In my recent post on why I enjoy teaching the history of the Cold War, I mentioned the odd pleasure I take in forcingencouraging my students to sing along as I play country-western songs about the evils of Communism… (You wouldn’t think there’s anywhere else to go from there, but…) As it happens, today — … More This Day In History: Stalin’s Stroke
After taking a day off from social media yesterday as part of the END IT movement’s attempt to draw some attention to the continued enslavement of at least 27 million people around the world, it seems right to return to blogging/Facebooking/Tweeting with something on slavery. But while I think yesterday’s “disappearance” was a well-intended, perhaps … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Abolition as Grace
Our textbook orders for next fall are due this Friday, and I’m absolutely not prepared. But I can take some solace in the fact that I already know exactly what text I’ll be using in Spring 2014 for our department’s capstone Senior Seminar: Why Study History? Reflecting on the Importance of the Past, by friend-of-this-blog … More Why Study History?
How do historians define what it is that they do? Is it a profession? A vocation? Both? As I mentioned last week, as part of Bethel’s faculty promotion process I recently wrote a lengthy essay on the meaning of vocation for a Christian historian like myself. In my first post stemming from that essay, I … More The Vocation of a Christian Historian: Profession vs. Calling
2/19/13 – If you’re part of the Bethel University community or live in the Twin Cities area… I have a pair of presentations coming up (both at the Bethel Library on Thursday mornings). First, my colleague Sam Mulberry and I will be joined by two of our students to share photos, videos, and reflections on … More Bethel Library Presentations
At some point in the history of this blog, I think I’ve had at least one post about every course that I teach — with one exception: I’ve said little about my upper-division course on the history of the Cold War, for the simple reason that I haven’t taught it since May 2011, and this … More Teaching the Cold War
I’m up for promotion this year, and so had to write a lengthy faith-learning integration essay describing how I “[bring] the perspective of a Christian worldview to bear on scholarship and teaching” and reflecting an “increasing maturity in one’s discipline and faith….” I don’t intend to publish the entire (thirty-page) thing here, but I did … More The Vocation of a Christian Historian: Calling and Callings
2/13/13 – Move over, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and, um, Mr. President… A new contender’s ready to make a meteoric rise into the top five of Twitter accounts: the Pietism Studies Group!
It’s been a long weekend teaching and preaching, but a rewarding, exhilarating one. Thanks again to the people of Bethlehem Covenant Church for making me feel so welcome as the guest speaker for their Winter Seminar! I’m particularly grateful to their senior pastor, Ryan Eikenbary-Barber, for extending the invitation and for being an active participant … More Further Reading on Pietism
Thanks to Brian Gumm for drawing my attention to a recent post by Joshua Brockway, a minister in the Church of the Brethren, considering how the Pietist half of the COB’s heritage contributes a “spiritualist corrective” to its Anabaptist half. As I continue to prepare my comments for this weekend’s seminar, Pious Wishes and Better … More A Pietist-Spiritualist Corrective to Anabaptism
The Pietist Schoolman 