Author: Chris Gehrz

The gate of Dachau

Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Two (or Three) Why’s of History

August 1, 2014

We’ll conclude this week of reruns with the first of two May 2014 posts inspired by a convocation talk at Bethel University by journalist Krista Tippett,  host of the acclaimed public radio program On Being and recent winner of the National Humanities Medal. …Tippett’s talk drew on her recent book, Einstein’s God: Conversations about Science and the Human Spirit, and … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Two (or Three) Why’s of History

Enstrom, "Grace"

Best of The Pietist Schoolman: When I’m a “Functional Atheist”

July 30, 2014

Today’s “best of” post comes from late April. It came to mind because I’ll be spending today and tomorrow doing exactly the kind of work that puts me at risk of what Parker Palmer called “functional atheism… the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: When I’m a “Functional Atheist”

University of Halle-Wittenberg

Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship

July 28, 2014

It’s going to be an unusually busy summer week for this college professor, so in place of new posts, enjoy a few of my favorites from the first half of 2014. We’ll start with my attempt to sketch a Pietist alternative to the scholarly model known as “faith-learning integration” — a three-part series that represented … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship

Jewish children in Le Chambon

Some Advice for Christians Who Think They’re Living in a “Time of Exile”

July 24, 2014

“We live in a time of exile,” writes Carl Trueman in the August 2014 issue of First Things. “At least those of us do who hold to traditional Christian beliefs. The strident rhetoric of scientism has made belief in the supernatural look ridiculous. The Pill, no-fault divorce, and now gay marriage have made traditional sexual ethics look outmoded at … More Some Advice for Christians Who Think They’re Living in a “Time of Exile”

Covenant pastors in 1889

The Big Ten

July 21, 2014

The ten most popular posts in the last month here at The Pietist Schoolman: The Best National Anthems: Brazil Why I’m Almost a Lutheran What’s the Evangelical Covenant Church? “Missional Pietists” The Spread of Technology since 1900 The “Farce” of Christian Higher Education Pietism Studies Group on Twitter WWI in Classical Music What’s the Evangelical … More The Big Ten

That Was The Week That Was

July 19, 2014

Here… • Is it a “farce” that Christian colleges are accredited by the federal government? Does faith make academic freedom impossible? Have at it, all sorts of terrific Christian scholars who don’t write for this blog! • Ed Gilbreath’s Birmingham Revolution got me thinking about the time that Martin Luther King, Jr. came closest to speaking at what’s now Bethel … More That Was The Week That Was

Blanchard Hall at Wheaton College

The “Farce” of Christian Higher Education

July 17, 2014

One thing I’ve learned in 3+ years of blogging is that the format tempts you into thinking that there are thoughts that will never be thought unless you think them, and words that will never be said unless you say them. So I’ve tried to avoid having a hair trigger — occasionally restraining myself from publishing even … More The “Farce” of Christian Higher Education

Screenshot from the opening titles to our "Past & Presence" webisode series

The King of All Media

July 16, 2014

My wife is deeply suspicious of my claims that I “work” in the summer. While the lengthening and warming of Minnesota’s days has no effect on her schedule, I suddenly enter a three-month period when my usual routine evaporates, to be replaced by an ever-shifting mix of quasi-academic activities: blogging on topics far afield from whatever it is that … More The King of All Media