David W. Congdon
@dwcongdon.com
Senior Editor, University Press of Kansas | Lecturer, KU | Who Is a New Christian? (Cambridge, 2024) | Bylines: Christian Century, Sojourners, Presby Outlook, Revealer
They’re absolutely frothing at the mouth for an American Führer.
January 8, 2026 at 7:57 PM
They’re absolutely frothing at the mouth for an American Führer.
My copy of the new issue of Telos arrived finally. The genealogy essay is particularly good.
January 7, 2026 at 12:35 PM
My copy of the new issue of Telos arrived finally. The genealogy essay is particularly good.
I listened to 38 audiobooks in 2025. Here's my list in the order I enjoyed them.
Major highlights:
--Omar El Akkad's remarkable essay/memoir on Palestine
--John Ganz's book on the paleoconservative origins of Trump
--Lauren Markham's incredible activist journalism
--Kristin Lavransdatter (wow)
Major highlights:
--Omar El Akkad's remarkable essay/memoir on Palestine
--John Ganz's book on the paleoconservative origins of Trump
--Lauren Markham's incredible activist journalism
--Kristin Lavransdatter (wow)
December 29, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I listened to 38 audiobooks in 2025. Here's my list in the order I enjoyed them.
Major highlights:
--Omar El Akkad's remarkable essay/memoir on Palestine
--John Ganz's book on the paleoconservative origins of Trump
--Lauren Markham's incredible activist journalism
--Kristin Lavransdatter (wow)
Major highlights:
--Omar El Akkad's remarkable essay/memoir on Palestine
--John Ganz's book on the paleoconservative origins of Trump
--Lauren Markham's incredible activist journalism
--Kristin Lavransdatter (wow)
These are the bestselling books of 2025, and a book I've never even heard of—The Let Them Theory—was #1. I know I'm not the type to read self-help books, but it's frightening how disconnected I am from the mainstream that I hadn't heard the name of the author (apparently a podcaster) or the book.
December 28, 2025 at 4:18 AM
These are the bestselling books of 2025, and a book I've never even heard of—The Let Them Theory—was #1. I know I'm not the type to read self-help books, but it's frightening how disconnected I am from the mainstream that I hadn't heard the name of the author (apparently a podcaster) or the book.
Sister in law made me the coolest ornament ever!
December 25, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Sister in law made me the coolest ornament ever!
My early Christmas gift is a box of KU Library books. Must have really confused the librarian to pack up books on Fuller missiologist Donald McGavran and Nietzschean German philosopher Ludwig Klages.
December 24, 2025 at 10:07 PM
My early Christmas gift is a box of KU Library books. Must have really confused the librarian to pack up books on Fuller missiologist Donald McGavran and Nietzschean German philosopher Ludwig Klages.
Pure class warfare. Also seems like a quick way to force people into violence.
December 23, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Pure class warfare. Also seems like a quick way to force people into violence.
Missouri has now lost both of their NFL teams.
December 22, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Missouri has now lost both of their NFL teams.
My son’s Scholar Bowl team is raising money to go to the national competition in Atlanta. You can help by ordering from Panda Express today and applying the code 9010784 in the Fundraiser Code box during online checkout. 28% of proceeds go to the team. www.community-fundraiser.com/virtual-fund...
December 22, 2025 at 4:10 PM
My son’s Scholar Bowl team is raising money to go to the national competition in Atlanta. You can help by ordering from Panda Express today and applying the code 9010784 in the Fundraiser Code box during online checkout. 28% of proceeds go to the team. www.community-fundraiser.com/virtual-fund...
Of course I have to comment on Brett's talk of "true Christianity." It's intellectually insulting for a Reformed evangelical to use this term, as if they and they alone have figured out what the Bible truly meant and what God really wants. Please.
December 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Of course I have to comment on Brett's talk of "true Christianity." It's intellectually insulting for a Reformed evangelical to use this term, as if they and they alone have figured out what the Bible truly meant and what God really wants. Please.
Brett cannot imagine any other goal for Christianity that is not world domination, full-on imperialist Christian supremacy. He simply thinks this should take place through tough, only slightly offensive, hard-edged preaching—Wicks but without the overt MAGA bits.
December 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Brett cannot imagine any other goal for Christianity that is not world domination, full-on imperialist Christian supremacy. He simply thinks this should take place through tough, only slightly offensive, hard-edged preaching—Wicks but without the overt MAGA bits.
Three (3!) times Brett uses the term “cheap grace,” the only phrase evangelicals know from Bonhoeffer, whom they abuse and distort to serve the ends of their Kulturkampf.
