Over the weekend I continued my Anxious Bench series on the challenges of writing biographies by reflecting on the problem of historical evidence. While the biographer whose book I’m currently reading seems to have enough evidence to narrate his subject’s entire life on a weekly (sometimes daily or even hourly) basis, I know that he actually is deploying … More When There’s Too Much Historical Evidence
While we expect a great turn-out tomorrow at the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism, we also know that those of you not living in or near the Twin Cities area probably weren’t able to attend. (I’m in that boat myself, since we’re in the last week of my sabbatical in Virginia.) So I’m happy to announce that … More How to Watch the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism Online
Here… • For the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I recalled one Christian college’s willingness to welcome Japanese American students. • My series on Gary Burge’s Mapping Your Academic Career continued with some reflections on finding your voice as a teacher. • Gift ideas: histories and biographies that made Best of 2016 lists. • How did … More That Was The Week That Was
Our friend Stacey Hunter Hecht died a year ago today. I promise this won’t become an annual tradition, but this once, I thought I’d repost what I wrote about her. In the first four months of this year, three of my closest kith and kin were diagnosed with breast cancer. As we near the end of … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: On Friendship
To what extent did evangelical colleges and universities contribute to the election of Donald Trump? That’s the question that Adam Laats, author of a forthcoming book on the history of such schools in the 20th century, raised recently at History News Network. (I’ve recommended his blog before.) Seeking an explanation for the much-cited figure of 81% of … More How Did Evangelical College Students Vote in the Presidential Election?
Seventy-five years ago today, Japanese forces attacked the American military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leading to U.S. involvement in World War II. That evening Pres. Franklin Roosevelt issued an emergency proclamation authorizing the arrest of “Alien enemies deemed dangerous to the public peace or safety of the United States.” Within three months, FDR had authorized the War Department … More When a Christian College Sheltered Japanese Americans During WWII
I miss teaching. I enjoy being on sabbatical, but I miss teaching so much that when I erased a chalkboard at my parents’ church the other day, I actually felt a wave of emotion. Feeling that eraser rub against that slate instantly evoked the anticipation, exhilaration, and (yes) fear that accompany the start of every class I … More Mapping Your Academic Career: Finding Your Voice as a Teacher
‘Tis the season when we curate some of the histories and biographies showing up on Best Books of 2016 lists, just in case you’re struggling to come up with a gift for that history buff in your life. (Key: A – Amazon; G – Guardian; NYT – New York Times; PW – Publishers Weekly) Svetlana Alexievich, Secondhand Time: … More The Top Histories of 2016?
Here… • One would-be “Protestant Notre Dame” hired the disgraced former athletic director from another one. • We received another kind review of our book on Pietism and Christian higher ed. • And I shared a short Advent meditation on the lighting of candles. …There and Everywhere • At The Anxious Bench, I rang in the new (liturgical) … More That Was The Week That Was
Even as I await the publication of my new book on Pietism, it’s gratifying to see people continuing to engage with its 2015 predecessor, The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education. At the end of a generous review in The Covenant Quarterly, Mark Safstrom puts that book in the context of work that Christian Collins Winn and I have been doing … More Covenant Visions of Christian Higher Education
The Pietist Schoolman 