If you ask the graduates of our department how their studies of history changed them, I’m sure the most common response you’d get is this: “I learned empathy.” We use that word all the time, proclaiming in our objectives statement that our students will “develop the imaginative understanding necessary to see the world as others see it.” And … More Is Historical Empathy Impossible?
“Some Evangelicals Take New Look at Bible’s Stance on Gays,” announced the New York Times this morning, reporting on a conversation at Biola University among author Matthew Vines (God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships) and conservative evangelicals like apologetics professor Sean McDowell, radio host Frank Sontag, and pastors Ian DiOrio … More Are Evangelicals Changing Their Minds about Homosexuality?
The few times I’ve daydreamed about having another career, I’ve almost always imagined myself a journalist. It’s maybe not much of a stretch for a historian. Journalists, after all, are writing the “first draft of history.” But if I’m being perfectly honest, I’m really only interested in a particular sort of journalism, one that may seem less than serious and … More History as “An Aggressive Act”
Here… • Would you be interested in reading a Pia Desideria for our time? • If you live in the Twin Cities (or are willing to drive a great distance), you can listen to me preview some potential themes of such a book tomorrow morning. • Making a comeback: hagiography. • Another year, another (Christian) college ranking. … More That Was The Week That Was
6/4/15 – Today we wrap up the first half of the first season of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast with an especially important episode: Ruben Rivera helps me understand why Christian colleges and universities so often struggle to embody the community described in Revelation 7:9 (“a great multitude… from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”), with an … More Thursday’s Podcast: All Tribes and Peoples
My friend Christian Collins Winn must have had a maliciously gleeful twinkle in his eye when he posted this link on my Facebook page yesterday, with the caption “Fodder for the PS…” Yes, I’ve managed to go about a year without analyzing such nonsense, but Christian knew that I couldn’t possibly avoid bait as tempting as a … More Are These the Best Christian Colleges and Universities?
Yesterday I was asked to sign a copy of our book on Pietism and higher education, an invitation that was at once A rare honor Mildly embarrassing — since I’m terrible at coming up with meaningful inscriptions and uncomfortable writing in cursive A reminder that it’s time to move on to a new project As it happens, I’ve … More A Pia Desideria for the 21st Century?
Hagiography is not a term that most Western academics dream of seeing in reviews of their work, but historian Rick Kennedy meant it as a plaudit when he dedicated his recent Christian Scholar’s Review essay to an “emerging genre” he termed the “new academic hagiography”: In this New Hagiography the author must try to analyze methodically while believing. Unthinking piety has … More Is (Responsible, Thoughtful) Hagiography Coming Back?
6/1/15 – Readers in the Twin Cities metro area: you can hear me at Calvary Church in Roseville this coming Sunday, June 7, in their 10am elective hour. I’ll be speaking on the history of Pietism, particularly as it has shaped the Baptist General Conference (and its university) and my own denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. Hope to … More Hear Me Speak on Pietism This Coming Sunday
It was a reruns week here at The Pietist Schoolman while I wrapped up the semester’s grading. But here’s some of what was being written and reported elsewhere: • Accused of paying millions of dollars to cover up earlier sexual misconduct, former House speaker Dennis Hastert resigned from the board advising the Wheaton College center that bears his name. (Hastert … More That Was The Week That Was
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