The Unusable Past: Pietism and Christian Colleges (part 2)

Today we continue to consider why, for most historians and leaders of colleges and universities founded by Pietist denominations, Pietism seems not to provide a “usable past,” a living history capable of sustaining a distinctive mission and identity. In the first part of this post, I suggested, first, that this might be a byproduct of … More The Unusable Past: Pietism and Christian Colleges (part 2)

What Pietists Can Learn from the Anabaptist Vision

Today we come to the end of a series that has looked at 20th century (neo)Anabaptist critiques of Pietism, starting with Harold Bender‘s influential “Anabaptist Vision” speech and Robert Friedmann‘s famously anti-Pietist “thesis.” After a pause to sum up that critique and look at its continuing influence, we examined how revisionist and post-revisionist Anabaptist historians … More What Pietists Can Learn from the Anabaptist Vision

J. Hawk

My friend Jim Hawkinson passed away two months ago today. In that time, he’s been honored by two memorial services (the one at our church, where he served as visitation pastor, drew something like 700 people) and several excellent essays. And while I promised my own appreciation a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure that … More J. Hawk

Jim Hawkinson

7/6/11 – I’ll have my own appreciation to post later in the summer, but for now, I’d encourage anyone who knew or simply knew of Jim Hawkinson to read the July 2011 issue of The Covenant Companion. If you don’t subscribe, you can find him remembered in pieces by Jane Swanson-Nystrom (who quotes Jay Phelan … More Jim Hawkinson