Bethel University: Community Life Center and Benson Great Hall

An Open Letter to American Churches: The Crisis of Christian Higher Education

October 15, 2013

Chris, a Christian college professor and church chairperson, To the pastors, lay leaders, members, and friends of the churches and denominations that founded and still sponsor the Christian colleges and universities of this country: Before today is done, no small number of faculty members at the Christian college where I work will be asked to … More An Open Letter to American Churches: The Crisis of Christian Higher Education

Peter drawing the sword in "The Capture of Christ"

The Christian Liberal Arts, Citizenship, and Power

October 14, 2013

Is a value of the liberal arts that they produce good citizens? Should Christians also argue that such an education helps keep America powerful? As self-proclaimed defenders of the liberal arts like myself set about their task, they trumpet the many benefits of a well-rounded education that includes a healthy dose of seemingly impractical disciplines … More The Christian Liberal Arts, Citizenship, and Power

Crouch, Playing God

Andy Crouch on Power: Implications for Education?

October 11, 2013

I haven’t yet read Andy Crouch’s new book, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, but it’s been hard to miss. An essay on power from Crouch is the cover story in the October 2013 issue of Christianity Today (where Crouch is now executive editor). Borrowing concepts from anthropologist Geert Hofstede, Crouch observes that American … More Andy Crouch on Power: Implications for Education?

Unidentified Paris church

My Talk on Pietism and Off-Campus Study: In Tweet Form

October 10, 2013

This morning I gave the second in a series of talks at the Bethel University Library that will preview chapters from our forthcoming Whole and Holy Persons: A Pietist Approach to Christian Higher Education. My topic was “Pietism from the High Sierra to the Somme: Holistic Education in the Ecclesiola of Off-Campus Study.” This is … More My Talk on Pietism and Off-Campus Study: In Tweet Form

Worship at Woodland Hills Church

The Church at the Intersection of Anabaptism and Evangelicalism

October 9, 2013

One of my favorite recent books is The Activist Impulse: Essays on the Intersection of Evangelicalism and Anabaptism, eds. Jared Burkholder and David Cramer. It helps me better understand my own interest, as a rather pietistic evangelical, in the Anabaptist tradition, and my reservations about it. While the contributors don’t shy away from the tensions … More The Church at the Intersection of Anabaptism and Evangelicalism

Volf, Allah: A Christian Response

Follow Our Talks on Pietism and Higher Education on Twitter

October 8, 2013

10/8/13 – This morning my colleagues Marion Larson and Sara Shady kicked off a series of talks previewing chapters in our book-in-progress, Whole and Holy Persons: A Pietist Approach to Christian Higher Education, with a presentation on “Loving My (Religious) Other.” I live-tweeted their talk, highlighting key points and books mentioned, and plan to do … More Follow Our Talks on Pietism and Higher Education on Twitter

French POWs in 1940

The Second World War Before Pearl Harbor: France, 1940

October 8, 2013

Too much about higher education of late… Let’s cleanse the palate with a dose of military history! It was during my first year of college, when I had decided to forego my planned career in international law and instead devote myself to the study of European history, that I first realized how little of the … More The Second World War Before Pearl Harbor: France, 1940

Screenshot from CWC webisode reviewing the Reformations

A Field Report from the Digital Frontier: My Experience Teaching Online

October 7, 2013

This past summer my colleague Sam Mulberry and I taught the first online version of one of Bethel University’s more venerable courses: GES130 Christianity and Western Culture — a team-taught, multidisciplinary, one-semester Western Civ course taken by something like two-thirds of Bethel students as a foundational experience in the Global Perspectives pillar of Bethel’s gen … More A Field Report from the Digital Frontier: My Experience Teaching Online