This week I wrote devotionals about everything from celebration to suffering, plus a Graham Greene novel, and I invited four Anxious Bench colleagues to share their experience of teaching under COVID. Elsewhere: • While undergraduate enrollments have declined less than expected, the pandemic does seem to be depopulating another kind of educational institution: public schools. • Conservative … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I reflected on the state of American democracy under Donald Trump and considered the importance of history and memory to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Elsewhere: • I don’t think it’s appropriate for the GOP to rush through Ginsburg’s successor mere weeks before Election Day, four years after refusing to vote on Barack Obama’s nominee … More That Was The Week That Was
Before classes start at the end of the month, I hope to finish revisions to the manuscript for my spiritual biography of Charles Lindbergh. It’s not going to be drastically different from what I submitted in July, but I do think it will be improved, thanks to some insightful suggestions from my editor, Heath Carter. … More African American Responses to Lindbergh’s Flight
Of all the supporting cast in my Charles Lindbergh biography, only a couple of non-relatives are mentioned as often — and known to so few today — as Grace Lee Nute. In fact, until I read an article about her last week in the [Minneapolis] Star Tribune, I knew little about Nute beyond what I gleaned from … More Meet a Previous Lindbergh Biographer: Grace Lee Nute
This week I started turning my attention to a fall semester unlike any other, researching reopening plans for schools like Bethel and thinking through how I’ll teach two of my courses in a “modified face-to-face” format. Then over at The Anxious Bench, the story of Bethel’s first student of color provided bookends for a review … More That Was The Week That Was
As I wrote here after I turned in my Charles Lindbergh manuscript earlier this month, it’s an odd feeling to finish a book. It feels great to follow through on a project that big, but I’ve also felt somewhat adrift, now that I’m not spending hours a day researching, thinking, and writing about one person. … More Charles Lindbergh on the Importance of Parks
It’s been almost four years since I first considered the idea of writing a spiritual biography of Charles A. Lindbergh, and three years since I signed the contract for that book with Eerdmans. And the calendar will have turned to 2021 before anyone can actually pick up a copy of that book. But yesterday I … More My Lindbergh Biography Is One Step Closer to Publication…
I took a weekend off from sharing my usual That Was The Week That Was collection of links, but I had a good reason: I wrote seventeen pages of my Lindbergh project! That chapter wrapped up this afternoon, so now feels like a good time to share an update on my progress. If you’re new to the … More How’s Lindbergh Doing?
After a quiet first three months of 2020, it was a busy week at The Pietist Schoolman: • With Christian colleges like mine moving online, I shared my plans for teaching my courses remotely. • Realizing the need to spend more time with God, I started a series of daily lectionary reflections with a beloved psalm, … More That Was The Week That Was
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
