The recent release of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks as the Eisenhower era lawyer tasked with defending a Soviet spy (played by the awesome Mark Rylance), got me wondering: What are the best Cold War movies? I actually dedicated a three-post series to the question of the best war movies back in 2013, so I … More What Are the Best Cold War Movies?
Here… • The Azusa Street Revival, World War I, Vatican II… What were some of the other turning points in the history of Christianity in the 20th century? • Speaking of WWI… Americans shouldn’t wait until 2017 to start thinking about its centenary. • Check out Adam Laats’ blog for interesting insights on Christian higher education … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • After debuting the new look of this website, the first post in the new format was one I’d been researching all summer: how to teach history to five-year olds! • I’d still welcome nominations for the best history-related podcasts. • Not mine, of course: it’s more about religion and education than history. And anyway, it … More That Was The Week That Was
Year five of The Pietist Schoolman certainly got off to a busy start! I’m not sure how to possibly do justice to everything that happened just in the last day, let alone week, but here goes… Here… • Whatever your view of the Supreme Court ruling on marriage, I hope you listened to the joy and hurt in Andrew Sullivan’s … More That Was The Week That Was
Even if you don’t have any personal connection with Grace College or Seminary, there are lots of topics that emerge in Becoming Grace that may pique your interest, especially if you’re interested in American religious history or the trajectory of Christian colleges and universities. Here are a few prominent themes and tensions in the book. They … More Why you’ll be interested in our new book about Grace College and Seminary
Maybe it’s just that the Twins are off to a terrible start, but I was especially tickled to come across this in Alan Ball’s new Liberty’s Tears: Soviet Portraits of the “American Way of Life” During the Cold War: Permeated with the spirit of venality, slavery, and gangsterism, contemporary American baseball maims hundreds of young lives and serves … More “Venality, slavery, and gangsterism”: Soviet Perceptions of Baseball’s Golden Age
A very busy week at this blog and others. Let’s dive in! Here… • I’m grateful to Jared Burkholder, for suggesting a moratorium on attempts to identify “true” Islam and for helping to make possible my upcoming visit to Grace College. • There was lots of good conversation around one of the biggest stories in … More That Was The Week That Was
Twenty-five years ago this Sunday, about 20,000 people from the east side of Berlin walked over to the west. Of course, this kind of population movement happens every day in every city in the world, as urbanites go to work, eat out, visit friends, attend plays, etc. But Berlin of 1989 was a famously bifurcated city, with a 28-year old wall … More Twenty-Five Years after the Wall
10/27/14 – If you’re in the Twin Cities, you can catch me this Saturday morning, Nov. 1st, 10:00, at the Minnesota Genealogical Society. I’ll be speaking on the history of Poland in the century since 1914, with particular emphasis on the Polish experience of Communist rule. More broadly, I’ll have us think about the nature … More This Saturday: My Talk on Poland since 1914
Here… • I’m lousy at predicting which blog posts will generate the most interest. But I had an inkling that one titled “When I’m a ‘Functional Atheist’” would grab attention… • How did you spend your “Loyalty Day“? • Over nine million soldiers died in World War I. Why do some historians think that their sacrifice … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 