Welcome to the start of another in my occasional attempts to blog through part of the daily lectionary. I’ll start this run of twelve Christmastide meditations on Christmas Eve, then resume on the 26th. My favorite moment in my current favorite TV series involves my favorite words from one of my favorite Christmas carols. In … More Twelve Days: Amid Bleak Winters
My favorite, strangest, most intermittent podcast dropped an episode today. That’s right, for the first time since January, there’s new Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz to enjoy! As Sam Mulberry and I continued my quixotic quest to find a rhyme (in English) for my odd last name, we riffed on six words, most having some kind of COVID … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (COVID Edition)
Tonight HBO premieres the first episode of a six-part adaptation of Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America. Since its alternate history premise centers on the subject of my current writing project, I thought some of my readers might be interested in my response to Roth’s book — originally published at The Anxious Bench after … More Charles Lindbergh and The Plot Against America
I can’t seem to go more than a month without recording a podcast, but I can go a bit more than a year without recording my least consistent podcast series, Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz, in which Sam Mulberry and I jokingly continue our futile quest for words (in English) that rhyme with my last name. In … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (Episode 5)
There’s a lot to like about the Netflix series The Crown, but I’m particularly struck that it’s that rarest of TV shows: one that takes religion seriously. In season 1, that theme showed up as the family of Queen Elizabeth II educate her about her role. Her dying grandmother insists that “Monarchy is God’s sacred mission … More Religion in Season 3 of The Crown
This weekend I’d like to take a break from That Was The Week That Was and share something lighter… For those of you who aren’t Twitter, here’s a recent thread of mine: a perhaps not-quite comprehensive list of depictions of Charles Lindbergh on film and TV. (You can tell that I’m not much of a … More Silver (and Small) Screen Lindberghs
This week on The 252 we welcomed Bethel journalism professor Scott Winter and Bethel Clarion sports editor Jared Martinson to our studio. Mostly, they were there to talk about the practice of sports journalism, including the impact of ESPN and digitization, the similarities and differences between reporting and broadcasting, and the economics of covering sports. But since Chris … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports and Journalism
This 4th of July, I needed to be reminded of what America can be at its best. So I watched the new documentary on Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? It’s a surprisingly terrific film: creative, inspiring, moving, surprising, and thought-provoking. Perhaps most refreshingly, it doesn’t shy away from the role of Christianity in the life … More The Gentle Power of Mr. Rogers
Last night marked the conclusion of The Great War, the three-part episode of PBS’ venerable American Experience documentary series focused on World War I. I live-tweeted each night of the miniseries, highlighting interesting facts and quotations from the episodes, but also trying to enrich it by sharing photos from our WWI travel course, suggesting further readings, and linking to newspapers, memoirs, … More How I Live-Tweeted The Great War on PBS
Well, most of it. I was at the banquet for the Conference on Faith and History biennial meeting in Virginia Beach, VA and missed the first five minutes of Hamilton’s America tonight on PBS. Then after I burst into our hotel room and saw that Katie was watching, I just sat in rapturous joy for a few … More Why Yes, I Did Live-Tweet the Hamilton Documentary
The Pietist Schoolman 