I’m now halfway through my four-week Pietist Option for Baptists class at Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Besides reconnecting with senior pastor (and former Bethel Seminary professor) Joel Lawrence, one of the chief pleasures of the class is that I have a chance to delve more deeply into chapters of The Pietist Option that I … More How Pietists Read the Bible
This Sunday I’m starting a four-part adult series on The Pietist Option at a church with special meaning for me: Central Baptist, in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. See, Central was the church home of my late friend and mentor, G.W. Carlson, who was the first and most important source of my interest in … More The Pietist Option for Baptists
Having recommended Jared Burkholder’s recently revived The Hermeneutic Circle last week, let me puff one more new-old blog: Jay Phelan’s Additional Markings. Formerly president and dean of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, Jay retired from a faculty position there and settled here in Minnesota, where he is currently serving as a scholar in residence at First Covenant … More Welcome Back to the Blogosphere, Jay Phelan
If you’re interested in Christianity (especially as practiced by Moravians, Pietists, Anabaptists, and evangelicals), history, education, and several of the other topics covered here at The Pietist Schoolman, then you’ll want to start following Jared Burkholder’s new blog, The Hermeneutic Circle. Well, not exactly “new”… A history professor at Grace College in Indiana and director of its … More Check Out Jared Burkholder’s New Blog!
This 4th of July, I needed to be reminded of what America can be at its best. So I watched the new documentary on Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? It’s a surprisingly terrific film: creative, inspiring, moving, surprising, and thought-provoking. Perhaps most refreshingly, it doesn’t shy away from the role of Christianity in the life … More The Gentle Power of Mr. Rogers
I know that, no matter how many times I get a chance to preach, I’ll always sound like a professor in the pulpit. But I’ve learned enough about sermon-writing to leave out several academic references in this past Sunday’s message on “Freedom in Christ.” To contrast Christian freedom with the American civil variety, I instead … More What Is the Freedom That Americans Celebrate Today?
Thanks to Rev. Johnny Agurkis for inviting me to preach yesterday at Cape Cod Covenant Church. Given some recent conversations in our denomination and the fact that it was the Sunday before Independence Day, the topic was an easy choice. I’m checking off a lot of firsts during my month-long visit to the East Coast. … More Freedom in Christ (Galatians 5)
Thanks to Pastor Doug Bixby, for effectively switching places with me yesterday: while he was back in my hometown participating in the annual meeting of the Covenant Church, I had the chance to preach and teach at the church he serves in Attleboro, Massachusetts. (And thanks to their associate pastor, Chris Wall, for being such … More Stories of Hope: Joseph… and Judah
Dear members and friends of the Covenant Church, Tomorrow our denomination will begin its 2018 annual meeting — one that many expect to be a landmark event, as delegates vote on new leaders amid intensifying debate about the ECC’s position on human sexuality and marriage. Part of me wishes that I were on the floor … More My (Love) Letter to the Covenant Church
Tonight’s guest-blogger is Mark Safstrom, chief editor of the devotional journal Pietisten and assistant professor of Scandinavian Studies at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. More importantly, Mark is both a friend and a Mission Friend: that is, a fellow member of the Evangelical Covenant Church. What follows is adapted from his piece in next month’s issue … More Humble Leadership and Gentle Persuasion: A Plea to the People of the Covenant Church (Mark Safstrom)
The Pietist Schoolman 