I once wrote a post explaining three reasons that I’m “almost a Lutheran.” But given how Amazon has categorized my latest book, I’m wondering if I need to drop the modifier. I know enough to know that being the “#1 Best Seller” in an Amazon subcategory doesn’t mean that I should start cashing my royalty … More Am I a Lutheran?
If anyone in the world is predisposed to appreciate the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, it’s me. As a parochial Minnesotan, I’m happy to claim one of our native sons as both U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner. My undergraduate honors thesis featured Frank Kellogg’s co-laureate, French foreign minister Aristide Briand, who went on … More Did Outlawing War Actually Work?
As usual, things get quiet around here in mid-to-late August as I gear up for the start of another academic year. (Those scintillating syllabi won’t write themselves!) So while I managed to dash off a few thoughts on what happened in Charlottesville, I’ve not had a chance to reflect in any depth on the question … More How Historians Can Teach from Memorials
So much for the idea that Americans don’t care about their past. One of the hashtags trending today on Twitter complained about the dangers of #ErasingHistory: Is it wrong if I watch these morons kicking a statue & wish they'd break a toe or two? đ#HeritageNotHate#DurhamNC#Durham#ErasingHistory https://t.co/LRGqDYXml6 — đ¸ RedPills4All đşđ¸ (@RedPills4All171) August 15, 2017 … More How History Is Actually Erased
âThis is not my country.â Thatâs what I wanted to believe yesterday, as I stumbled back from a week-long vacation in the Rocky Mountains into the ugly events transpiring in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having intentionally tried to avoid the news in order to savor time with my family, it was bewildering to check social media in … More On Charlottesville: “This Is Not My Country”
While I’ve skimmed through Charles Lindbergh’s most famous memoir, I’m actually intimidated to read The Spirit of St. Louis. A popular and critical hit, SoSL won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for its inventive, gripping narrative. Any would-be biographer needs to live up to the high standard set by Lindbergh himself (with considerable editing assistance from his wife, Anne). … More The Spiritual Spirit of St. Louis
About a year ago, we drove an hour northwest of the Twin Cities to take my wife to a workshop in St. Cloud, Minnesota. To kill some time that afternoon, I took our then-six year old twins another half-hour north, to the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site. While young Lindbergh also spent time in Washington, … More The Lindberghs of Little Falls
Last week at Anxious Bench, I had a chance to interview historian Paul Putz, who just launched Sportianity, a blog on “the unique cultural world that stands at the intersection of sports and (mostly evangelical Protestant) Christianity.” When I asked Paul to share significant changes in “Sportianity” since sportswriter Frank Deford coined the term in 1976, … More Sportianity Goes Global
The rest of this summer our pastors are going preach on what David’s life teaches us about leadership. Jonna got things started this past Sunday with a fine meditation on how God, when he chose David to be anointed as king, looks beyond the superficial to see the heart. (A good fit with the Tom … More The Violence of God
A couple years ago our family went to southern Iowa for a reunion. Noticing that the nearest town was called Moravia, I decided to take a morning to drive around… and discovered several examples of Moravian, Brethren, and other Pietist groups that had settled in that part of America. That tour of “Pietist Iowa” ended … More Pietist “Communism”: The Amana Colonies
The Pietist Schoolman 