Category: Books

Safstrom (ed. and trans.), The Swedish Pietists

The Swedish Pietists: A New Book from Mark Safstrom

May 6, 2015

I suspect that even before they found this blog or the books I’ve edited, most of my readers were already familiar with the German Pietists who started the movement known as Pietism: Philipp Spener, August Francke, Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, perhaps even Johanna Petersen, Gottfried Arnold, Alexander Mack, and other Radical Pietists. But if we consider why a Pietist ethos is … More The Swedish Pietists: A New Book from Mark Safstrom

Yale Divinity School quadrangle

“Who Do You Think You Are?”: On Doing Theology as a Non-Theologian

May 5, 2015

Introducing my talk on Pietism and Christian colleges last Thursday morning at Messiah College, my friend Devin Manzullo-Thomas underscored that my training is in the history of international relations. It’s not something I hide in such settings — I’d pointed out exactly the same thing before a similar talk earlier in the month — but hearing it aloud from … More “Who Do You Think You Are?”: On Doing Theology as a Non-Theologian

Header of the Oct 2014 issue of The Baptist Pietist Clarion

New Baptist Pietist Clarion

May 4, 2015

5/4/15 – Readers of this blog would do well to check out the Baptist Pietist Clarion, edited by my friend and occasional guest-blogger G.W. Carlson. In addition to recurring Clarion themes like racial reconciliation, peacemaking, church-state separation, and Baptist identity, the April 2015 issue features reviews of books by Philip Yancey, Christena Cleveland, Frank Lambert, and Roger Olson & Christian Collins Winn.

Olson and Collins Winn, Reclaiming Pietism

Thursday’s Podcast: Hope for Better Times

April 23, 2015

4/23/15 – On episode #2 of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast, I’m joined by theologian Christian Collins Winn for a conversation about civility, academic freedom, being Baptist, ACC basketball, and why Pietists like Philipp Spener and the Blumhardts have “hope for better times.” Check out Christian’s book with Roger Olson, Reclaiming Pietism, and the collection he edited with John Drury, Karl Barth … More Thursday’s Podcast: Hope for Better Times

Billy Graham, 1966

Grant Wacker on Billy Graham: Cushwa’s Spring Seminar

April 17, 2015

Duke Divinity School historian Grant Wacker’s new book on Billy Graham was the focus of this spring’s Cushwa Center Seminar in American Religion at the University of Notre Dame, which met this past Saturday. Although Wacker has been teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1977, I first remember hearing about him … More Grant Wacker on Billy Graham: Cushwa’s Spring Seminar

Pietist Schoolman Podcast logo

The Pietist Schoolman Podcast Debuts Today… with Roger Olson

April 16, 2015

April 16th is finally here, which means that the first episode of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast is available on iTunes! It features my recent conversation with Roger Olson, Foy Valentine Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at Baylor’s Truett Seminary and author of numerous books, including The Journey of Modern Theology and Reformed and Always Reforming. Of course, Roger also contributed … More The Pietist Schoolman Podcast Debuts Today… with Roger Olson

Harry Truman throws out the first pitch in 1952

“Venality, slavery, and gangsterism”: Soviet Perceptions of Baseball’s Golden Age

April 14, 2015

Maybe it’s just that the Twins are off to a terrible start, but I was especially tickled to come across this in Alan Ball’s new Liberty’s Tears: Soviet Portraits of the “American Way of Life” During the Cold War: Permeated with the spirit of venality, slavery, and gangsterism, contemporary American baseball maims hundreds of young lives and serves … More “Venality, slavery, and gangsterism”: Soviet Perceptions of Baseball’s Golden Age

Bowman, Portrait of a People

Recent Conversations on Evangelicalism and Pietist-Anabaptist Identity

March 30, 2015

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Bridgewater College, which is located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, just outside Harrisonburg, Virginia. The occasion, spearheaded by Steve Longenecker, was a symposium on the history of the (Schwarzenau) Brethren tradition’s relationship with evangelicalism. The intersection of evangelicalism with Pietist and Anabaptist groups is a topic that has … More Recent Conversations on Evangelicalism and Pietist-Anabaptist Identity

McPherson, The War That Forged a Nation

Comment Drive: Why’s the Civil War So Fascinating?

March 27, 2015

I suspect that I’ve blogged long enough that I’m running out of mildly embarrassing self-revelations, but here’s one oddity I might not have shared: I like to relax by reading about the American Civil War. How European/international historians relax on their spring breaks. pic.twitter.com/JIIUFen4J7 — Chris Gehrz (@cgehrz) March 16, 2015 Yes, while others spend spring break on … More Comment Drive: Why’s the Civil War So Fascinating?