Perhaps strange to say, one of my favorite compliments that I’ve received from a former student was this: I never knew where Prof. Gehrz stood on political issues. Not that I think I avoid controversial topics in class, but I typically try to remove my own opinions, present multiple sides of issues, and focus on asking good questions … More What Your Name Says about Your Politics
Here… • Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the still-remarkable fall of the Berlin Wall. • Further thoughts on Christian colleges and racial-ethnic diversity: do CCCU schools mirror the populations of the metro areas they inhabit? • A funeral inspired me to rethink how history provides a kind of Christian testimony to those who study it. • … More That Was The Week That Was
Twenty-five years ago this Sunday, about 20,000 people from the east side of Berlin walked over to the west. Of course, this kind of population movement happens every day in every city in the world, as urbanites go to work, eat out, visit friends, attend plays, etc. But Berlin of 1989 was a famously bifurcated city, with a 28-year old wall … More Twenty-Five Years after the Wall
Last week my review of Department of Education data (via a Chronicle of Higher Education tool) found that Christian colleges were considerably less diverse than the national average, though perhaps a bit better in that respect than religious colleges as a whole. Picking up on my observation that West Coast members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities … More Do Christian Colleges Mirror the Diversity of Their Locales?
Funerals make historians of us all. The death of a loved one compels us, individually and collectively, to slow down and dedicate ourselves to remembering. Sometimes the task warms our heart, sometimes it rips open old wounds; invariably, it leads us to make meaning of what came before, to reflect on how the past produced the present. So before my colleague … More History as Christian Testimony
In the 3+ years of this blog, I’ve written often about the value of the liberal arts — particularly as an integral component of Christian higher education. While I’ve occasionally pointed to the instrumental benefits of such an education (provides a marketable skill set, prepares learners who can pick up new skills and thrive in grad/professional schools), I’ve … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Metaphors for Christian Liberal Arts
Here… • How diverse are Christian colleges and universities? • Does history teach lessons? • Is it helpful to argue from historical analogy, or a sense of historical inevitability? • Where can you find the newest issue of the Baptist Pietist Clarion? • And where am I this morning? …There and Everywhere • As we closed the … More That Was The Week That Was
Having started the week by sharing an article questioning whether we really ever learn “lessons” from the past, let me close the week by considering another way that Americans commonly try to make the past useful: by deploying it as a rhetorical weapon in the most heated debates of the present day. Two versions of this come up a lot. … More The Wrong Side of History
10/30/14 – Hot off the presses, the October 2014 issue of The Baptist Pietist Clarion is now available in print and online. Edited by fellow Pietist Schoolman G.W. Carlson, The Clarion offers reports, reflections, and reviews from people influenced by the Baptist and Pietist traditions. This issue focuses on missions and the growth of multicultural ministry, but it also includes a version … More A New Issue of The Baptist Pietist Clarion
The current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education focuses on the challenges facing African American college students, faculty, and administrators. Among the many pieces — one available to non-subscribers considers why so few black men go into STEM fields — one of the most useful is a tool compiling 2012 numbers from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to show the … More How Diverse Are Christian Colleges and Universities?
The Pietist Schoolman 