I’m delighted — and somewhat surprised — to announce that I’ll be taking my next tour group to Europe in June 2024. Somewhat surprised? Let me explain. For a while now, I’ve been talking with my mom about the possibility of traveling together in Sweden, the land of her immigrant ancestors. As we brainstormed, that turned … More Announcing My June 2024 Tour: Scandinavia
It’s not how I wanted to head into 2023, but I need to cancel our planned June tour of Germany. In the end, there just wasn’t enough customer interest to support even a scaled-down version of what I had in mind, so I’ve refunded deposits and will return any late-arriving checks. It may be that … More Cancelling Our Germany 2023 Tour… But Planning Our Return to Europe
It’s been a while since I’ve (a) posted here as opposed to Substack or (b) recorded a new podcast. So today I’m happy to announce the premiere of a three-episode run of The 252, the podcast about the history and politics of sports that I co-host with my Bethel colleagues Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry. … More Tuesday’s Podcast: The Political History of the World Cup
UPDATE (January 3, 2023): I’m afraid I’ve had to cancel this tour. I’ll be leading a private tour in 2024, but if you’re interested in what we’re considering for 2025 and 2026, click here. For most of the 2010s, my Bethel colleague Sam Mulberry and I had the joy of leading a biennial travel course … More Announcing Our June 2023 Tour of Germany
Did you know that I’ve been publishing a Pietist Schoolman newsletter through Substack? Since early July, subscribers have been receiving at least four issues per week, including a Saturday links wrap and Sunday devotional reflection. During the week, I’ve written about topics like “early college,” the “spiritual but not religious,” patriotism, COVID, and Holocaust commemoration. … More Have You Subscribed to The Pietist Schoolman Newsletter Yet?
Earlier this summer I argued on Substack that you can’t really call yourself a liberal arts college if you’re not offering liberal arts majors. As my Bethel colleague Jim Beilby correctly intuited in his response, I didn’t mean that it’s necessary to offer an entire array of every field in the arts, humanities, and sciences. … More How Common Is the History Major among Christian Colleges?
Last month I dedicated an issue of my new Substack newsletter to criticizing the decision by Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota to eliminate its majors in art, English, history, music, Spanish, theater, and theology. “Let’s not kid ourselves,” I wrote, “if you can’t sustain meaningful programs of study in history, languages, and fine arts, you’re … More What Is a Liberal Arts College? (Jim Beilby)
This week I considered how my writing mirrors my teaching and reflected on a year-long conversation about how Christians follow Jesus. Elsewhere: • I’m not sure the temperature got above 80°F (27°C) when I was in Germany last month. But July has been a different story, with scorching heat waves across Europe. • John Hawthorne concluded his series on polarization with some potential … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I made a cautious case for what’s called “early college” and a more enthusiastic argument for the relevance of Pietism to what I do as a scholar. And I reported on the last of our twelve conversations about Following Jesus. (Look for some closing reflections from me Tuesday in my Substack newsletter.) Elsewhere: • Beth Allison … More That Was The Week That Was
A year after we started with the oldest Christian tradition, Eastern Orthodoxy, this month we concluded the Following Jesus conversation with the newest branch in the family tree: Pentecostalism. Drew University professor J. Terry Todd alluded to the familiar origin story of Azusa Street in 1906 and quoted its most famous figure. But even as … More Following Jesus: The Pentecostal Tradition
The Pietist Schoolman 