This semester students in our capstone course, Senior Seminar, are joining me in reading through Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historian’s Vocation (University of Notre Dame Press), edited by John Fea, Jay Green, and Eric Miller. As we work through it, I’ll plan to share a few observations, starting today with Miller’s … More Confessing History: Introduction
My wife and I were blessed to be part of a very special wedding yesterday. Among many other memorable elements of the occasion, the New Testament text that our friends chose stood out: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in … More “One in spirit and of one mind”
4/13/12 – Hot off the press from Wipf & Stock, publisher of our The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, is another book about an “impulse” in Christianity. Edited by Jared S. Burkholder and David C. Cramer, The Activist Impulse: Essays on the Intersection of Evangelicalism and Anabaptism brings together chapters by John Roth, Steven Nolt, John … More The Activist Impulse
In the newest issue of the Baptist Pietist Clarion, I was especially struck by Glen Scorgie‘s article, “Religion of the Heart: The Enduring Value of Pietism,” in which he asks “whether Pietism should still matter to the Baptist General Conference—to Converge Worldwide.” Even beyond that particular denomination, I think it’s a valuable question for several churches … More Glen Scorgie: Why Pietism Still Matters
4/9/12 – Just eleven more days until Bethel hosts its inaugural Colloquium on Pietism Studies. If you want to hear talks by best-selling author Scot McKnight and historian Jon Sensbach, discuss Pietism past and present with scholars, pastors, and others, and pay $0 for the privilege, be sure to register today!
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I … More Resurrection
Earlier this week I posted meditations that I had contributed to the 2011 and 2012 editions of our church’s Lenten devotional. The first such book came out in 2010: it seems like my contribution to that inaugural edition fits well with Easter Saturday, the painful space between Crucifixion and Resurrection during which many Christians keep … More Stay Awake
Each of the last three years, the members and friends of Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton, Minnesota have produced a Lenten devotional book. On Monday I shared the meditation I contributed to the 2012 devotional. On this Good Friday, it seems appropriate also to post what I wrote for the 2011 edition, which had … More The God Who Grieves
4/2/12 – The newest issue of The Baptist Pietist Clarion, a newsletter edited by my colleague G.W. Carlson, went out at the end of last week. It features articles by three colleagues on the Bethel Seminary faculty (Chris Armstrong, Jeannette Bakke, Glen Scorgie — one of the contributors to our Pietist Impulse book) on Pietism … More New Issue of the Baptist Pietist Clarion
The last three years, our church has produced its own Lenten devotional book: forty days of reflections on passages of Scripture related to a central theme, each followed by a prayer for the day. And all done by the laity and clergy of Salem Covenant. It’s been a privilege to be part of each devotional, … More Compelled
The Pietist Schoolman 