This month marks a kind of reset for The Pietist Schoolman, in two respects. First, I’m going to revive this blog, writing more regularly and less haphazardly than I have in recent months. Second, I just returned from my first trip to Europe since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With my friend and frequent … More Unexpected Sites of WWI Remembrance: Wittenberg
This week: I learned how Latter-day Saints follow Jesus and checked in on the most popular posts so far this year at The Anxious Bench. (I also flew home after a week in Germany — more on that next week…) Elsewhere: • For my money, the most important moment from this week’s hearings on the January … More That Was The Week That Was
For the penultimate installment in our year-long conversation about how different Christians follow Jesus, we heard from the distinguished Latter-day Saints scholar Robert Millet, an ideal conversation partner by any standard. Retired now after over three decades as a professor, department chair, and dean at Brigham Young University, Millet has facilitated numerous conversations between Mormons … More Following Jesus: The Latter-day Saints Tradition
Between final exams and commencement last week and leading a faculty workshop and grading this week, I’ve been a little late to check in on this month’s Following Jesus conversation. But don’t let that delay (or this too-brief introduction) deter you from checking out a highly important installment in the project, featuring an opening essay … More Following Jesus: The Black Church Tradition
We’re planning to record one more special episode this summer to conclude our first season of the College for Christians podcast, but this week we paused to answer a couple of questions from listeners — plus one that we had ourselves but had never fully addressed. Stream or download that episode from Podbean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, … More College for Christians: Some Listener Q&A
We’re headed down to the basement for the first tornado warning of the season up here in Minnesota, so briefly: This week’s episode of College for Christians is our most in-depth yet, as special guest Alex Hintz answered all the questions Sam and I could think of regarding financial aid. A former student of mine, … More Inside Financial Aid
This week I spoke as part of a panel on the war in Ukraine, recorded a podcast about the blurring line between high school and college, and let churches, colleges, etc. know how they could book me for a talk or class in 2022-2023. Elsewhere: • For Mother’s Day, Elizabeth Bruenig lamented that “when it comes … More That Was The Week That Was
Early in the history of American education, it wasn’t unusual for there to be close links between secondary and postsecondary institutions of learning. The oldest secondary school in what’s now the U.S., after all, was a Latin grammar school in Boston meant to prepare young boys to enter Harvard. But over the course of the … More What’s “Early College”?
It happened last month: that annual moment when I realize that all of the events on my Speaking page are now in the past and nothing is yet listed for the future. Not coincidentally, that moment almost always comes in mid-spring, which happens to be the time when churches are planning adult education speakers for … More If You’d Like Me to Speak at Your Church, College, Library, Etc. in 2022-23
This week Bethel wrapped up its 150th anniversary celebration, so I shared both the talk I gave at the celebratory dinner (on the individual moments that make up our collective story) and an analysis of the religious and educational continuities that define Bethel in the midst of so much change. Also, we recorded a podcast … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 