December 17, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Three (3!) times Brett uses the term “cheap grace,” the only phrase evangelicals know from Bonhoeffer, whom they abuse and distort to serve the ends of their Kulturkampf.
My old college classmate Brett McCracken has frustrated me many times in the past with his Gospel Coalition conservatism, but this review of Wake Up Dead Man seems targeted to upset me. He twice uses the term “true Christianity.” The headline itself is outrageous bothsidesism.
December 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
My old college classmate Brett McCracken has frustrated me many times in the past with his Gospel Coalition conservatism, but this review of Wake Up Dead Man seems targeted to upset me. He twice uses the term “true Christianity.” The headline itself is outrageous bothsidesism.
Today is the last day to order books from @univpressofkansas.bsky.social and guarantee they'll arrive by Christmas. Our holiday sale offers 40% off all titles using the code UPKHOLIDAY25, with free US shipping for orders over $75.
kansaspress.ku.edu/holiday-2025/
kansaspress.ku.edu/holiday-2025/
December 15, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Today is the last day to order books from @univpressofkansas.bsky.social and guarantee they'll arrive by Christmas. Our holiday sale offers 40% off all titles using the code UPKHOLIDAY25, with free US shipping for orders over $75.
kansaspress.ku.edu/holiday-2025/
kansaspress.ku.edu/holiday-2025/
The right move for the absolute worst reasons.
December 10, 2025 at 5:33 AM
The right move for the absolute worst reasons.
Read this interview to see @stevevladeck.bsky.social skewer originalism and the unitary executive theory—here defended by William Baude in a decidedly unconvincing way.
December 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Read this interview to see @stevevladeck.bsky.social skewer originalism and the unitary executive theory—here defended by William Baude in a decidedly unconvincing way.
A reminder to read Ross Benes’s book, 1999, which includes a great chapter on pro wrestling. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638574/
December 9, 2025 at 4:54 AM
A reminder to read Ross Benes’s book, 1999, which includes a great chapter on pro wrestling. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638574/
This Thanksgiving I have more than usual to be thankful for. The paperback edition of my new book arrived on my doorstep this morning.
November 27, 2025 at 5:33 PM
This Thanksgiving I have more than usual to be thankful for. The paperback edition of my new book arrived on my doorstep this morning.
I gave two papers today at AARSBL. The first was a paper on CS Lewis and Bultmann responding to Leslie Baynes’s new book. The second was “Resident Arsonists: The Postliberal Ecclesiology of Project 2025,” continuing my analysis of postliberal theology’s connection to today’s MAGA politics.
November 25, 2025 at 2:43 AM
I gave two papers today at AARSBL. The first was a paper on CS Lewis and Bultmann responding to Leslie Baynes’s new book. The second was “Resident Arsonists: The Postliberal Ecclesiology of Project 2025,” continuing my analysis of postliberal theology’s connection to today’s MAGA politics.
Juxtaposing these two surveys highlights the way Christian/religious identity and religious participation are increasingly divergent in the United States. To be Christian increasingly has little to do with actual involvement in religious practices and has more to do with your political in-group.
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Juxtaposing these two surveys highlights the way Christian/religious identity and religious participation are increasingly divergent in the United States. To be Christian increasingly has little to do with actual involvement in religious practices and has more to do with your political in-group.
Randomly stopped for a hike at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska and tracked down a remote cemetery listed as “half-breed cemetery,” where people of mixed Native and Anglo ancestry were buried.
November 8, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Randomly stopped for a hike at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska and tracked down a remote cemetery listed as “half-breed cemetery,” where people of mixed Native and Anglo ancestry were buried.
Helen Andrews’s entire argument about wokeness depends on the utterly fallacious and fantastical claim that campuses and workplaces used to be “politically neutral” spaces.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
November 6, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Helen Andrews’s entire argument about wokeness depends on the utterly fallacious and fantastical claim that campuses and workplaces used to be “politically neutral” spaces.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/o...
I cannot recommend enough Michael Gorup's new book, The Counterrevolutionary Shadow: Race, Democracy, and the Making of the American People. Gorup was one of many pushed out of New College in Florida. The code COUNTERSHADOW gets you 30% off and free US shipping. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639748/
November 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I cannot recommend enough Michael Gorup's new book, The Counterrevolutionary Shadow: Race, Democracy, and the Making of the American People. Gorup was one of many pushed out of New College in Florida. The code COUNTERSHADOW gets you 30% off and free US shipping. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639748/
Thanks! It's from the "Who Is a True Christian" book.
www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
November 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Thanks! It's from the "Who Is a True Christian" book.
www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
www.cambridge.org/us/universit...