Today The Chronicle of Higher Education published the results of its sixth annual Great Colleges to Work For survey. I don’t want to make too much of any college ranking system (this year, I mean — did plenty of it in 2012…), let alone one in which only 300 colleges and universities took part. But … More Great (Christian) Colleges to Work For 2013
Here… • “Groaning” for the kingdom of God as a spiritual practice: Christian Collins Winn on Blumhardt Pietism and social justice. • Examining the waxing and waning popularity of America’s favorite patriotic hymns. • Almost a hundred years later, World War I is still adding to its death toll. • John Calvin doesn’t look a … More That Was The Week That Was
I’ve blogged a couple of times about The King’s College (TKC), the conservative Christian school in Manhattan: in August 2011, contrasting the way that its then-president, Dinesh D’Souza, and long-time Bethel president Carl Lundquist talked about evangelical social and political engagement; and then in December 2012, asking if D’Souza’s resignation from TKC signaled evangelical depoliticization. … More Gregory Thornbury Named President of The King’s College
I fear that those of us who teach history, literature, philosophy, languages, etc. too often tend to say “the liberal arts” when we really mean “the humanities” — forgetting that the latter is only one set of disciplines within the former. I’m as guilty as anyone. A long time ago, I imprecisely used the tag … More The Sciences as Liberal Arts
Here… • I enjoyed learning more about one Baptist hero (Will D. Campbell) from one of my Baptist heroes (G.W. Carlson). • Are the humanities actually in crisis? Some historical perspective on how many students major in history, philosophy, literature, and languages — and how many students take basic courses in those fields. • Just … More That Was The Week That Was
A brief follow-up to Tuesday’s post, “The Humanities in Crisis, or Not“… Historian Ben Schmidt (by way of journalist Jordan Weissmann) argued that any fear that the humanities (history, philosophy, literature, languages) are in crisis should be tempered by the reality that (aside from an outlying boom that peaked in 1966) those disciplines have about … More Curriculum and the Health of the Humanities
“Higher education in the United States is at a tipping point.” So conclude Jeff Denneen and Tom Dretler in their 2012 paper, “The financially sustainable university” — one in a series of “Bain Briefs,” as it was produced by Bain & Co., with Sterling Partners (management consulting and private equity firms, respectively). Noting some of … More How Financially Sustainable Are Christian Colleges?
Last week was a great-horrible week for those of us who teach fields like history, philosophy, languages, and literature (hereafter, “the humanities”) and wanted to be reminded (a) how essential we are and (b) how much of a crisis we’re in. Among other happenings, the New York Times published a column by David Brooks lamenting … More The Humanities in Crisis, or Not
As I mentioned in passing here, I spent last Wednesday and Thursday facilitating a workshop at Bethel University: “The Pietist Idea of a Christian College.” Twelve current Bethel colleagues, two former faculty back as guest speakers — theologian Roger Olson (Baylor University’s Truett Seminary) and philosopher David Williams (Azusa Pacific University’s High Sierra Program) — … More Thoughts on The Pietist Idea of a Christian College
6/12/13 – I’ll be away from the blog today and tomorrow while I lead a workshop: “The Pietist Idea of a Christian College: Bethel University” (made possible by a grant from the Lilly Fellows Program National Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities). We’ll spend Wednesday exploring the history of Pietism and its influence on Bethel … More Workshopping Pietism and Higher Education
The Pietist Schoolman 