In the first post in this series, I introduced the notion of a “usable past” and how it has strongly influenced the expanding conversation about Christian higher education in the last 30-40 years. Seeking models for this kind of higher learning that might guide Christian colleges in a secular (or post-secular) age, many writing on … More Pietist Denominations and Their Colleges
The past week found me writing and reading an even more motley crew of posts than usual. Behold: a small but eclectic sampling of the week that was. Here The first installment of what I plan as a recurring Monday feature: a semi-serious look-ahead at “This Week in History.” Embedded will be a recurring sub-feature: … More That Was the Week That Was
Today I’m starting a new series that builds on a talk I gave at Bethel last spring. It takes up the thesis that Pietism has a “usable past” capable of distinctively and beneficially shaping Christian higher education. Pages and pages have been written on Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, Anabaptist, and other Christian traditions and how their … More The Usable Past of Christian Colleges
8/9/11 – My friend Sara Shady is quoted in a new Christianity Today article on the White House’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, in which Bethel and several other evangelical colleges are participating. Sara explains how our students will work with Muslims in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul and addresses concerns that interreligious … More Christian Colleges and an Interfaith Initiative
We’ve rounded the bend and are more than halfway home in our preview of The Pietist Impulse in Christianity. Today: part five examines four manifestations of the Pietist impulse among Swedish and Norwegian Christians (both in the Old World and New). For many, this would seem an obscure chapter in the history of Pietism. But … More The Pietist Impulse: Scandinavians
Part four of our romp through The Pietist Impulse in Christianity raises another deceptively simple question, “Was John Wesley a Pietist?” Even if one accepts a definition of “Pietist” that encompasses people other than early modern German Lutherans, Wesley is a controversial figure. He is included in Carter Lindberg’s popular collection, The Pietist Theologians, and … More The Pietist Impulse: Wesley
Did you know? The members of the NHL champion Boston Bruins will have three full months between their Game 7 triumph and the beginning of training camp in which to play golf, go to the beach, and do silly things with the Stanley Cup. (Of course, members of my Minnesota Wild and the league’s thirteen … More My Summer Vacation
I don’t know anyone who writes who enjoys coming up with a title. Even the bountifully gifted writing staff of the underappreciated sitcom NewsRadio simply gave up and started copping titles from Led Zeppelin albums twenty episodes into the show’s run. Part of me suspects that we shouldn’t seek to improve on the example of … More What’s a Pietist Schoolman?
The Pietist Schoolman 