I’m happy to announce that I’ll be speaking at the University of Minnesota’s Rochester campus on Tuesday night, April 22nd as part of the UMR Connects lecture series, free and open to the public. That month the series will focus on “Wars and Conflicts,” so I was invited to give a talk on World War I (this … More Hear Me Speak on WWI Commemoration
I recently had the opportunity to hear Tim Challies speak at one of our local churches here in Winona Lake, IN. Challies is a (Neo-Calvinist) pastor, writer, and a keen thinker who has helped his audiences wrestle with issues related to faith, technology, and our ubiquitous digital devices. Many of Challies’ points were what one … More Technology and Faith: A Perennial Dilemma
I’ve sometimes dreamed of having a holodeck-like classroom in which the walls were massive screens that could be changed to make it seem like we were suddenly sitting in the middle of the same physical environment we were discussing. To teach the French Revolution while sitting in the middle of Paris’ Place de la Concorde, … More What Did History Smell Like?
The day the 2012 Summer Olympics opened in London, I wrote a post exploring how Olympic records had changed over time. Over the course of a century (from the 1908 London Olympics to 2008 in Beijing), I found that athletes in track and field and swimming had significantly improved performance. While that’s not surprising, it … More Olympic Records Over Time (Winter Edition)
Today G.W. Carlson concludes his tribute to Baptist scholar Wally Peterson, who helped found the political science program at Bethel during his time there (1950-1965). In part two G.W. turns to Peterson’s time with the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs (now, Religious Liberty) and his productive tenure on the faculty of Washington State University. … More Walfred Peterson: Champion of Religious Liberty (G.W. Carlson) – part 2
Having previously written tributes to Clarence Jordan, Virgil Olson, and Will D. Campbell, our own favorite Baptist, G.W. Carlson, returns to celebrate another noteworthy Baptist: political scientist Walfred “Wally” Peterson, who served at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in between teaching stints at Bethel College and Washington State University. (G.W. previously wrote about … More Walfred Peterson: Champion of Religious Liberty (G.W. Carlson) – part 1
Today’s must-read article comes from Anne Applebaum, pointing to a perhaps underreported dimension of the crisis in Syria: mass starvation brought about by the policies of Bashar al-Assad. While the international community is haggling over [Assad’s] chemical weapons, the stuff of modern nightmares, he is following the example of his medieval and his 20th-century predecessors and … More Starvation as a Weapon
Pietism lives! In German stereotypes as reported on by The Economist… H/T John Lawyer for pointing me to an article on the cultural origins of the “Swabian housewife.” Invoked by German chancellor Angela Merkel and described by the premier of the state of Baden-Württemberg as “the starting point” for the German approach to fiscal management, the … More Pietism and German Stereotypes
I don’t pretend that historical coincidences like this mean anything. But perhaps because I’ve just finished teaching a course on the history of World War II for the first time, I couldn’t help but notice a convergence of WWII-related anniversaries on my Twitter feed this morning: I’m sure there’s something profound to note about this … More This Day in History: A WWII Convergence
J. D. Woods, a professor in the Art Department here at Grace and an acoustic musician, is one my favorite colleagues and he often gets asked to perform with his guitar or banjo. I can easily see Pete Seeger’s influence on his life. Yesterday morning, I found the following note from him in my inbox: … More A Colleague Remembers Pete Seeger
The Pietist Schoolman 