The Pietist Schoolman

The website and blog of historian Chris Gehrz

Exploring Christianity, history, education, and how they intersect

Welcome to the personal website and blog of Chris Gehrz, professor of history at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota and editor of The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons.

I blog here about three times a week, plus a Saturday links post. I write about Christianity, history, and education, as well as their intersections (e.g., Christian colleges, methods in teaching history). I tend to approach things historically, but occasionally comment on current events — with crises in higher ed and evangelical views on sexuality being particularly popular the last couple years.

I also write beyond this blog, record podcasts, and speak at churches and colleges. To learn more, you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or e-mail me.

Oh, and why “The Pietist Schoolman“? Or why a Caravaggio painting at the top of this page?

I’m glad you asked: click the links to learn more!

Taking Some Time Off…

August 9, 2016

There’s a guest post up at The Anxious Bench today (on St. Ephrem the Syrian), so I’ll instead use this space to announce that I’m taking a break from Pietist Schoolman for a while. As some of you may remember, I’m spending my fall sabbatical living in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and that transition is only a couple weeks away. So I… More Taking Some Time Off…

That Was The Week That Was

August 7, 2016

Here… • I surveyed the religious history of the modern Olympic Games for my weekly Anxious Bench post… also reflecting briefly on the Olympics as religion (a theme I developed a bit more when invited to rewrite that post for The Gospel Coalition). • After a year of enormous division, could the games help bring Americans together? • And for no… More That Was The Week That Was

US team entering at 2008 Opening Ceremonies in Beijing

Can the Olympics Bring Americans Together?

August 6, 2016

In case you missed it yesterday morning, The Gospel Coalition featured a reworked version of my Anxious Bench post on the religious history of the modern Olympics. They asked me to conclude with a bit more application for Christian readers, so here’s what I came up with: So how should Christians respond to an event whose website still defines Olympism as “a philosophy of… More Can the Olympics Bring Americans Together?

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