As I wrote this post yesterday, I was being shadowed. It was the first time I’ve had anyone ask about setting up a job shadow, and while I was happy to give it a try, I also worried that it would chiefly consist of the student sitting and watching me type at my laptop (with … More Fruit in Drought
My time at Bethel didn’t prepare me to do any specific job, but it prepared me to be the person that I am. Fun as it is for a college professor like me to explore metaphors for the Christian liberal arts — spiritual retreat, cathedral construction, and a Lord of the Rings-like quest — it’s … More The Value of the Christian Liberal Arts: A Bethel Alum Speaks
How’s this for a college recruitment slogan? “Bethel University: you might not come back, but you will not be the same” No? What if we had Sir Ian McKellen intone it, as in the first part of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, when Martin Freeman’s Bilbo is being encouraged by McKellen’s wizard Gandalf to go … More The Christian Liberal Arts as Tolkienesque Quest
A couple more posts you might have missed during the quiet summer months, both having to do with 20th century war poetry that’s less familiar to most of us. Just over 6000 American soldiers are buried outside the French village of Fère-en-Tardenois, at Oise-Aisne Cemetery. The most famous was killed by a German sniper ninety-five … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Forgotten War Poetry
Now that we’re into the academic year and I’m both busier and readership is up, I thought I’d ease into the week by reposting a couple of pieces that you might have missed during the warmer months. I’ll start with a three-part series from July. Which patriotic hymns are most popular? Have they changed over … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A Brief History of Patriotism in American Hymnals
Here… • What kind of financial support do evangelical colleges and universities receive from their sponsoring denominations? • Short answer: Data are sketchy, but… not as much as they used to. Case in point, Bethel University. • Are these good measures for ranking colleges: The mid-career salaries of alumni? How meaningful they find their work? … More That Was The Week That Was
It’s the time of the semester in my Modern Europe class when I talk about Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. That’s mostly to shed light on Victorian expectations for an upper-middle-class woman like Mrs Beeton, but also because it’s an excuse to read a cookbook. When last I blogged about that 1861 classic, I … More 20 Years of Cook’s Illustrated
The ten most popular posts in the last month here at The Pietist Schoolman: 10 Blogs by Christian Historians You Should Be Reading Bethel, the BGC, and the Decline of Denominational Financial Support for Christian Higher Education On Ranking Christian Blogs Help Save “Books and Culture”! 4 Things I’ve Learned Teaching 4th Grade Sunday School … More The Big Ten
Well, my vow not to parse any more college rankings lasted about five weeks. Right up until… wait for it… Now. Last week the New York Times highlighted a website called PayScale.com, which released its annual ranking of just over a thousand American colleges and universities. Here’s the hook: PayScale doesn’t look at reputation (U.S. News) … More Well-Paid (or Meaningful) Work as a Measure of Higher Education
I’m honored to announce the publication of a theme issue of The Covenant Quarterly, guest edited by my colleague Christian Collins Winn and myself, that features articles on the historical and contemporary significance of Pietism. If you’re not familiar with it, The Covenant Quarterly is published by the Evangelical Covenant Church through its seminary, North … More Announcing a New Issue of The Covenant Quarterly on Pietism
The Pietist Schoolman 