4/18/14 – Just a quick reminder for those of you who might happen to live in or near southern Minnesota… I’ll be speaking at the University of Minnesota, Rochester next Tuesday night, April 22, 7pm, as part of the UMR Connects series. My talk is entitled “‘Lest We Forget’: The Commemoration of World War I from Minnesota … More Reminder: My Talk on WWI Remembrance Is April 22
Ten minutes after I pressed “Publish” on Monday’s post about my struggle to find a way to blog well about the World Vision controversy, I found myself lecturing on the Catholic Reformation and Wars of Religion in Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture class. While the fracturing of the Church into tens of thousands of denominations didn’t start or … More “That They May Be One”: Evangelical Unity after World Vision
Is it hard to be an intellectual in your church? Do you respond more deeply to theology than worship or devotions? Part of me resonated strongly with a new piece at Relevant by a Twin Cities writer (and Bethel Seminary student) named Bonnie Kristian. Like her, I don’t tend to “get swept up in emotional worship experiences” and I’ve … More Being an Intellectual in an Emotional Church
For Holy Week I’d like to share a unique devotional experience from Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN: “An Invitation on the Pathway” by Mike Widen and G. W. Carlson is a Baptist version of the Stations of the Cross, blending fourteen original works of art with fourteen original reflections. You can walk these stations … More Baptist Stations of the Cross (G.W. Carlson)
I’m not a member of the Organization of American Historians and so wasn’t in Atlanta last week for its annual meeting. Fortunately, John Fea was, and not only lit up Twitter but shared some reflections on panels he attended or participated in. I was especially interested in his reports on two sessions: “Is Blogging Scholarship?” and … More Not a Prophet, Not an Apostle: Blogging after World Vision
4/12/14 – Please do yourself a favor and visit Autobiography, the new podcast/blog from my good friend and frequent collaborator Sam Mulberry. I was honored to be Sam’s first interview, but he’s now on to episode four and going strong. The idea here is straightforward, and powerful: inspired by something Frederick Buechner once wrote, Sam chats … More New from Sam Mulberry: The Autobiography Podcast!
Here… • My four-year old son should get a co-writing credit for Monday’s Lenten devotion, on wonder. • Peace be to the memory of Bob Sandin, the Bethel alum and Evangelical Covenant philosopher who served as dean, provost, or president at a variety of colleges, including North Park and Mercer. • Is Pietism fundamentally eclectic? Playful, perhaps? • … More That Was The Week That Was
4/10/14 – Thanks to G.W. Carlson for drawing my attention to the recent passing of a fellow Covenanter in higher education: Robert T. Sandin. An alumnus of Bethel College and Seminary who went on to earn a PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Sandin served as an administrator at Northwestern (MN), North Park, Mercer, … More RIP Robert Sandin (1927-2014)
Interesting findings about undergraduate enrollment to report, via a study by Jerry Jacobs (sociology, University of Pennsylvania) and Linda Sax (education, UCLA), as reported in Inside Higher Ed: Using data collected by UCLA, Jacobs and Sax write that from 1997 through 2005, the proportion of freshmen planning to enroll in STEM fields declined, hitting a … More STEM Up, Pre-Professional Down
In my introduction to our forthcoming book, I emphasize our desire to cast a vision for Christian higher education that is “Pietist not just in content, but tone.” At least in the present draft, that means four things: A degree of autobiographical reflection unusual for such an academic book; Extended meditation on scriptural passages (e.g., Rev 21:5 in my … More Pietism: Eclectic and Playful?
The Pietist Schoolman 