4/12/14 – Please do yourself a favor and visit Autobiography, the new podcast/blog from my good friend and frequent collaborator Sam Mulberry. I was honored to be Sam’s first interview, but he’s now on to episode four and going strong. The idea here is straightforward, and powerful: inspired by something Frederick Buechner once wrote, Sam chats … More New from Sam Mulberry: The Autobiography Podcast!
Here… • My four-year old son should get a co-writing credit for Monday’s Lenten devotion, on wonder. • Peace be to the memory of Bob Sandin, the Bethel alum and Evangelical Covenant philosopher who served as dean, provost, or president at a variety of colleges, including North Park and Mercer. • Is Pietism fundamentally eclectic? Playful, perhaps? • … More That Was The Week That Was
The first time I heard about Winona Lake in northeast Indiana was during my research for my Masters thesis at TEDS. My project was a study of two Mennonite congregations in eastern Pennsylvania that were heavily influenced by American evangelicalism during the 1950s. The pastor of one of these congregations, an evangelist named John S. … More Introducing the Winona History Center at Grace College
4/10/14 – Thanks to G.W. Carlson for drawing my attention to the recent passing of a fellow Covenanter in higher education: Robert T. Sandin. An alumnus of Bethel College and Seminary who went on to earn a PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Sandin served as an administrator at Northwestern (MN), North Park, Mercer, … More RIP Robert Sandin (1927-2014)
Interesting findings about undergraduate enrollment to report, via a study by Jerry Jacobs (sociology, University of Pennsylvania) and Linda Sax (education, UCLA), as reported in Inside Higher Ed: Using data collected by UCLA, Jacobs and Sax write that from 1997 through 2005, the proportion of freshmen planning to enroll in STEM fields declined, hitting a … More STEM Up, Pre-Professional Down
In my introduction to our forthcoming book, I emphasize our desire to cast a vision for Christian higher education that is “Pietist not just in content, but tone.” At least in the present draft, that means four things: A degree of autobiographical reflection unusual for such an academic book; Extended meditation on scriptural passages (e.g., Rev 21:5 in my … More Pietism: Eclectic and Playful?
This year, as several before, I joined other members of Salem Covenant Church in contributing to a devotional to be used by our congregation throughout the season of Lent and into Holy Week. This year’s theme (not just for the devotional, but for all of our ministries) is “An Adventurous Spirituality.” My contribution came up this morning — … More This Wonderful Day
Here… • I really can’t thank David King enough for taking the time to answer some big questions about World Vision! @cgehrz Why are your interviews of David King on World Vision not crossposted on the New York Times. Great Scoop! http://t.co/ul1Woy1LGA — Benjamin Brandenburg (@BenBrandenburg) April 4, 2014 • I especially appreciated how David explained … More That Was The Week That Was
Yesterday I posted the first part of my interview with historian David King, in which he discussed the origins of World Vision and its child sponsorship program. In today’s conclusion to that interview I asked David to talk about World Vision’s relationship to evangelicalism, and then the international character of World Vision, an aspect of the story … More The Conclusion of My Interview with David King on World Vision
Last week the U.S. chapter of the international Christian humanitarian organization World Vision made headlines: first when president Rich Stearns confirmed to Christianity Today last Monday that the organization would employ Christians in same-sex marriages, only to reverse the decision two days later, in the wake of torrents of criticism from conservatives, some of whom threatened to withdraw … More World Vision and Evangelicalism: An Interview with David King
The Pietist Schoolman 