That Was The Week That Was

Posted on by Chris Gehrz

When I wasn’t giving advice to Christian parents whose children are considering Christian colleges, this week I read lots of other good posts and articles around the web, including…

• Philip Jenkins continued to look back over the key religious events of the 2010s.

• To Dale Coulter, the impending split of the United Methodist Church has to be understood in light of the denomination’s relatively short history.

Hennepin Ave. United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, where the UMC will meet this May to vote on the separation proposal – Creative Commons (Farragutful)

• Andrea Turpin shared some recent research into the history of single women in the church, whose “very existence… called into question definitions of Christian womanhood confined to women’s relationship to men.”

• Can historians weigh in on contemporary issues without falling into the trap of “presentism”?

• If you don’t subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, you won’t be able to read Eric Metaxas’ Christian case for Trump… so go to John Fea’s blog, where he takes down Metaxas’ argument point by point.

• A group of African American pastors and lay leaders wrote in support of the Christianity Today editorial against Donald Trump.

• Disturbing as Trump is, it’s not helpful to liken his supporters to members of a “cult.”

• I’m offended that I wasn’t considered enough of a Christian thought leader to be targeted for this scam.

• Fascinating sports and religion story of the week: what Jeremy Lin has to do with an ESPN employee becoming a Catholic priest.

• When we teach together this spring, I think Chris Moore and I will need to revisit the question of whether or not Jeopardy! is a sport.

• Learn more about one of the strangest, most versatile instruments in American music: the pedal steel guitar.