It’s October 31st, which means it’s time to continue an annual Reformation Day tradition: I don’t know how happy I ought to be that this video will probably end up being the most popular thing I’ve ever done. But for today, let’s embrace it, overlook all the terrible things that resulted from the Reformation, and … More Happy Reformation Day
Troubling news from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, where twelve faculty spots are at risk of disappearing, including tenure-track positions in art, English, and ethics and open positions in French, philosophy, and theater. While a college spokesman pointed to a $3.7 million budget deficit and persistent decline in enrollment (down from over 1800 four years … More When Does a Liberal Arts College Cease to Be a Liberal Arts College?
On the eve of the decision of Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University to withdraw from the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), historian William Ringenberg told WORLD Magazine that the debate over those schools’ decision to hire LGBT faculty was “traumatic” for Christian higher ed. In his judgment, only one other crisis had been more significant: … More The Secularization(s) of Christian Higher Education
If you’ve been reading this blog in recent months, you probably are familiar with the debate within evangelical higher education over the decision of Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite to hire LGBT faculty — and then those schools’ late September decision to withdraw from the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) rather than cause more of … More “Crisis Averted”: Christianity Today on the CCCU Debate over Sexuality
Here… • I turned forty. • A leading Holocaust historian rebutted the abuse of that history by two politicians. • What are the best Cold War movies? (Follow up: I saw and enjoyed Bridge of Spies yesterday. More later perhaps…) • Molly Worthen provided our annual reminder that the lecture is not actually a terrible way to teach. • … More That Was The Week That Was
In recent decades, public consciousness of the Holocaust has increased exponentially. One unfortunate by-product of this otherwise salutary development has been the increased temptation for politicians to exploit references to Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust to stigmatize their opponents. So writes historian Christopher Browning, in an essay for Foreign Policy that argues that the “Political exploitation of the … More The Political Misuses of Holocaust History
Having already written a defense of the lecture this week, I’m going to take the risk of seeming like a complete curmudgeon and share these findings about online education, from a new study coming out of Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA): (H/T L.D. Burnett) …online courses do less to promote student learning and … More New Research Finds That Online Courses Significantly Reduce Student Achievement
Okay, let’s confront the truth: Today is not just any birthday. Today I finally turn 40. It’s no biggie. I mean, Tom Petty is 65 today. 65! (Oh, and a very happy birthday to my fellow 10/20-ers. Aragorn, Jim, Juan Gone, Snoop Dogg, et alia: it’s a privilege to share a birthday with all y’all. RIP Jerry Orbach, Dracula, Mick, and Sir … More 40 for 40
You know you inhabit an odd corner of the social media world when it goes viral over a New York Times column entitled “Lecture Me. Really.” And yet, I think it says something that a significant number of the academics I know on Facebook and follow on Twitter resonated so strongly with this argument from historian Molly Worthen: … More This Year’s Reminder That the Lecture is Not Dead
The recent release of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks as the Eisenhower era lawyer tasked with defending a Soviet spy (played by the awesome Mark Rylance), got me wondering: What are the best Cold War movies? I actually dedicated a three-post series to the question of the best war movies back in 2013, so I … More What Are the Best Cold War Movies?
The Pietist Schoolman 