I’m not sure if it’s my little-celebrated German ancestry, my occasional studies of that nation’s history, or that I’ll be spending five days there in January with my World War I students, but Adam Fletcher’s two-part post, “How to be a German in 20 easy steps,” made me laugh as much as anything I’ve seen … More How to Be German
Some more Reformation Day fun… A few of my favorite — and not-so-favorite, but significant or revealing — quotations from Martin Luther: On Faith Faith is God’s work in us, which transforms us and by which we are reborn from God. By faith the old Adam is crucified. Faith makes us entirely different in heart, … More The Quotable Luther
Wondering how to celebrate the 495th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 theses? Well, if you happen to study or work at Bethel University (or live in the area), you could stop by my office for our department’s “Reformation ‘PUN’ Day” (10:00-12:00) and enjoy a diet of (gummy) worms. Otherwise… Remember that the original … More Reformation Day Reflections from Around the Web
This year I’ve written several posts on how the First World War has been commemorated: first a set of four on memorials, monuments, and cemeteries in Western Europe; then a recent series of five on commemoration here in Minnesota. If you missed some or all of the series, you can find the entries indexed here, … More Commemorating WWI in Europe and Minnesota: An Overview
Here • If I had realized that it was going to be my 500th post at The Pietist Schoolman, I would have come up with a better title than “Crowdsourcing and the Practice of History.” • Two posts on college rankings: one comparing the systems used by Washington Monthly and U.S. News magazine; the second … More That Was The Week That Was
Here • The 70th anniversary of a dark day in French history, when French police helped their German occupiers to round up 13,000 Jewish women, men, and children, cram them into a bicycling arena without sanitation, and eventually send them to their deaths in Auschwitz. • The summer’s half over, but there’s still time for … More That Was The Week That Was
Yesterday in Kiev, Spain routed Italy 4-0 to win the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, a tournament that (for many Europeans and no small number of non-Europeans) is only slightly less significant than the other international sporting competition with which it shares a quadrennium. As I wrote about early in Euro 2012, one match between … More Soccer and Nationalism
One of my favorite blogs is Past Imperfect, produced by the Smithsonian Magazine and featuring terrifically well-written stories about a fascinating array of historical subjects. (A piece on female pirates won one of the last Cliopatria awards for historical blogging before Cliopatria closed down.) Well-researched but accessible, I’ve taken to recommending several of its best posts … More Nazi Jazz
As this gets posted, I’ll be driving north from the Twin Cities to McGregor, MN, where I’m giving a series of talks as part of our church’s annual “family camp” at Covenant Pines. (I’ll post an outline next week.) Preparing for those talks left me with less blogging time than usual this past week, so … More That Was The Week That Was
While the British commissioned architects like Reginald Blomfield and Edwin Lutyens to construct towering monuments whose significance would endure throughout eternity and their Dominions (e.g., Australia and Canada) used commemoration to help establish their claims to distinct nationhood, the Germans generally tacked in the opposite direction, preferring simple, dignified symbols of quiet mourning. Ironically, it was … More Commemorating WWI: German Subtlety
The Pietist Schoolman 