In the west today, charity has become as much about the giver as the recipient. James Green looks at the history of philanthropy and its selfish connotations.
The Mayans
Sophie Brownlee investigates the extensive period of the Mayan civilisation in Central America which lasted from 2600 BC to the end of the seventeenth century.
Pilgrims’ progress
In the middle ages, pilgrimages were the ‘holiday’ du jour. Many of the journeys, mainly taken on foot, are unimaginable for us today. Tom Oliver records the most noted pilgrimages alongside some of the more unusual routes.
Radical diasporas
Popular images of the first transatlantic migrants depict fierce conquistadors in the South and pious pilgrims in the North, motivated by greed in the former case and obscure Puritanism in the latter. However, what really caused people to make such a radical journey in the centuries following the encounter with the Americas? What factors could Continue Reading
Archbishops behaving badly
Now that Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has announced his impending retirement, there’s been a whole lot of speculation over his successor. But Christians really needn’t worry. Whoever gets the job can’t be nearly as brilliantly bonkers as some of Williams’ predecessors. Take Archbishop George Abbot for example. In 1621 he straight-up killed Continue Reading