It’s hard to believe that just a month ago I was touring western Europe with a bunch of world war buffs! Spending those eleven days with those twenty-three people reminded me how much I enjoy fusing my interests in history and travel. “Travelers to historic places get a fuller sense of a place and its … More Future Tours: Sports in American History
Before spending most of the week enjoying a holiday trip with family, I reflected on the recent annual meeting of my home denomination, explained what’s been called the “honest patriotism” of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and shared some reflections from my parents and two others who joined us last month on our World Wars in Western … More That Was The Week That Was
When we attended worship at First Covenant Church Minneapolis (FCCM) a week ago, guest preacher Judy Peterson warned that it can be hard to make meaning of an event up close. Sometimes it takes ten or twenty years. That distance can give us perspective is wisdom this historian should know well… but finds hard to … More Hoping for Better Times after Omaha
It’s been far too long since I’ve shared any links, so let me go back through a busy first month of summer and recommend several pieces to readers: • I’m not the world’s biggest Stanley Hauerwas fan, but his recent comments on the church in the age of Trump are well worth considering. • The … More That Was The Month That Was
Having published an essay last Friday by Hauna Ondrey, the current church historian at North Park Seminary, I’m doubly thrilled today to share a piece by her illustrious predecessor, Philip Anderson. Entitled “Harmony and Congregational Liberty in the Tradition of the Evangelical Covenant Church,” it considers “the unintended consequences of establishing” a precedent to declare … More Harmony and Liberty in the Covenant Church (Phil Anderson)
Today I’m honored to share a timely essay by Hauna Ondrey, assistant professor of church history at North Park Theological Seminary. Entitled “Beyond Yes or No: Covenant History & the Third Way,” Hauna’s piece offers necessary context for what’s at stake in next week in Omaha, when delegates to the annual meeting of the Evangelical … More Beyond Yes or No: Covenant History and the Third Way (Hauna Ondrey)
We’re in Munich, near the end of our World Wars in Western Europe tour. Before heading home, we recorded one more episode of our Pietist Schoolman Podcast with four more trip goers: Barb and Jim Lindberg, Jim’s sister Sherri Berry, and Sherri’s husband Dale. I especially appreciate them sharing reflections on our recent tour of … More Saturday’s Podcast: Family History and WWII
Greetings from the French city of Amiens, where our World Wars tour is spending the night before heading to Normandy tomorrow morning. We just finished a two-day tour of memorials, cemeteries, and former battlefields on the Western Front of World War I. For the second of our “live” podcasts from this tour, we talked with … More Monday’s Podcast: First Impressions of the Western Front
We’re now a couple of days into our “World Wars in Western Europe” tour, with today’s visit to the Imperial War Museum following yesterday’s walking tour of war memorials in central London. When Sam Mulberry and I did a longer version of this tour this past January with Bethel students, we improvised a couple of … More Friday’s Podcast: Live from London with My Parents
Seventy-five years ago this morning, about 160,000 American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops landed at five beaches along the coast of Normandy, beginning the liberation of western Europe from German occupation. Our Pietist Schoolman Travel group — which formally began its world wars tour today in London — will be at Pointe du Hoc and … More 75 Years Later… An Oral History of D-Day
The Pietist Schoolman 