Until he died last night, I had no idea that horror film director Wes Craven had graduated from Wheaton College. (He discussed his fundamentalist Baptist upbringing and his decision to flee from it in a 2011 interview with the New York Times Magazine.) Of course, this got me wondering: who else would I be surprised to learn … More Who Are the Most Surprising Christian College Alumni?
The last episode of The Late Show with David Letterman aired last night — just over twenty-two years and four thousand episodes after I watched its debut in the middle of a hurricane warning, on my first evening as a college student in Virginia. I can’t really improve on all the commentary recognizing the significance of my all-time favorite TV personality to … More What Does It Mean to Be Midwestern? (A Post-Letterman Question)
Of all the ways the 500th anniversary of a German monk posting ninety-five Latin theses on a church door is being celebrated, this is clearly the best. Reports Deutsche Welle: Nearly 500 years after his death, the German monk who symbolizes the Protestant Reformation movement, has his own Playmobil figurine. Playmobil, maker of plastic toy sets … More Martin Luther, Child’s Plaything
Perhaps strange to say, one of my favorite compliments that I’ve received from a former student was this: I never knew where Prof. Gehrz stood on political issues. Not that I think I avoid controversial topics in class, but I typically try to remove my own opinions, present multiple sides of issues, and focus on asking good questions … More What Your Name Says about Your Politics
Summer break is rapidly coming to an end, with our faculty retreat taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday and students starting to move in the rest of the week. But before summer disappears completely, I thought I’d share an update on one of my projects: I’ve mentioned before that this academic year I’ll be teaching our … More Update on Our Intro to History Webisodes
My wife is deeply suspicious of my claims that I “work” in the summer. While the lengthening and warming of Minnesota’s days has no effect on her schedule, I suddenly enter a three-month period when my usual routine evaporates, to be replaced by an ever-shifting mix of quasi-academic activities: blogging on topics far afield from whatever it is that … More The King of All Media
I’ll be spending most of today at a program assessment workshop with my friend and colleague Sam Mulberry. Next Monday we’ll help run the annual summer workshop for Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture (CWC) teaching team. About three weeks after that, we’ll start co-teaching the online version of CWC for the second year in a row. And in … More “GehrBerr,” or On Teaching as Collaboration
Earlier today I walked into my office and found a lovely little gift basket of chocolates, courtesy of our department’s wonderful undergraduate teaching assistants. “Happy May Day!” read the card. Of course, given the way that May Day is celebrated in most of the world, this should prompt me not only to endorphin- and Toblerone-fueled good … More Happy Loyalty Day
It’s not the most significant thing I’ve accomplished in the 2013-2014 academic year, but in terms of things of which I’m most foolishly proud… Well, there’s playing the role of Severus Snape in a Bethel-themed spoof of the Harry Potter movies, and there’s everything else: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KflAhiHV4jY Watch the whole thing of course, but pay particular attention to … More Just Call Me Alan Rickman
After nearly three years of blogging, you’d think that I’d have exhausted my ability to reveal semi-embarrassing details of my life. But I’m not sure I’ve yet mentioned that, in the summers after 3rd and 4th grades, I spent a week at French camp. It was called Lac du Bois. I lived in a cabin … More The French Are Coming! Language Immersion as Soft Power
The Pietist Schoolman 