Public Writings

Why Did Christianity Spread in the Ancient World?

The Golden Thread (Substack), April 10, 2026 In the numerous interviews and podcasts I’ve done about The Golden Thread since the publication of vol. 1 last August, I’ve often been asked to explain how and why Christianity spread in the ancient world. I’m not sure why this subject comes up so often, unless my interviewers are trying to gauge just how Christian I am. I suspect some of them want to know whether I’m capable of a giving a secular, causal account in terms of socio

On History and Political Thought

The Good, the True, and the Viral: Why I'm Leaving Harvard and the Strange Death of Western History

The Golden Thread (Substack), March, 25, 2026 By kind permission of Matthew Schmitz and Compact , the online magazine, we are able to offer our subscribers access to the full text of my article published on December 29, 2025, under the title “ Why I’m Leaving Harvard .” It was published hard on the heels of a viral article in the same outlet by Jacob Savage which had raised the issue of widespread institutional discrimination against white males, citing credible facts and fig

On Classical and Civic Education

How to Read the Classics: "Critical Reading" or "Respectful Attention"?

The Golden Thread (Substack), March 13, 2026 You don’t have to go very far into the extensive literature devoted to the “defense of the humanities” before you find the proud claim that the humanities teach “critical thinking.” What this ordinarily means, when it comes to reading books, is that students are taught a discipline of taking a text apart and seeing how it ticks, as though it were a machine. In more benign examples of criticism this might amount to rhetorical analys

On Classical and Civic Education

Why I'm Leaving Harvard

Compact, December 29, 2025 Two weeks ago I gave my last lecture at Harvard, where I have been a history professor for forty years. My four decades of experience at one of the world’s leading universities have given me a unique vantage point to trace the replacement of Western history by global history. This change is part of the reason why the younger generation finds itself in a state of moral and intellectual disorientation. My decision to retire was not a sudden one. I am

On Classical and Civic Education