First up in a set of three posts focused on listening to people of color speaking in the wake of last week’s grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri… A reflection on Advent by one of my newest colleagues at Bethel University. In our family Advent devotional last night, we read a familiar verse from the Book of … More A Week of Listening: Christena Cleveland on Advent and Darkness
So, what’s been happening in the week and a half since my last post? Watching tweet after tweet after the Ferguson grand jury decision last Monday night, I felt again what I’ve come to recognize as the greatest temptation facing bloggers: “…thinking that there are thoughts that will never be thought unless you think them, and words that will never … More A Week of Listening: Advice from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This will be my last new post for a while, as I’ll take a hiatus during our Thanksgiving break. Next week I’ll go into “Best of” mode, re-running some earlier posts, and maybe do some microblogging at the Pietist Schoolman Facebook page. Blessings on all of those who will be traveling and gathering to celebrate the holiday … More The Big Ten
Earlier this fall I shared the text of a brief speech I made to a Christian College Consortium symposium at Wheaton College: a Pietist perspective on what it means for schools like the CCC’s thirteen members to “stay Christ-centered.” I suggested that “staying” cannot be static and that “Christ-centered” must be understood in terms of … More Practice and Affection, Not Just Belief: Further Thoughts on How Colleges and Universities Remain “Christ-Centered”
One of the cultural residues of Britain being a post-Christian society is that companies try to outdo each other in celebrating the Incarnation by creating memorable “Christmas adverts.” The 2014 versions are coming out, and one has already garnered enormous attention — positive and negative: Yes, the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s not only produced a three-minute … More On Advertising, Chocolate, and the First World War
The prize goes to G.W. Carlson for being the first reader to spot an advertisement for our forthcoming book, The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education, on p. 40 of the fall issue of CCCU Advance. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you see it advertised elsewhere! And remember that you can preorder the book from … More Puff Pietism! Let the Promotional Campaign Begin…
Here… • Veterans Day took on a new poignancy for me this year… • Also on the 11th, I helped the local newsmedia celebrate the G.I. Bill. • What does your name say about your politics? • The Pew Forum found further evidence that Latin American Christianity is becoming less (Roman) Catholic and more Protestant. … More That Was The Week That Was
Last July, a few months into the first Latin American papacy, I shared some findings from a Pew Forum study of religion in Brazil, where the Roman Catholic share of the population fell from 92% in 1970 to 65% in 2010. Today Pew released a broader report on the entire region — with much the same … More Religious Shifts in Latin America
The word veteran derives from a Latin term for “old,” but on this particular Veterans Day, I can only think of youth. Of holiday meals and summer picnics in childhood, when the Gehrzes would gather and I’d get to see my cousins from Wisconsin for a few hours. And of one of them in particular, six years younger than me, … More Veterans Day (For Mike)
11/11/14 – I was happy to be interviewed for today’s Star Tribune article about the 70th anniversary of the G.I. Bill and its impact on Minnesotan colleges and universities. You can learn more about that landmark legislation and what it meant for schools like Bethel at our Bethel at War blog.
The Pietist Schoolman 