Next month my colleague Sam Mulberry and I are again taking a group of Bethel University students on a three-week trip to Europe to study the history of World War I. I’m especially excited to be in Europe during the first year of the war’s ongoing centenary, and will try to find a way to … More All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
It’s time for our annual holiday tradition: picking through some prominent lists of the best books of the past year to suggest potential gifts for the history buff in your life. This year we’ll cull suggestions from the New York Times (NYT), the Guardian (G), the Washington Post (WP), and Christianity Today (CT). Jessie Childs, God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England “…conjures … More The Best History Books of 2014?
One of the cultural residues of Britain being a post-Christian society is that companies try to outdo each other in celebrating the Incarnation by creating memorable “Christmas adverts.” The 2014 versions are coming out, and one has already garnered enormous attention — positive and negative: Yes, the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s not only produced a three-minute … More On Advertising, Chocolate, and the First World War
Coming into this centenary year for World War I, there’s been a predictable resurgence of books written about that conflict. Which got me wondering how the war has ebbed and flowed over time as a subject for historians and other writers. I came up with two highly imperfect ways to satisfy this curiosity: I was challenged earlier this summer … More Tracking the Popularity of WWI in Books and Dissertations
It is a date that marks the start of events that would go on to change the course of millions of lives – tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the day Britain declared war on Germany and the First World War began. So said Britain’s The Independent, yesterday, of today. But is August 4, 1914 — with its … More When Did World War I Begin?
Seventy years ago today, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy — opening the long-promised “second front” in the European experience of World War II and ultimately sealing the fate of the Third Reich. There’s plenty of coverage of the anniversary — let me just suggest a few links: • The Washington Post has a striking photo … More D-Day at 70
Yesterday Thomas Kidd’s interview of Philip Jenkins, his fellow Anxious Bencher, further whetted my appetite for Jenkins’ new book on religion and World War I, The Great and Holy War. But I was mostly struck by the way Jenkins pushed back against Kidd’s statement that “WWI is often remembered for unprecedented, but often pointless carnage, especially in the notorious experiences … More Was WWI “Pointless Carnage”?
I don’t pretend that historical coincidences like this mean anything. But perhaps because I’ve just finished teaching a course on the history of World War II for the first time, I couldn’t help but notice a convergence of WWII-related anniversaries on my Twitter feed this morning: I’m sure there’s something profound to note about this … More This Day in History: A WWII Convergence
A few days into this centenary year of its beginning, the First World War is already prompting controversy: Yesterday New York Times Europe correspondent Alan Cowell checked in with an update on what remains an open question among historians: Was the outbreak of war primarily due to the reckless, cynical ambitions of German military and … More WWI at 100: Commemoration and “Political Correctness”
Here… • Playing Santa for someone who loves to read about history? A few gift suggestions… • Then one more (if that someone is interested in the Jesus People, or just likes well-written religious history). • Choral music, corporate confession, and comfort with paradox… Why I’m almost a Lutheran. • And I celebrated Human Rights … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 