Education – Page 9 – The Pietist Schoolman

Open Theism, Evangelicalism, and Anabaptism (and Pietism)

September 4, 2018

Yesterday Mennonite World Review reported that Fresno Pacific University (FPU) in California had removed the president of its seminary, Terry Brensinger, and announced that pastors Greg Boyd, Brian Zahnd, and Bruxy Cavey would no longer teach in the seminary’s M.A. program in ministry, leadership, and culture. According to MWR reporter Tim Huber, several students have complained to … More Open Theism, Evangelicalism, and Anabaptism (and Pietism)

A Counterintuitive Economic Argument for Majoring in the Humanities

August 28, 2018

It happened again this summer. I was faced with further evidence of declining enrollment in history, English, philosophy, theology, and other humanities disciplines at our institution. So after making a few other arguments, I arrived at my typical last line of defense: “Anyway, these things are cyclical. The humanities will come back. Just look at … More A Counterintuitive Economic Argument for Majoring in the Humanities

Cover of 2018 Bethel Faculty Retreat program

The Impact of One Life on Another: My Address to Bethel’s Faculty

August 27, 2018

Today is the first day of fall classes here at Bethel University, so I thought I’d share the brief address I delivered last Tuesday at our faculty retreat, as our faculty president for the coming year. I didn’t reflect on the theme verse (“For we are the aroma of Christ to God,” 2 Cor 2:15), … More The Impact of One Life on Another: My Address to Bethel’s Faculty

The Pietist Option for Baptists

August 2, 2018

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

Check Out Jared Burkholder’s New Blog!

July 26, 2018

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!

A Deeper Dive into “Why We Teach”

July 24, 2018

After spending about 6,000 miles on the road, visiting a dozen states (and the District of Columbia), preaching three sermons, and reading through thousands of documents in dozens of boxes of Charles Lindbergh papers, I’m finally back in Minnesota. We’re only about a month away from the start of fall classes at Bethel, so I’ll … More A Deeper Dive into “Why We Teach”

The Birth of America First

June 28, 2018

“We are not here to-day to mourn their deaths. Nothing would so shock the devoted and exultant spirit of their service.” So said former Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in November 1920, as Yale University dedicated tablets in Memorial Hall with the names of 227 Yalies who had fallen in the recent World War. “We … More The Birth of America First

How One University Remembers World War I

June 27, 2018

The college football stadium that served as my home state’s WWI memorial was demolished in 1992, but you can still find World War I memorials at many colleges and universities in this country. I doubt any American institution of higher learning did more to commemorate WWI than my graduate alma mater: Yale University. Students at Yale had … More How One University Remembers World War I

Why We Teach

May 24, 2018

It’s made by one of my best friends. It consists of nothing but interviews with professors at a small university, plus images from public domain films. I’m in it. For all these reasons, you won’t want to believe what I’m about to write. But it’s still true: Why We Teach is the most compelling documentary you’ll … More Why We Teach

No, I Don’t Want To Lose My Faculty Office

May 15, 2018

We’re in the middle of a space planning conversation at Bethel, and I’m just hoping that we decide our department’s future location before this piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) has a chance to seep into anyone’s consciousness. I’m afraid some of our planners might be tempted by paragraphs like those below to think they … More No, I Don’t Want To Lose My Faculty Office

The Pietist Schoolman

The website of historian Chris Gehrz

Category: Education