I thought through the educational implications of a Pietist motto, updated my speaking schedule for 2019-2020, and interviewed the author of a helpful new book on Christians who support Donald Trump. • Another way of looking at Red State Christianity: from the point of view of American evangelicals who live in England, came home for … More That Was The Week That Was
Apart from an Anxious Bench post on the new Christians Against Christian Nationalism statement, I took the week off from blogging to finish moving into my new office and to read through several years’ worth of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s diaries and letters. Elsewhere: • If you can see any shades of gray on the debate over abortion, you’ll want … More That Was The Week That Was
I generally try to ignore the next academic year until the calendar hits August, but this summer that’s been harder than usual. For all of us at Bethel University, 2019-2020 promises to be an especially important year, as a search committee prepares to nominate just the seventh president in our nearly 150-year history (counting founder … More The Average Christian College President
When I wasn’t writing about one of the most famous autodidacts in American history for The Anxious Bench, I spent the week thinking out loud about taking people to Europe to study the history of Christianity and to different parts of the U.S. to study sports history and the Civil War. Elsewhere: • If my tours … More That Was The Week That Was
I considered the similarities between professional hockey and evangelical Christianity, and encouraged my home denomination to cling to its distinctive heritage in Pietism. Elsewhere: • U.S. historians are debating a new article alleging sexual misconduct by Martin Luther King, Jr., on the basis of documents from the FBI agents who spied on him. • One … More That Was The Week That Was
I’ve only been on the campus of Gordon College once — and given what that school announced yesterday, I’m not sure I’ll have much reason to come back. I visited the suburban Boston Christian college in 2012, when it hosted the biennial meeting of the Conference on Faith and History, the leading society of Christian … More The “Next Chapter” in Christian Liberal Arts Education
Another busy week as the semester starts to wind down… I talked with the director of the Minnesota Historical Society about public history, and with two of my students about hockey. I shared a talk I gave on sacramental similes for the liberal arts, and the Minnesota Prayer Breakfast got me thinking about death and … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I blogged about the religious history of the Internet and the similarities between preaching and teaching. Our podcast focused on the experience of women coaching college sports. Elsewhere… • It’s the time of year that colleges and universities invite commencement speakers. One of the most controversial choices came from Taylor University, a non-denominational … More That Was The Week That Was
This week on The 252, we talked with two Bethel colleagues about the life and work of coaches in college athletics. Gretchen Hunt (previously a guest on season 1 of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast) is head volleyball coach and associate athletic director at Bethel University; Alisha Hvistendahl is our men’s basketball assistant coach, after previously serving as head athletic … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Coaching College Sports
This week I encouraged fellow scholars to “think in public,” reflected on why trust is so important to Christian higher education, and recorded a new podcast on the experience of student-athletes. Elsewhere… • I happened to be flying through Charlotte, North Carolina last week, and saw a big ad for the Billy Graham Library in … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 