“Is this the end” of the losing party, asked a journalist in the aftermath of a decisive election day, “and perhaps even the end of the two-party system in the United States? “Be of good cheer, ye of little faith,” he advised the losing side. “Things don’t work that way in this remarkable country, with … More “The end of the two-party system in the United States?”
How important is St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo? Let’s put it this way… I don’t write and perform parody rap videos for just any theologian-philosopher: Six years later, that lyric and video don’t seem quite as awesome as they did in the moment. But I stand by this couplet as containing some of my finest … More Happy Birthday, Augustine of Hippo!
As I’ve noted here before, many Protestants spent the better part of four centuries viewing the bishop of Rome as Antichrist. Reading Exsurge Domina, the papal bull excommunicating him from the Church in 1520, Martin Luther professed to want to believe that the author was actually his debating rival Johannes Eck, but in any case… … More Evangelicals’ New Favorite Pope?
Earlier this year the New York Times ran a story about an English professor at Duke University named Cathy Davidson, who decided to replace more traditional term papers with a course blog for which students would regularly contribute 500-1500 word posts. While much of the Times article focused on the arguments for and against what … More Student Blogging: A Report from a Modern European History Course
This weekend my mom’s side of the family is gathering in Ellsworth, Wisconsin (“Cheese Curd Capital of the World”!) to celebrate my Grandpa Peterson’s 90th birthday. In honor of the occasion, let me reprise the first of my three-part series exploring some family history (and themes of immigration, urbanization, education, social mobility, and assimilation) via … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Petersons of Pierce County
I just cast my ballot, but I’ve got to admit: I’ve rarely been so unenthusiastic going into the booth. I’m normally the kind of citizen who is giddy on Election Day — shucks, I even show up for primary elections when all that’s at stake is a city council seat — but this year I … More Grateful to Vote
In our Christianity and Western Culture program at Bethel, we refer frequently to the biblical image of being surrounded by “so great a cloud of witnesses.” In my experience, few witnesses have been greater than the Dutch-born writer known as Erasmus (1466?-1536). In class yesterday I mostly presented Erasmus as exemplifying how the “Catholic Reformation” … More The Education of a Christian President
150 years ago today, the courts-martial of over 300 Dakota warriors came to an end with convictions for murder and rape. While Pres. Abraham Lincoln commuted most of the sentences, the day after Christmas 1862, thirty-eight were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota. In commemoration, here’s a post on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 that I originally … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: “All have sinned”
“Mission Friends.” That’s what my ancestors in what’s now the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) originally called themselves, and it’s a winsome phrase I’ve always enjoyed. It reflects our foundational understanding that Christians are called “to reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ – evangelizing the lost, ministering to those in need, and seeking … More Covenant Kids Congo
Some more Reformation Day fun… A few of my favorite — and not-so-favorite, but significant or revealing — quotations from Martin Luther: On Faith Faith is God’s work in us, which transforms us and by which we are reborn from God. By faith the old Adam is crucified. Faith makes us entirely different in heart, … More The Quotable Luther
The Pietist Schoolman 