Here… • How an acclaimed history of politically progressive evangelicalism helps bridge the gap between religious and diplomatic history. (That from my trip to Baltimore… Look for the second half of this talk, coming Monday.) • Jared Burkholder on a famous case of martyrdom in North American history. • Celebrating 125 years of mission and … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • Are Christian colleges facing financial crises because doctrinal “drift” has cost them the support of churches? (And if it has, is that the cost of doing business?) • I’m not sure I could stand listening to me say anything more about a crisis in Christian higher ed… But if you feel differently, head … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • I was reminded that, even in a challenging season for my university, I’ve got a pretty varied, fulfilling job. • But even more encouraging, that Bethel students can articulate the value of the Christian liberal arts even more thoughtfully than their professors. • Though would they think to think of such a model … More That Was The Week That Was
I’m not sure that anyone has made a good movie about the stretch of WWII that lies between the fall of Poland in early October 1939 and the German invasion of western Europe in early April 1940. But if they did, it wouldn’t fit the conventions of war movies. Given that this half-year was sometimes … More The Second World War Before Pearl Harbor: The Phoney War, 1939-1940
You wouldn’t expect a Baptist Pietist university in the American Midwest to be anything remotely like a hotbed for interest in the Middle Ages, but there’s been a mini-revival of matters medieval here at Bethel University. Leading the charge is church historian Chris Armstrong, who has branched out from his interests in Wesleyan and Holiness … More A Baptist Pietist University Gets Medieval
I started this series — introducing American readers to the Second World War as it was fought years before the United States joined the conflict — with Japan’s 1937 offensive against China. Let’s continue with an invasion that’s probably more familiar to most Americans and Europeans: Having already remilitarized the Rhineland (March 1936), absorbed Austria … More The Second World War Before Pearl Harbor: Poland, 1939
Here… • I learned several important blogging lessons last week. First, if you want to drastically increase your traffic, then write about Millennials and/or Rachel Held Evans… then do it again… • …or question whether New York really is all that important to the future of evangelicalism… • …or whether research is actually the “coin … More That Was The Week That Was
I grieve to report that America’s latest bout of Anglophilia has infected this corner of the blogosphere. Perhaps one post on Monty Python (one-sixth American, and that fraction hailing from the niftiest of the fifty states) can be dismissed, but even as we Colonials rejoice at the birth of a new heir, I find myself … More Pride and Prejudice at 200
On the single day of July 1, 1916, over 19,000 British soldiers died along France’s Somme river, slaughtered in largely futile assaults on German defenses that had survived the week-long artillery bombardment preceding the attack. The battle raged on until mid-November, with over 75,000 more British soldiers dying and 300,000+ being wounded. British photographers on … More This Day in History: The First Day of the Somme
With two exams to grade at work, it seems like a good moment to rerun some favorite posts from the first three months of 2013. We’ll start by stretching the “Best of The Pietist Schoolman” definition a bit and collate four posts I wrote for our department blog, at different points along the way in … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Teaching WWI in Europe
The Pietist Schoolman 