I don’t normally use this blog as a platform for my favorite charitable causes, but today I want to make an exception to that rule and encourage readers to join me in supporting Minnehaha Academy, a Christian preK-12 school in Minneapolis. Unlike many of my colleagues on the school’s board of trustees, I’m not a Minnehaha alum or parent; I … More How You Can Join Me in Supporting Minnehaha Academy
Today I’m happy to announce an event that will be of interest to many who read this blog, listen to its podcast (new episode coming later today!), or might be anticipating our forthcoming book on Pietism: The 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism Studies Tuesday, December 13, 2016, 9:00am-3:30pm Bethel University – St. Paul, MN I’ll be … More Save the Date: The 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism Studies
Today Mark, Sam, and I return from our spring break with the first of six proposals for how a revival of the Pietist ethos can benefit Christianity early in the 21st century. Continuing to parallel the structure of Pia Desideria (1675), we joined Philipp Jakob Spener in urging greater attentiveness to Scripture: Thought should be given to a more … More Thursday’s Podcast: A Greater Attentiveness to Scripture
“We live in a political world,” Bob Dylan once sang, “Where mercy walks the plank.” It’s a world, after all, where even a democratic socialist promises a “merciless” response to a vicious attack. Where a leading Republican presidential candidate can be criticized by a leading conservative columnist for engaging in a kind of discourse “marked by what you … More Oh Mercy
So if Pietism is an ethos or spirit, where can you see it today in Christianity? Who or what exemplifies the instincts we talked about last time? On today’s episode, Mark, Sam, and I share some of our experiences with Pietism in the Evangelical Covenant Church and at Bethel University (two Christian institutions that explicitly claim … More Thursday’s Podcast: Pietists Today
One advantage of having this J-term off is that I’ve been able to accept and prepare for a few more speaking engagements than usual for this time of year. Remarkably, they all cover different topics: • This Sunday morning (Jan. 17, 10am), I’ll be at Presbyterian Church of the Way (Shoreview, MN) to address their “Third Sunday … More Where You Can Hear Me Speak This Winter
So I was all ready to take up the questions that closed my last post — Who’s an evangelical? and What shapes their response to issues like the refugee crisis? — when the National Association of Evangelicals and LifeWay Research announced their own answer to the first question. As reported by Bob Smietana of Christianity Today: “Evangelicals are people … More Who’s an Evangelical?
Maybe some of you appear in the news media all the time. I don’t. So in a week that’s already seen me quoted in Christianity Today‘s story about the troubling situation at North Greenville University, it’s a bit overwhelming also to see an interview with me appear on the website of my denomination’s magazine, The Covenant Companion. Reporter Stan … More New Interview on Pietism and Higher Education
As a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, I was thrilled to see our denomination’s university, North Park, hire sociologist Michael Emerson as its new provost. Most recently on faculty at Rice University, he taught at Bethel in the mid-to-late Nineties. Probably best known for writing Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America with … More Michael Emerson on the Role of the Christian University
So there’s a quotation I’ve been thinking about all summer: At the end of his life, Jesus declared his disciples his friends, meaning they shared with him a common passion for his mission in the world (John 15:13-15). Covenanters, as Mission Friends, have broadly understood mission to be the befriending of others, and all that God has … More Mission as Friendship: A Call to Deeper Unity for Christian Colleges
The Pietist Schoolman 