Here… • This is normally not a blog about politics. But there was nothing normal about Donald Trump becoming the presumptive nominee of a major political party. • Trump famously promises to “Make America Great Again.” Which got me wondering if “Make the Church Great Again” is a valid aspiration for Christians — and if so, when was the Church … More That Was The Week That Was
One of the blessings of getting caught up in the ongoing debate over the future of Christian higher education is that I’ve been prompted to learn more about Myron Augsburger, the former president of both Eastern Mennonite University and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). With the latter a week away from deciding whether the … More A Prophetic Impulse: Myron Augsburger and the Mennonite History of the CCCU (Devin Manzullo-Thomas)
Hagiography is not a term that most Western academics dream of seeing in reviews of their work, but historian Rick Kennedy meant it as a plaudit when he dedicated his recent Christian Scholar’s Review essay to an “emerging genre” he termed the “new academic hagiography”: In this New Hagiography the author must try to analyze methodically while believing. Unthinking piety has … More Is (Responsible, Thoughtful) Hagiography Coming Back?
Duke Divinity School historian Grant Wacker’s new book on Billy Graham was the focus of this spring’s Cushwa Center Seminar in American Religion at the University of Notre Dame, which met this past Saturday. Although Wacker has been teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1977, I first remember hearing about him … More Grant Wacker on Billy Graham: Cushwa’s Spring Seminar
Whatever concerns I have about how Angelina Jolie brings Louie Zamperini’s story to the screen, I’m less interested in discouraging movie-going than in encouraging book-buying. If you haven’t read it yet, I heartily recommend Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, based on extensive primary source research and numerous interviews with Zamperini (who died earlier this year, four after the book came … More Unbroken: The Meaning of Conversion
By all rights, I should be thrilled that Unbroken, the biopic about Olympic athlete-turned-WWII POW Louie Zamperini, is coming to theatres this week. I always celebrate turning in my grades by going to the movies, and this one has been on my radar ever since I read Laura Hillenbrand’s remarkable book about Zamperini during my trip to California earlier … More Unbroken: The Challenge of Biography
Here… • I really can’t thank David King enough for taking the time to answer some big questions about World Vision! @cgehrz Why are your interviews of David King on World Vision not crossposted on the New York Times. Great Scoop! http://t.co/ul1Woy1LGA — Benjamin Brandenburg (@BenBrandenburg) April 4, 2014 • I especially appreciated how David explained … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • The blogging team here at The Pietist Schoolman expanded, as my student Fletcher Warren responded to John Merriman’s The Dynamite Club and we introduced historian Jared Burkholder, our new regular guest blogger (stop back next Friday to read his first post). • Meanwhile, my colleagues at Bethel University continue to inspire me as … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • It’s easy to make fun of French military history. (I’ve done it.) But the “strange defeat” of his nation in May-June 1940 was no joke to historian Marc Bloch… • How a Twin Cities megachurch may be a case study for evangelicals and Anabaptists learning from each other how to do church. • … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • Coming ca. November 2014 from InterVarsity Press… Whole and Holy Persons: A Pietist Approach to Christian Higher Education, edited by The Pietist Schoolman. • As part of my historical sketch of bans on alcohol and other “lifestyle” policies at evangelical colleges like Bethel University, I quoted one-time campus pastor Jim Spickelmier, whose life … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 