It gives me absolutely no satisfaction to know that my most-read post so far of 2019 was one explaining for a broader audience the debate over human sexuality in my home denomination. I wrote it in advance of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s annual meeting last June in Omaha. Then on the other side of that … More Another Congregation Leaves the Covenant Church
A funeral made me reflect on Thanksgiving, the approach of Christmas made me consider some gift options for history buffs, and I filled in some holes in my knowledge about the Salvation Army. Elsewhere… • Speaking of Salvationists… Stephen Carter cautioned progressives against boycotting the Army’s activities because of its stance on marriage. • Do I … More That Was The Week That Was
Earlier this month I attended the memorial service for Dr. Jim Johnson, who spent thirty years teaching U.S. history at Bethel. Jim retired about a decade before I arrived, and we’d only met a handful of times over the years. So I felt a bit like an interloper in a room full of his closest … More A Funeral and Four Thanksgivings
Today I’d like to revive a kind of holiday tradition from the early years of The Pietist Schoolman: going through some “best of” lists to curate a list of histories and biographies that might make for good Christmas presents for my readers. This year I’ll draw on year-end recommendations from the New York Times (NYT), Publishers Weekly … More The Best History Books of 2019?
This week I announced our 2020 sports history tour (and talked through it with fellow guides Sam Mulberry and Chris Moore), then used my Anxious Bench post to share some of what I found reading through the library of Charles Lindbergh’s parents. Elsewhere… • I would guess that most readers of this blog know that there’s a … More That Was The Week That Was
On Monday we officially announced our Summer 2020 Pietist Schoolman Travel tour: “Sports in American History” (June 28 – July 5). You can find more details (plus the application form) in the trip brochure. But since the three guides for that tour happen to be the three hosts of our sports history podcast, The 252, we thought it’d … More Wednesday’s Podcast: A Sports Fan’s Dream Trip
After day dreaming about this for months, today I’m happy to announce our next tour with Pietist Schoolman Travel! Sports in American History — June 28-July 5, 2020 Download the brochure to read all the details, including what’s included in the trip cost of $2,400, and then fill in your application. But for a taste, … More Announcing Our “Sports in American History” Trip — June 28-July 5, 2020
Here’s the text of my Chapel talk at Bethel University last Friday morning. I’ll skip past some of the introductory remarks — mostly clarifying that Pietism, lamentably, has nothing to do with pie — and get right into the biblical passage for the talk. I explained that Luke 24 is what G.W. Carlson had urged … More The Pietist Option for Bethel (Luke 24)
In between podcasting about gender and sports and preparing a chapel talk on Pietism, I enjoyed the following articles and posts this week: • By far the most-discussed Anxious Bench post this week was David Swartz’s reflection on the difference between “cosmopolitan” and “populist” evangelicals. • I’ll be sorry to see David Heim (r.) no longer at … More That Was The Week That Was
One of my favorite things about recording The 252 is that it gives me one more excuse to hang out for an hour with two of my closest friends on the Bethel University faculty: Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry. It’s all the better when another of our friends, philosopher Sara Shady, can join us as a special … More Thursday’s Podcast: Gender and Sports
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