I preached this sermon yesterday at Rice Creek Covenant Church in Lino Lakes, Minnesota. I was there partly to teach an adult class on The Pietist Option, but the text came from the congregation’s participation in our denomination’s Immerse Bible reading program. They’d just finished Exodus 1-24… I have to say, it’s risky to invite a non-preacher to … More God Will Speak… and We Will Die
“[T]he most distinctive feature of history as an academic discipline,” I once argued, “is the relative paucity of the sources available. All we’ve got to go on are whatever artifacts survive the passing of time, and most of those sources erode. Past supporting preservation and archival efforts (including oral history projects), there’s not much historians can do … More Why We Can Remember the Holocaust
Now, that may seem like an unlikely title. But honestly, I’m delighted that The Gospel Coalition published a fairly lengthy review of The Pietist Option, by Union University dean Nathan Finn. Now, I would fully expect a TGC review of our book to raise serious concerns, as when Finn blames our “Pietist ethos” for introducing into evangelicalism a … More The Gospel Coalition Review of The Pietist Option
Among other upcoming speaking engagements, I’m eager to return to Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis for a multi-day seminar (February 9-11) entitled Always Reforming: The Pietist Option for Covenanters and Other Protestants. The title comes from the venerable, vexing Protestant idea that the church is “reformed, and always reforming” (ecclesia semper reformanda est). It’s a line … More Always Reforming, Always Planting
I don’t understand how actual big shot author types survive authentic speaking tours. I’m only averaging one Pietist Option-related event per month from January through March, and even that’s enough to make me feel tired. But then, that’s partly because I’m not only teaching about Pietism, but giving sermons at three different churches. It’s been a … More Where You Can Hear Me Speak (and Preach!) This Winter
Dear President Trump, I write to wish you and your family happy holidays, in the truest, fullest sense of that phrase. While you’ve tried often to convince our fellow Christians that “happy holidays” is part of a secular war on our faith, I hope your aversion to fake news will not keep you from reading historian … More Happy Holidays, Mr. President
Sam and I wrap up our third season by considering some of the legacies of the Protestant Reformation: from democracy and free inquiry to religious pluralism and secularization to the notion that Protestants are “reformed and always reforming” (and why that means you should all buy The Pietist Option). Featured Book Alec Ryrie, Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World … More Thursday’s Podcast: Legacies of the Protestant Reformation
Yesterday I put my Modern Europe students through what’s become a pre-Thanksgiving ritual: watching the 2005 German movie, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, about the anti-Nazi student resistance group known as the White Rose. About, that is, the arrest, interrogation, and execution of its leaders, Sophie and Hans Scholl. Coming after our week on the Final Solution, it’s a wrenching … More The Prayers at the Heart of the White Rose
In the past year, I’ve noticed an intriguing micro-trend among History majors at Bethel: in the space of a year, three of them expressed an interest in pairing a History major with preparation for med school. (And one of my teaching assistants has added History to his Biokinetics major in our Applied Health Science department.) … More Major in History, Go to Med School
Back from a break for our penultimate episode of season 3, Sam and I surveyed a variety of Protestant Reformations, both magisterial (Calvin’s Geneva, the Church of England) and radical (Anabaptists in particular). Featured Books Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History and All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy Other Readings John Calvin, Golden Booklet of the … More Thursday’s Podcast: Magisterial and Radical Reformations
The Pietist Schoolman 