Today I’ll continue my recap of the series of talks I gave last weekend for Salem Covenant Church‘s annual “family camp,” held up at Covenant Pines, outside McGregor, MN. They concerned the topic, “The Family History That Most Christians Don’t Know, But Can’t Ignore: Three Biblical Tools for Understanding Church History.” In the first part … More Church History as Family History (part 2)
I’ve been conscious this week of an odd disconnect in my life: As a scholar, I’m wary of pushing a “hermeneutic of suspicion” too far. (Or of talking too much about it — I’m no philosopher, as the following ham-handed analysis will amply demonstrate.) When using primary sources for research or teaching, I certainly understand … More On Political “Evolution”
As I mentioned here Monday, I spent last weekend presenting a three-part talk on church history to fellow members of Salem Covenant Church during our annual “family camp.” I’ll recap it in two three parts, starting today. Now, these talks are supposed to be “inspiring,” which is not a mode I normally think of as … More Church History as Family History (part 1)
Last night my family hosted the students in Bethel’s capstone course for History majors. They turned in their research papers, shared a meal, tolerated my two-year old twins showing off all their tricks, and had one last seminar discussion together: on vocation. Since this course is almost entirely composed of students about to graduate, there’s … More Gladness, Need, and Calling: Frederick Buechner on Vocation
5/7/12 – There’s a new discussion group on the interdisciplinary site H-Net: H-Pietism! Edited by Jared Burkholder (who blogs at The Hermeneutic Circle, where he shared this announcement) and Kate Carté Engel, H-Pietism “promotes the academic study of pietism, broadly defined” and welcomes “all interested scholars studying Pietism as an early modern religious movement in … More H-Pietism
It’s a busy time of year, but it was good to get away and spend the weekend at Covenant Pines, two hours north of the Twin Cities, where my church holds an annual “family camp.” I was invited to teach three hour-long sessions with the adults while their kids were off doing Bible study, crafts, … More Covenant Pines and the Desert Road
As this gets posted, I’ll be driving north from the Twin Cities to McGregor, MN, where I’m giving a series of talks as part of our church’s annual “family camp” at Covenant Pines. (I’ll post an outline next week.) Preparing for those talks left me with less blogging time than usual this past week, so … More That Was The Week That Was
I haven’t imposed many blogging rules on myself, but here’s one I think I’ll honor more in the observance than the breach… “Any sanctimonious post must be followed by one that embarrasses the blogger” So, having spent yesterday’s post up on my high horse defending denominations less by pointing to their virtues than by decrying … More Guilty Pleasures
In his scathing review (“pretty much an adventure in missing the point”) of Randall Balmer’s scathing review of Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, philosopher Jamie Smith took particular exception to Balmer’s observation that “institutions, in my experience, are remarkably poor vehicles for piety.” My post that follows isn’t actually … More Anti-Anti-Denominationalism
There are times when I weary of having to defend the value of a liberal arts education — to prospective students and their parents, to history majors about to graduate and dreading the prospect of working at Starbucks, and perhaps even to administrators and trustees (not yet ours, thank God). But fortunately the case is … More “Increasing the Value of a Liberal Education”
The Pietist Schoolman 