I was honored this past spring to be elected to the executive board of the Conference on Faith and History, the leading professional society for Christian historians. As luck would have it, my first meeting with that group will take place at the CFH biennial meeting this October 20-22 in Virginia Beach, Virginia — on the other … More What’s Coming Up This Fall at the Conference on Faith and History
Every time I write a post about Donald Trump, I tell myself it’s going to be the last one. This is not, and has never been, a blog about politics. But it is a blog about Christianity, history, education, and how they intersect, so as the Republican National Convention begins, I’m going to write one … More Why I Signed the Historians Against Trump Letter
I’m not planning to blog this week, while I join my family on vacation on Minnesota’s beautiful North Shore. But over at The Anxious Bench, my regular Tuesday post kicked off a new series on historical movies like this summer’s Civil War/Reconstruction epic, Free State of Jones. At the end of the series, I’ll reveal two of … More What Makes for the Best Historical Movies? (part 1)
I woke this morning to terrible news, just down the road. And took a shot at writing about it. Thanks to the many who read and shared that post, and to those who wrote back words of encouragement and counsel. But this terrible day ends with more death, as snipers opened fire on police at … More Dallas (One More Inadequate Response)
On days when I don’t want to take a freeway from one Twin City to the other, I sometimes drive down a road called Larpenteur Avenue. (It changes names when it reaches Minneapolis.) Because I’m normally impatient, I tend to push the speed limit when it drops to 30 mph. Because I’m normally a rule-follower, that means that I tend … More An Inadequate Response to Two More Shootings
Here… • In the running centenary commemoration of World War I, yesterday was a particularly important moment to remember. • Maybe especially because it came just over a week after British voters — including nearly 60% of Christians — decided their country should leave a European Union whose leading member is Germany. • I tried … More That Was The Week That Was
As I write this post, the sun is setting over the River Somme in northern France. One hundred years ago today, in the middle of World War I, nightfall hid the grisly sight of nearly 20,000 dead British and Commonwealth soldiers. One of them was a twenty-year old officer named John Sherwin Engall, who had written to his parents … More The Somme at 100
Not long before Britons voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, I wrote an Anxious Bench post surveying some Christian statements about “Brexit.” Now that it’s been a week since that vote, I thought I’d share a few responses and postmortems from and about British Christians: • Earlier surveys had predicted that practicing Christians would be the religious group most likely to … More British Christian Responses to Brexit
Okay, so it was fun taking part in Monday’s #iftrumpwereevangelical tweeting. But all that negativity isn’t sitting well with me… #iftrumpwereevangelical he would feel a teensy bit guilty for tweeting an #iftrumpwereevangelical joke. — Chris Gehrz (@cgehrz) June 27, 2016 I’m not sure that historians or bloggers can afford to be bound by the “if … More Top 10 Nice Things I Can Say about Donald Trump
Some levity for your evening: from many of the same summer-breaking scholars of religion who brought you #IfTrumpwereEvangelical, it’s #MethodistHillary! In the spirit of #iftrumpwereevangelical comes super #MethodistHillary. She wants your vote but also that casserole recipe. — Kate Bowler (@KatecBowler) June 28, 2016 N/sure #MethodistHillary can be as yuge as #iftrumpwereevangelical… or wants to be … More #MethodistHillary
The Pietist Schoolman 