Martyn Whittock
9/11 and how the world changed
In the twentieth year since 9/11, the end of US involvement in Afghanistan is part of a step-back from confident, open-ended, interventions. US ambitions abroad have been narrowed by the cost of these years. This will have a profound effect on the US as a global player over the next decade.
What now for the West, after Afghanistan?
If the West is not to become an irrelevance we need to be clear about our values and stand by them.
60 years after the building of the Berlin Wall, what can we learn?
On the 60th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, we should be encouraged by the transience of this particular symbol of oppression, but also recognise the need to defend the values that build healthy and inclusive communities, for their longevity cannot be taken for granted.
The strange decline of US evangelicalism
What seemed to be the unstoppable rise of evangelicalism, and the terminal decline of 'mainline' Protestant churches, has flipped.
Lessons from the past for the Christians of today
Today the UK is arguably not a Christian nation in any truly meaningful sense. What to do about that? Panic? Bemoan modern society? Demand the government defend our Christian culture? The world of Sutton Hoo offers us both a challenge and a warning.
What might be in Trump's 'book of all books'?
Some people think the Bible is the book of all books so Trump clearly has high expectations for the soon-to-be-seen product of his scriptorium.
Banning Biden from communion? Here's what the US Catholic Church should consider
We are used to thinking about the importance of evangelicals in the politics of the modern USA but Catholicism looks set to make an impact on US politics this year.
As Pentecost shows, the Church must go beyond nationalism
In his "The Way I See It" column for Christian Today, historian and author Martyn Whittock warns that competing nationalisms are back in force - and that Christians can be just as guilty of putting nationalism before the internationalism of the Gospel.
The End Times in a period of pandemic
In his "The Way I See It" column for Christian Today, historian and author Martyn Whittock ponders whether this pandemic is a clear sign of events leading to the Second Coming, as some Christians believe.
After Trump's acquittal, it's time we started talking about 'US white evangelical extremism'
Huge areas of US life have been regarded as acceptable collateral damage, in order to achieve a select number of key evangelical objectives (plus ones that have nothing to do with the gospel, but a lot to do with right-wing goals).
A black pastor's election to the Senate was a sign of hope amidst the chaos of the Capitol
Even on an ordinary day, the election of an African-American Baptist pastor to the US Senate would have been a game-changer, but after the shocking events of Wednesday, it's even more so.
Thomas Becket: holy martyr, or stubborn contrarian with a death-wish?
Becket died for a cause which in large part would not find supporters today. Yet at the time he was a hero of the Church.
Evangelicals have continued to stand by Trump, but why?
In this bitterly contested election, one thing is clear: that Trump kept the support of US evangelicals to an extraordinary degree.
Trump vs Biden: The final battle?
The US stands at a crossroads, but it increasingly feels like many white evangelicals have already decided their direction of travel.
As Trump fights for re-election, the culture war for 'the soul of America' intensifies
Trump has been described as a 'chaos candidate', who thrives in conditions of turbulence and polarization. However, 'the 'chaos candidate' has met a 'chaos event' in the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the unrest on the streets, that possesses the potential to lay bare the inadequacies of his presidency.
How Puritanism explains Trump: Why the 17th century taught the US and UK different lessons
US and UK Christians have drawn hugely different lessons from their common history.