Buchenwald was one of the most infamous concentration camps in the Nazi system, the final resting place of over fifty thousand victims. But until my colleague Sam Mulberry and I went there last month on our week-long tour of Germany, I didn’t know all that much about Buchenwald — including the fact that it has two … More When One Dictatorship Commemorated Resistance to Another
This week I responded to the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, asked if that event would bring about a kind of epiphany for Trump-backing evangelicals, considered the history of pastor-politicians like new Georgia senator Raphael Warnock, shared some of the autobiographical subtext for my biography of Charles Lindbergh, and wrapped up my Christmas devotional … More That Was The Week That Was
Tonight HBO premieres the first episode of a six-part adaptation of Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America. Since its alternate history premise centers on the subject of my current writing project, I thought some of my readers might be interested in my response to Roth’s book — originally published at The Anxious Bench after … More Charles Lindbergh and The Plot Against America
On Friday, President Trump told participants in the Values Voter Summit that “We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values.” Now, critics found it hard to take the “Judeo” part seriously, given that Trump immediately followed that line with another version of his pledge to restore “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.” And it’s … More The Anti-Fascist Origins of “Judeo-Christian Values”
“This is not my country.” That’s what I wanted to believe yesterday, as I stumbled back from a week-long vacation in the Rocky Mountains into the ugly events transpiring in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having intentionally tried to avoid the news in order to savor time with my family, it was bewildering to check social media in … More On Charlottesville: “This Is Not My Country”
Here… • It’s not just for evangelists and vice-presidents. Does the so-called “Billy Graham Rule” contribute to gender disparities in the leadership of Christian colleges and universities? • I thought that Molly Worthen was right that evangelicalism is often the source of its own problems… but perhaps it can also help generate its own solutions. • … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • A year after his memorial service, a few of his many friends paid tribute to GW Carlson. • Two short devotionals: on the importance of encouragement in Christian communities, and thoughts on Ash Wednesday. • King of All Media alert: I made a temporary return to iTunes, and video of my lecture on Pietism and evangelicalism … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • America has changed a lot since the last time the Cubs won the World Series. • As I finished one book project and contemplated others, I found myself asking a big mid-career question: “What comes next?” • Evangelicals — and especially those of us in Christian higher ed — ought to pay attention … More That Was The Week That Was
Here • My colleague Christian Collins Winn shared his year-opening chapel talk at Bethel, in which he suggested how Pietism might provide a model for civil discourse. (And be sure to check out Brian Gumm’s response to that post at his blog, Restorative Theology. It was certainly gratifying to read that he thinks Christian and … More That Was The Week That Was
With the Summer Olympics about to start, there’s been some attention paid to the last Olympiad hosted by London: the 1948 summer games, which took place in a country still subject to rationing and other austerity measures, experiencing the beginning of the end of history’s greatest empire, and nervously watching Cold War tensions heat up … More Mussolini’s World’s Fair
The Pietist Schoolman 