There haven’t been a lot of reader comments in the last couple of weeks, probably because I’ve been bloviating so much about disparate topics. So this afternoon I’ll (mostly) keep my opinions to myself and invite responses to questions relating to this big one: Does your church value church history? This question occurs to me … More Does Your Church Value Church History?
Getting closer to revealing the best national anthem… Before we get to #4, let’s recap the top ten so far: 10. Greece, “Hymn to Liberty” 9. Uruguay, “National Anthem of Uruguay” 8. Russia, “National Anthem of the Russian Federation” 7. China, “Song of the Volunteers” 6. Japan, “Kimigayo” 5. Brazil, “The Brazilian National Anthem” If … More The Best National Anthems: The UK
In my quest to identify the World’s Best National Anthem, we breezed through six also-rans and three honorable mentions en route to last Friday’s reveal of my Modern Europe students’ choice for the 6th best anthem: Japan’s “Kimigayo.” Again, the initial rankings were based on a semi-serious but mostly objective calculation weighing three factors: how … More The Best National Anthems: Brazil
Over the last two weeks I’ve probably tried many readers’ patience by dedicating a few thousand words to extolling the virtues of two of my favorite bands: The Jayhawks (who released an underwhelming new album on Sept. 20th) and Wilco (whose outstanding new album arrived one week later). “What does this have to do with … More Radio Kings: “The Echo of a Voice”
What you might have missed last week, first here at The Pietist Schoolman and then around the blogosphere: Here Reading Carolyn Weber’s Surprised by Oxford in light of memoirs by Augustine of Hippo and Frederick Buechner had me thinking about how hard it can be to talk about loving God with those I most love. … More That Was the Week That Was
9/30/11 – Coming up next week here at The Pietist Schoolman… The five best national anthems revealed, the return of my series on Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom’s Clouds of Witnesses, more on Carolyn Weber’s memoir of conversion, and an evangelical perspective on being a fan of bands like Wilco and the Jayhawks.
Having disposed of nine nominees on Wednesday and Thursday for the coveted title of World’s Best National Anthem, let’s jump right into the six finalists. Again, the initial rankings were based on a semi-serious but mostly objective calculation weighing three factors: how long the song has endured as official anthem; how singable the anthem is, … More The Best National Anthems: Japan
Along with the course-related podcasts I’ve helped to produce, our department also makes use of this technology to communicate with current, former, and prospective students, putting out Historia! twice last year and, hopefully, three times in 2011-2012. In time for Bethel’s Homecoming, the first episode for this year is now available on iTunes U, and … More The Return of Historia!
9/29/11 – On this week’s episode of CWC: The Radio Show… Amy, Sam, Sara, and I ruminate about the collapse of American civilization, Augustine’s City of God, what the Gospels have to do with Pirates of the Caribbean, and the architecture of Yale University. Get episodes here, or click on the logo on the right … More This Week on CWC: The Radio Show
Today we get closer to settling, once and for all, the question, “What’s the best national anthem?” On Monday I explained how this series stemmed from an exploration of 19th century European nationalism in my Modern Europe course. Yesterday I revealed six national anthems that didn’t really come close to making the cut for our … More The Best National Anthems: Honorable Mentions
The Pietist Schoolman 