thrilled to announce that the Conflict, War and Violence in the Early Modern World Conference, with a keynote address by Professor Mark Stoyle, will be held on 30-31 October at the University of Exeter. Please help us spread the world, and consider submitting a proposal!🗡️

📣 call for applications 📣 Two part-time, paid Editorial Fellowships at History Workshop. Our fellowships support early career historians to develop expertise in public, radical and digital history & to gain experience of working in an editorial team. Please share widely! www.historyworkshop....

Glad to participate my friend @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social ‘s talk tonight at Abney Park on the radical hymns of Isaac Watts!

It was a great afternoon discussing English Baptists in the 18th cen and the revolutions. #18thcen #nonconformity #ASCH @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social

@danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social and I are so pleased that we can host our third in-person meeting of the British Nonconformity in the Long Eighteenth Century working group conference this year in Bath! #ASCH #18thcen #Revolution

Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican; Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what Thy bosom ran Blood whereof a single drop has power to win All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

IMPORTANT #BSECS2026 NEWS! Registration for #BSECS2026 opens on Sunday 1 June! Submit your CFP on the theme of 'Big & Small' and join us for our 55th annual conference 7-9 Jan 2026 @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social #18thC #skystorians 🗃️ Click on the link for the full CFP www.bsecs.org.uk/conferences/...

After a fantastic slate of papers at RSA Boston 2025, EMoDiR is delighted to announce our CfP for RSA San Francisco 2026. Please circulate, and submit a proposal! #earlymodern

abneypark.org/upcoming-eve... June 26th, I’m speaking at Abney Park on the radical* aspects of Isaac Watts’ work Tickets are on sale now, and if you’ve got time for a drink before or after, let me know *in the fact that he was innovative and controversial, not radical in a technical sense

Registration is now open for our landmark conference ‘Anna Letitia Barbauld: Voicing Dissent’. We have a wonderful programme of international speakers including the editors of Barbauld’s Collected Works (OUP 2025). 📍 Online and in person at King’s Manor, 27-28 June. More info: tinyurl.com/barbauld25

This upcoming day conference on 'Nonconformity and Revolutions' on 21 June in Bath might be of interested to our followers. This conference is co-sponsored by American Society of Church History and Andrew Fuller Centre for Baptist Studies. www.eventbrite.ca/e/nonconform...

RIP. Prof. Alasdair Macintyre is truly an intellectual giant. Thanks for your contributions.

Join our exciting conference on nonconformity and revolutions in the long 18th c. royalhistsoc.org/calendar/non... @danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

It’s not too late to join the Canadian Theological Society in June in Toronto for our annual meeting! cts-stc.ca/2025/cts-202...

Call for Papers for our interdisciplinary conference exploring Dialogues of Nonconformity across the British Atlantic World, 1500-1800, taking place at the University of Birmingham on 12 September 2025. Keynote delivered by Professor Alec Ryrie. Papers welcome from researchers at any career stage.

@danjohnsonhymns.bsky.social and I are excited to host this day-conference on June 21. www.eventbrite.ca/e/nonconform...

I don’t do much Canadian Baptist history, but feel privileged to join Baptist historians and scholars tomorrow to discuss the Canadian Baptist story at the Canadian Baptist Symposium, organised by Canadian Baptist Historical Society and Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies.

How did people remember the 'murderous midsummer' of the Prayer Book Rebellion? Join us at 6.30pm on Friday 2 May for 'Remembering Rebellion in the #Tudor South West', with Professor Mark Stoyle. Booking for in-person and online attendance is now available bit.ly/3DcfWMl #Skystorians

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical, Veritas in caritate, is prophetic and a great reminder for us today.