Clouds of Witnesses: Revivals in Africa

As we continue in this series blogging through Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom’s Clouds of Witnesses: Christian Voices from Africa and Asia (InterVarsity Press), we’ll start to consider just how Christianity grew so dramatically in 20th century Africa. Today the stories of three Africans who led different sorts of revivals: William Wadé Harris, Simeon Nsibambi, … More Clouds of Witnesses: Revivals in Africa

5000!

9/14/11 – Sometime yesterday afternoon we reached a landmark here at The Pietist Schoolman: the 5000th page view. (And only half from family members!) Recognizing on the one hand that there are blogs with that many views per hour, and on the other that I’m fortunate to find even one person interested in what I think … More 5000!

On College Rankings

That collective exhaling you heard this morning came from the chancellors, presidents, provosts, and other leaders of the 1378 colleges and universities that participate in the U.S. News Best Colleges ranking process, results of which were released today. As someone who indirectly participates in this process (by teaching at one of those institutions and so … More On College Rankings

Surprised by Oxford

I just started reading Carolyn Weber‘s Surprised by Oxford. Subtitled simply “A Memoir,” it’s more specifically a spiritual autobiography, one more in that long line descended from Augustine’s Confessions that has included C.S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy (its title clearly evoked by Weber’s) and Lauren Winner’s Girl Meets God. Like those two, Surprised by Oxford … More Surprised by Oxford

This Week in History

September 12, 1977 – My brother is born While this indirectly leads (through a combination of rough-housing and my lack of coordination) to my visiting the emergency room at least half a dozen times in our shared childhood, it’s still worth celebrating. Happy Birthday, Jon! September 13, 1916 – Mary the elephant is executed See, … More This Week in History

The Week in Preview

9/9/11 – Coming up next week at The Pietist Schoolman… More on the “unusable” past and Pietist colleges, 20th century revivals led by African Christians, one of my favorite beginnings to a memoir, and Christianity and sports history.

The Unusable Past: Pietism and Christian Colleges (part 1)

In the second (full) post in this briefly interrupted series, I went through the rather lengthy list of American denominations founded by Pietists, and the colleges and universities those churches went on to establish. Having said nothing in two weeks to develop that history (except to provide a few quick facts about those schools in … More The Unusable Past: Pietism and Christian Colleges (part 1)