Yesterday I shared some tentative plans I’ve made for fall classes, given that Bethel will be welcoming students back to campus in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. Even as I wrote, two of our peer institutions in Southern California — Azusa Pacific and Pepperdine — announced that they would move online for the semester. … More How Are Christian Colleges Planning for the Fall?
The weeks before I first took students to Europe for a travel course, I often woke up in the middle of the night, unable to stop thinking about our plans — and what would happen when the plans went awry. The same thing has been happening in recent days, as we get closer and closer … More How I’m Planning to Teach This Fall
This week I reflected on Kristin Du Mez’s new book about evangelical masculinity, Jesus and John Wayne, and shared some thoughts from Charles Lindbergh inspired by taking our kids to state parks. Elsewhere: • If 2020 is more than you can take, the country of Iceland is here to help you cope. • The author … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I turned in my Lindbergh biography manuscript and recorded a new COVID-themed episode of my favorite, strangest podcast. Elsewhere: • “Nothing in a church or a family stays hidden forever,” wrote Bob Smietana of a new church scandal, centering on John Ortberg and his children. • In his first public comments since being … More That Was The Week That Was
My favorite, strangest, most intermittent podcast dropped an episode today. That’s right, for the first time since January, there’s new Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz to enjoy! As Sam Mulberry and I continued my quixotic quest to find a rhyme (in English) for my odd last name, we riffed on six words, most having some kind of COVID … More Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz (COVID Edition)
Apart from sharing the news of our history devotional that’s coming out in December, it was a quiet blogging week for me, as I moved into the last stages of writing my Lindbergh manuscript. Elsewhere: • #EverythingHasAHistory, including protests at historic sites. • On the same day, Princeton announces that it’s dropping Woodrow Wilson’s name … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I wrote about Confederate statues at The Anxious Bench and… well, I wrote thousands of words about Charles Lindbergh. (Yep, manuscript deadline starting to loom.) Elsewhere… • I used this week’s 5th anniversary of the shootings in Charleston, SC to frame my Confederate commemoration post. The historic AME church where those nine people were … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I shared a Pentecost reflection inspired (in part) by George Floyd and explained why academic freedom is deeply rooted in Bethel’s religious heritage. Elsewhere: • My Bethel colleague Sara Shady filled in for me at The Anxious Bench with a powerful reflection on the Floyd protests and riots in light of some words from Martin … More That Was The Week That Was
Instead of sharing my usual assortment of links, this Saturday morning I’m going to focus on a single topic: the killing of George Floyd and the protests and riots that followed, here in the Twin Cities and in other parts of the country. • Start by learning a bit more about who George Floyd was. … More That Was The Week That Was
On the 2019-20 season finale of The 252, Chris Moore and I reflected on what we learned from our first time teaching History and Politics of Sports at Bethel. Then Sam Mulberry joined us to talk about how different professional and college sports are planning to resume play — or already have done so. We talked about everything … More Thursday’s Podcast: The Return of Sports (?)
The Pietist Schoolman 