As we come to the end of Bethel’s summer break, I’m pretty happy with the research I’ve been able to do for my new Charles Lindbergh biography. As I told historian Jared Burkholder today for his new Historians on the Hot Seat series, The very idea of writing a spiritual biography of a someone as non-religious as Lindbergh is a bit … More A Good Summer of Lindbergh Research
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
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!
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)
“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
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
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)
Thanks to Brad Bergfalk, pastor of First Congregational Church in Litchfield, Connecticut, for inviting me to preach yesterday. It’s always a pleasure to preach in other churches, but especially in one as historic as FCC Litchfield. That congregation was organized in 1721, and the current building dates to 1829. My favorite radio station is called … More A New Song (Psalm 96)
As I write this, Vice President Mike Pence is addressing the the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Some Southern Baptists aren’t too happy about that. As John Fea reported, a Virginia pastor named Garrett Kell found the invitation to Pence so tone-deaf and divisive that he recommended replacing that speech with a time … More On Praying for Donald Trump
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