This week in our department’s Intro to History course, we’re talking about history as a form of literature. Wanting to point students to some of my favorite writing historians, I started with Jill Lepore, the Harvard professor who also writes regular essays for The New Yorker. (“All historians are coroners,” she began a 2019 piece … More Jill Lepore on History
Perhaps because we’re taking next week off, this week’s episode of The 252 is bursting at the seams with interesting conversation. • Chris Moore and I started by reporting on the results of a public policy simulation we just finished in our History and Politics of Sports class at Bethel: students played different roles in a fictional … More Thursday’s Podcast: Stadium Funding, the NCAA, and More
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy … More The With-God Life: Jesus’ Cloud of Witnesses
If nothing else, this is a wonderful time for all of us to catch up on our reading. To that end, let me encourage you to check out the April e-book sale at Eerdmans, which has discounted 300+ titles to prices as low as $1.99. (Most are under $4.) The sale runs through the end … More Time to Load Up on E-Books
This week in our History and Politics of Sports class, we’ve been looking at African American history through the lens of sports. To wrap up the week, students submitted questions and ideas for Chris, Sam, and I to discuss on the newest episode of The 252. We started with some questions about race and sports in the present … More Thursday’s Podcast: Race and Sports
Yesterday I started thinking out loud about my plans for converting my courses at Bethel University into online offerings. Part one summarized some basic principles I’m trying to follow, then explained my plans for a 100-level gen ed survey. Today: my two 200-level History courses… HIS/POS252L History and Politics of Sports Course description and students: … More How I’m Planning to Teach Online (part 2)
Tonight HBO premieres the first episode of a six-part adaptation of Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America. Since its alternate history premise centers on the subject of my current writing project, I thought some of my readers might be interested in my response to Roth’s book — originally published at The Anxious Bench after … More Charles Lindbergh and The Plot Against America
Is evangelical opposition to Donald Trump simply evidence of elitism? That was the argument of Matthew Schmitz, who didn’t so much counter Christianity Today editor-in-chief Mark Galli’s critique of Trump as dismiss Galli and his CT colleagues as elite evangelicals — and therefore, by Schmitz’s definition, not really evangelical at all: …evangelical leaders who have come … More The Problems and Possibilities of Evangelical Populism
Over the weekend, it seemed like virtually every Christian college professor in my social media feed was reading “The Evangelical Mind,” an essay by theologian Adam Kotsko, who was raised in a conservative evangelical home, by parents who were in many ways at the vanguard of the movement. The more I have reflected on my … More Am I an Evangelical?
There’s a lot to like about the Netflix series The Crown, but I’m particularly struck that it’s that rarest of TV shows: one that takes religion seriously. In season 1, that theme showed up as the family of Queen Elizabeth II educate her about her role. Her dying grandmother insists that “Monarchy is God’s sacred mission … More Religion in Season 3 of The Crown
