I originally wrote this near the end of my January course on the history of World War II. But it seems a better fit for Good Friday… It was a day into Epiphany — the Christian season of light, when Jesus is revealed in many and various ways as God — when I began my J-term … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Looking Too Quickly for Light
Ten minutes after I pressed “Publish” on Monday’s post about my struggle to find a way to blog well about the World Vision controversy, I found myself lecturing on the Catholic Reformation and Wars of Religion in Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture class. While the fracturing of the Church into tens of thousands of denominations didn’t start or … More “That They May Be One”: Evangelical Unity after World Vision
Is it hard to be an intellectual in your church? Do you respond more deeply to theology than worship or devotions? Part of me resonated strongly with a new piece at Relevant by a Twin Cities writer (and Bethel Seminary student) named Bonnie Kristian. Like her, I don’t tend to “get swept up in emotional worship experiences” and I’ve … More Being an Intellectual in an Emotional Church
For Holy Week I’d like to share a unique devotional experience from Central Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN: “An Invitation on the Pathway” by Mike Widen and G. W. Carlson is a Baptist version of the Stations of the Cross, blending fourteen original works of art with fourteen original reflections. You can walk these stations … More Baptist Stations of the Cross (G.W. Carlson)
I’m not a member of the Organization of American Historians and so wasn’t in Atlanta last week for its annual meeting. Fortunately, John Fea was, and not only lit up Twitter but shared some reflections on panels he attended or participated in. I was especially interested in his reports on two sessions: “Is Blogging Scholarship?” and … More Not a Prophet, Not an Apostle: Blogging after World Vision
The first time I heard about Winona Lake in northeast Indiana was during my research for my Masters thesis at TEDS. My project was a study of two Mennonite congregations in eastern Pennsylvania that were heavily influenced by American evangelicalism during the 1950s. The pastor of one of these congregations, an evangelist named John S. … More Introducing the Winona History Center at Grace College
4/10/14 – Thanks to G.W. Carlson for drawing my attention to the recent passing of a fellow Covenanter in higher education: Robert T. Sandin. An alumnus of Bethel College and Seminary who went on to earn a PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Sandin served as an administrator at Northwestern (MN), North Park, Mercer, … More RIP Robert Sandin (1927-2014)
In my introduction to our forthcoming book, I emphasize our desire to cast a vision for Christian higher education that is “Pietist not just in content, but tone.” At least in the present draft, that means four things: A degree of autobiographical reflection unusual for such an academic book; Extended meditation on scriptural passages (e.g., Rev 21:5 in my … More Pietism: Eclectic and Playful?
This year, as several before, I joined other members of Salem Covenant Church in contributing to a devotional to be used by our congregation throughout the season of Lent and into Holy Week. This year’s theme (not just for the devotional, but for all of our ministries) is “An Adventurous Spirituality.” My contribution came up this morning — … More This Wonderful Day
Yesterday I posted the first part of my interview with historian David King, in which he discussed the origins of World Vision and its child sponsorship program. In today’s conclusion to that interview I asked David to talk about World Vision’s relationship to evangelicalism, and then the international character of World Vision, an aspect of the story … More The Conclusion of My Interview with David King on World Vision
The Pietist Schoolman 