I generally try to ignore the next academic year until the calendar hits August, but this summer that’s been harder than usual. For all of us at Bethel University, 2019-2020 promises to be an especially important year, as a search committee prepares to nominate just the seventh president in our nearly 150-year history (counting founder … More The Average Christian College President
Here at Pietist Schoolman I wrote about the military history of childhood and the religious history of my own adolescence. Over at The Anxious Bench, I considered the proposition that Instagram food photos are the 21st century version of table grace, and shared a small digital humanities project. Elsewhere… • Also at Anxious Bench, Andrea Turpin considered … More That Was The Week That Was
The Imperial War Museum in London is pretty much my favorite museum in the world. But I’ve been there often enough over the past few years that last month I looked for new ways to enjoy familiar exhibits on the wars of the 20th century. Soon I found myself noticing how many artifacts were connected … More Childhood and the World Wars
I never thought that Slate would become a must-read for insightful reporting and commentary on evangelicalism, but after Ruth Graham’s fine work earlier this month on a controversial book about heaven, last week brought Laura Turner’s remarkable memoir of coming of age at Willow Creek, the Chicago area megachurch where her parents (John and Nancy Ortberg) … More On Not Growing Up in Evangelical Youth Culture
I marked the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 by considering how people at the time made religious meaning of the Space Race, then shared my newest piece for Christianity Today and a map previewing the sites we’re considering for future Pietist Schoolman Travel tours. Elsewhere… • L.D. Burnett on the moon landing as an epochal moment: “After thousands of … More That Was The Week That Was
Last week I thought out loud through three tours I’m starting to plan for Pietist Schoolman Travel: Sports in American History (2020) Christianity and Western Culture (2021) The American Civil War (2022) Here’s another way of visualizing what I have in mind: a map showing possible sites for each tour. If you’re interested in any or … More Oh, the Places We’ll Go!
I have to admit: I’d never heard the name Ernst Lohmeyer before I reviewed James Edwards’ new biography of that German theologian and biblical scholar for the current issue of Christianity Today. But the more I read Between the Swastika and the Sickle (Eerdmans, $30.00 in hardcover), the more I could see how Lohmeyer could … More Between the Swastika and the Sickle
When I wasn’t writing about one of the most famous autodidacts in American history for The Anxious Bench, I spent the week thinking out loud about taking people to Europe to study the history of Christianity and to different parts of the U.S. to study sports history and the Civil War. Elsewhere: • If my tours … More That Was The Week That Was
As I conclude this series previewing possible future tours for Pietist Schoolman Travel, be sure to take today’s post with the biggest grain of salt. The concept is the least well-formed in my mind, both because it’s the furthest away (summer 2022) and on a topic that I’ve never taught. In fact, I’m not even sure … More Future Tours: The American Civil War
I don’t think I have the energy to lead a European tour every summer, so as I look ahead to the future of Pietist Schoolman Travel, I’ve got U.S. history topics in mind for 2020 (the sports history tour I mentioned yesterday) and 2022 (more on that tomorrow or Thursday). But I do love to take … More Future Tours: Christianity and Western Culture
The Pietist Schoolman 