I didn’t mean to write a fourth Christian higher ed post in four days, but… It’s all too possible that someone newer to the blog could read the first three and come away thinking that I’m thoroughly disillusioned about Christian colleges in general and disgruntled with Bethel in particular. Those feelings are there — as they would be, … More Why I’m Glad I’m at Bethel
I’m pretty sure the world has heard enough from me for now on the subject of the “crisis of the humanities” in Christian colleges. At the risk of overreaching, let me just add a few closing thoughts: First, that I appreciate the enormous response to the first two posts this week. They provoked some truly enlightening … More Final Thoughts on Evangelicalism and the Humanities: Rethinking How Christian Colleges Serve the Church
So what’s causing the decline of humanities disciplines in evangelical colleges? And why is it significant for those institutions’ constituencies? I think the answer to both questions may hinge on one word: fear. Now, I’m sure no single factor can explain why English, history, and philosophy accounted for only 5.5% of bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2014 by members of … More If There’s a Crisis of the Humanities in Christian Colleges, What Does It Tell Us about Evangelicalism?
So is Messiah College history professor John Fea correct that “Enrollments in humanities fields — history, philosophy, literature, theology — at evangelical colleges have experienced a precipitous decline over the last decade”? Last week I looked at my own institution to begin to offer an answer to that question. But I admitted that I didn’t … More Quantifying the Crisis in Humanities at Christian Colleges
Thanks to Brant Himes of Azusa Pacific University for taking the time to review our book on Pietism and higher ed for the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion! In The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education, Christopher Gehrz convenes an impressive array of scholars to offer fresh, cross-disciplinary reflections on how the Pietist … More A New Review of The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education
Last week I was part of a discussion at Bethel about what defines “the humanities.” I bit my tongue, but I was tempted to say, “A perpetual sense of crisis.” And perhaps “crisis of the humanities” talk has been overblown. I wrote a whole post about this nearly three years ago, noting historian Ben Schmidt’s finding that (aside … More Are the Humanities in Crisis at Christian Colleges?
“This is going to be on the blog, isn’t it?” This post is about to prove my friend Will right. But honestly, as we stood in front of the climbing wall at Covenant Pines Bible Camp this past Saturday afternoon, all I could think was, “I can’t believe Lena wants to go up that thing!” My daughter is … More What My Daughter Taught Me This Weekend about Courage… and Education
This week I got to be a bit more of a Pietist schoolman again on our podcast, as we considered how a Pietist ethos would shape education at several levels. Things started with Sam and me talking about Bethel and revisiting some of the key themes of last year’s book on The Pietist Vision for Christian Higher Education: … More Thursday’s Podcast: Education as Whole-Life Formation
We’re finally starting to wind down the academic year here at Bethel. But while this is a time of endings for professors, for many students it’s a time of new beginnings: For our seniors, it’s a time to interview with prospective employers. For high school seniors coming here in the fall, it’s a time to start signing … More Why Businesses Ought to Hire History Majors
A list, but it can’t be click-baity with this kind of bait, right? So this past Tuesday my friend Sam Mulberry and I got to co-host a special presentation in the Bethel University Library: a walk down memory lane for GES130 Christianity and Western Culture, a staple of Bethel’s gen ed curriculum for three decades now. While it was … More 6 Reasons to Watch a 40-Minute Tribute to a 30-Year Old Western Civ Course
The Pietist Schoolman 