Last week Bloomberg posted an op-ed from Steven Gerrard, a philosophy professor at Williams College who was disturbed by what he saw as the decline of free speech at that elite private college (#1, again, in this year’s U.S. News rankings). Even as I could empathize with some of his concerns, I found it an odd piece to … More Are Christian Colleges “Comfort” Colleges?
Today I’m happy to welcome my Bethel colleague Ruben Rivera to the blog. Educated at Vanguard University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Boston University, Ruben came to Bethel in 1997 as a history professor, and now serves as our chief diversity officer. He regularly speaks to Christian and community groups about shalom, diversity, and reconciliation. What … More Diversity, Shalom, and Remarkable Christianity (Ruben Rivera)
Here… • Election Day had me wondering how Christians can best “honor the emperor” in contemporary American politics. • We said farewell to a farm that’s been in my mom’s side of the family for over a century. • It’s awards season: here’s how you can nominate our book for one. • Just how many … More That Was The Week That Was
Only time for a short set of links, since we’re getting ready to head up to Collegeville, Minnesota, where Bethel is taking on Macalester for a spot in the NCAA Division III baseball tournament. Here… • Perhaps historians like me have given nostalgia short shrift. • What do I do as a Christian blogger? Not teaching, … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • My colleague, friend, and mentor G.W. Carlson passed away on Friday morning. I expect that I’ll have more to say next week, but until then, here’s the tribute I wrote on the occasion of his retirement. • The behavior of the president of Mount St. Mary’s, a small Catholic university, got me to sign a … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • What qualities should Christian voters seek in political candidates? (Thanks to Mennonite World Review for picking up this post.) • We’ll be asking what’s wrong with Christianity when we record next week’s newest episode of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast, but I suggested that I shouldn’t really try to answer that question until I’m ready to answer a … More That Was The Week That Was
When it was first posted last month, I had little desire to respond to a blog post in which Oklahoma Wesleyan University president Everett Piper railed against “victimization” culture on American college campuses. To an anonymous OKWU student who was apparently upset that a recent chapel talk about love (1 Cor 13) “made him feel bad for not … More This is Not Leadership: A Response to Everett Piper’s “Day Care” Post
His encyclical Laudato Si’ has received such enormous (and justifiable) attention this month that I wonder how many people have noticed two smaller events involving Pope Francis: • On June 15th, the pope met with Czech Christians whose churches descend from the 15th century renewal movement led by Jan Hus, a key precursor to the Protestant Reformation … More Christian Unity as “Reconciled Diversity”
6/4/15 – Today we wrap up the first half of the first season of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast with an especially important episode: Ruben Rivera helps me understand why Christian colleges and universities so often struggle to embody the community described in Revelation 7:9 (“a great multitude… from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”), with an … More Thursday’s Podcast: All Tribes and Peoples
Last week my review of Department of Education data (via a Chronicle of Higher Education tool) found that Christian colleges were considerably less diverse than the national average, though perhaps a bit better in that respect than religious colleges as a whole. Picking up on my observation that West Coast members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities … More Do Christian Colleges Mirror the Diversity of Their Locales?
The Pietist Schoolman 