Daniel K. Williams
@DanielKWilliam4
Professor of history, American religion, and politics. Author of God's Own Party; Defenders of the Unborn; Politics of the Cross. Married to @NadyaWilliams81.
In today's @anxious_bench post, I look at the history behind John MacArthur's expository preaching and explain its role in making him a national celebrity among Reformed Baptists and other conservative evangelicals during his 56 years of pulpit ministry. patheos.com/blogs/anxiousb…
For the evening crowd: @DanielKWilliam4 interviews Molly Worthen about her new book on Charisma for the spring/summer print issue of @mereorthodoxy, and you can also catch the interview online today: mereorthodoxy.com/spellbound-mol…
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Trial next week, I wrote a piece on what the trial can tell us about religious liberty, church-state separation, and the different definitions of "secular" educational space. danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/the-scopes-t…
@DanielKWilliam4 tells the fascinating story of how Black Protestants went from the most opposed to abortion in the 1970s to the most in favor of abortion today. christianitytoday.com/2025/06/why-pr…
The SBC's annual meeting this month didn't include any resolutions on alcohol - which would have once been shocking, but is now routine. In this post, I examine the historical reasons for the end of the SBC's campaign against alcohol: danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/the-end-of-s…
Don't miss this today @mereorthodoxy from my favorite American historian @DanielKWilliam4 hubs.li/Q03qD5dT0
For the morning crowd!
@DanielKWilliam4 and I have three new books coming this fall/winter between the two of us. A little bit about each of those (link in profile and below).
My favorite American historian @DanielKWilliam4 has some thoughts today at the other place: "The Religious Reason Why Academia is Liberal"
The Religious Reason Why Academia Is Liberal open.substack.com/pub/danielkwil… "America’s higher education system was primarily created by mainline Protestants from five denominations: Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal."
Today @anxious_bench I explore what's new and important in John G. Turner's biography of Joseph Smith that @yalepress will release on June 17. patheos.com/blogs/anxiousb…
There's a close relationship between our national porn addiction and our obsession with entertainment - and that close relationship can be traced back to the sexual revolution of the 1920s, as I argue in this piece: danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/the-entertai…
On Trump's firing of Carla Hayden as head of LoC, NYT reported: "Karoline Leavitt . . . tried to justify the firing by accusing Ms. Hayden of 'putting inappropriate books in the library for children.'” Don't they know the LoC is a closed-stack, noncirculating, research library?!
A sort of story arc on American conservatism with the three pieces @mereorthodoxy so far this week. Today my favorite American historian @DanielKWilliam4 interviews John D. Wilsey about his new book on religious freedom and conservatism in America. mereorthodoxy.com/john-wilsey-in…
My favorite American historian @DanielKWilliam4 responds to @DavidAFrench's recent piece today @mereorthodoxy: the history of the Christian Right is more complicated than it first appears. mereorthodoxy.com/real-origins-c…
Liberals of the 1940s-1970s were strong defenders of conscience rights. In this piece, I examine why liberals began subordinating conscience rights to equality - but why they need to rediscover the importance of conscience rights. danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/liberals-use…
Today at The Anxious Bench— Conservative evangelicals have typically evaluated the the bishop of Rome according to the standards of their own cultural agenda. How did evangelicals feel about Pope Francis? patheos.com/blogs/anxiousb…
Why did conservative evangelicals love JPII, but not Pope Francis? Francis appealed to the moral example of Jesus, but "conservative evangelicals wanted a beacon of truth – and Francis seemed not to provide it" on issues such as sexuality and marriage. danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/pope-francis…
"The history of our nation suggests that when we seek our own methods of atonement, the results are not only horrific but also unsatisfactory . . . Christ’s atoning sacrifice frees us from our efforts to atone for ourselves." danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/our-search-f…
Don't miss this from @DanielKWilliam4 on the significance of @NationalHistory in training future historians who love America and its past! Funding is now under threat, and Dan explains why this matters. danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/saving-natio…
Just received my 2025-26 contract for my first year as assoc. prof. of history at Ashland U. After two years on a short-term contract through the @AshbrookCenter, I'm very thankful to have this permanent TT position that will allow our family to stay in Ashland for the long term.
My take on the likely future of American evangelicalism, as suggested by the recent Pew RLS data: danielkwilliams.substack.com/p/what-is-the-…