Yesterday I was asked to sign a copy of our book on Pietism and higher education, an invitation that was at once A rare honor Mildly embarrassing — since I’m terrible at coming up with meaningful inscriptions and uncomfortable writing in cursive A reminder that it’s time to move on to a new project As it happens, I’ve … More A Pia Desideria for the 21st Century?
Hagiography is not a term that most Western academics dream of seeing in reviews of their work, but historian Rick Kennedy meant it as a plaudit when he dedicated his recent Christian Scholar’s Review essay to an “emerging genre” he termed the “new academic hagiography”: In this New Hagiography the author must try to analyze methodically while believing. Unthinking piety has … More Is (Responsible, Thoughtful) Hagiography Coming Back?
6/1/15 – Readers in the Twin Cities metro area: you can hear me at Calvary Church in Roseville this coming Sunday, June 7, in their 10am elective hour. I’ll be speaking on the history of Pietism, particularly as it has shaped the Baptist General Conference (and its university) and my own denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. Hope to … More Hear Me Speak on Pietism This Coming Sunday
From April 9… Having spent a couple of posts last week unpacking Liberty University’s ambition (and the older one of Baylor University) to become “the Protestant Notre Dame” — and asking just what that meant, I’m surprised it took almost four days to see this comment appear: The question isn’t so much whether Liberty is a … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Notre Dame and the Idea of the Catholic University
While I wrap up grading, I’ll be sharing some highlights from this spring’s blogging, starting with this Easter Monday meditation. “We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as a message about our future with him in heaven,” wrote Roger Olson at his blog for Easter Sunday, “but we too often neglect the other dimension of Easter: that a … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Expectation and Joy
Even if you don’t have any personal connection with Grace College or Seminary, there are lots of topics that emerge in Becoming Grace that may pique your interest, especially if you’re interested in American religious history or the trajectory of Christian colleges and universities. Here are a few prominent themes and tensions in the book. They … More Why you’ll be interested in our new book about Grace College and Seminary
5/22/15 – Good grief – two weeks in a row of posting a Pietist Schoolman Podcast a day late! But don’t let that discourage you from listening to episode 6 on iTunes and the Christian Humanist website. This time we dive deeper into the meaning of “whole-person education,” talking athletics and academics with Gretchen Hunt and everything from biokinetics to spiritual disciplines with Seth Paradis.
Offered as a daydream, as by one who trusts rather than knows that the grading will get done and this impossibly busy academic year will reach its end… John Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Harvard UP, 2012) A big part of my summer reading is simply playing catch up, and I’ve already got a head start on that … More Is It Too Early For a Summer Reading List?
5/15/15 – Yes, I know it’s actually Friday night, but episode 5 of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast went up yesterday on iTunes and the Christian Humanist website. In addition to physicist Dick Peterson talking about his chapter in our book, we expanded our conversation of Christian higher ed to the visual arts, thanks to artist Ken Steinbach.
5/13/15 – We’ve saved one of the best episodes of Past & Presence for last. Not only do we take a road trip to Duluth, MN — with a stop at a former fur trading post and a discussion of one of the worst disasters in Minnesota history along the way — but we close with one of … More Past and Presence: Careers and Vocation
The Pietist Schoolman 