11/4/13 – If you were interested in my open letter on the crisis in Christian higher education, I discuss the topic as the featured guest on the current episode of the podcast Research on Religion, hosted by political scientist Tony Gill (Univ. of Washington) and supported by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. Tony … More My Appearance on the Research on Religion Podcast
Those interested in getting early glimpses of our forthcoming book for InterVarsity Press, Whole and Holy Persons: A Pietist Approach to Christian Higher Education, can now watch video of the first two in a series of six talks by contributors to that volume. Earlier this month in the Bethel University Library, Marion Larson (English) and … More Talks on Pietism and Higher Ed: Interfaith Dialogue and Off-Campus Study
Part two of a series of posts following up on comments on my open letter urging American churches to recommit to Christian higher education by increasing their direct and indirect financial support of colleges like Bethel. “This one is tough for me,” commented a reader named Mike, in response to last Tuesday’s open letter, “as … More Are Christian Colleges Good Financial Stewards?
Last Tuesday I posted an open letter to American churches, describing what I see as the looming crisis facing Christian colleges like Bethel University and suggesting that one important facet of any lasting solution would be a renewed commitments by churches and denominations to financially support such institutions of higher learning. As I hinted in … More A Postscript to My Open Letter on Christian Higher Education
When I teach my Human Rights in International History course next spring, we’ll quickly come to the distinction between the “first generation” of political, legal, and civil rights and the “second generation” of social and economic rights. While the United States was an early adopter of the first, this country has had a more complicated … More A Constitutional Right to Education?
Chris, a Christian college professor and church chairperson, To the pastors, lay leaders, members, and friends of the churches and denominations that founded and still sponsor the Christian colleges and universities of this country: Before today is done, no small number of faculty members at the Christian college where I work will be asked to … More An Open Letter to American Churches: The Crisis of Christian Higher Education
Is a value of the liberal arts that they produce good citizens? Should Christians also argue that such an education helps keep America powerful? As self-proclaimed defenders of the liberal arts like myself set about their task, they trumpet the many benefits of a well-rounded education that includes a healthy dose of seemingly impractical disciplines … More The Christian Liberal Arts, Citizenship, and Power
There’s been plenty of criticism of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in recent months, a small fraction of it linked in my Saturday wrap-up posts. But I haven’t seen much that consciously takes on the problems of MOOCs from a faith-based perspective. So Jonathan Malesic’s piece a couple of weeks ago in the Chronicle of … More A Christian Case Against MOOCs
It’s probably too early to start shopping for Christmas 2014, but if you like to plan ahead… I’m happy to announce that I’m editing a book tentatively titled Whole and Holy Persons: A Pietist Approach to Christian Higher Education, hopefully coming out next fall from InterVarsity Press. As longtime readers know, this topic has been … More Announcing Our Forthcoming Book on Pietism and Higher Education!
As I wrote this post yesterday, I was being shadowed. It was the first time I’ve had anyone ask about setting up a job shadow, and while I was happy to give it a try, I also worried that it would chiefly consist of the student sitting and watching me type at my laptop (with … More Fruit in Drought
The Pietist Schoolman 