As I mentioned yesterday, public radio journalist Krista Tippett recently appeared at Bethel University to speak about her book Einstein’s God: Conversations about Science and the Human Spirit. One of those conversations inspired yesterday’s post on what historians mean when they ask the question “Why?” of the past. Today I want to reflect on Tippett’s larger purpose, as the … More History as a “Ministry of Listening”
I’m afraid this post started off taking me in directions I hadn’t expected. Part of me would like to polish it further, but in the spirit of blogging as “thinking aloud,” I’ll hope that it hangs together enough to make some sense… Last Friday I enjoyed hearing a convocation talk at Bethel by journalist Krista Tippett, host … More The Two (or Three) Why’s of History
12/26/13 – Over at the Religion in American History blog, Brantley Gasaway was kind enough to draw readers’ attention to my Evangelical Theological Society paper that encouraged an international/transnational turn in the history of evangelicalism. (My paper was a response to David Swartz’s chapter on Latin American evangelicals in Moral Minority; Gasaway interviewed Swartz last … More Brantley Gasaway on My ETS Paper
The second half of my paper delivered last week at the Evangelical Theological Society, arguing for a more international and transnational approach to the history of evangelicalism. A Global Reflex in Evangelical Historiography Earlier this year the newsletter of the American Historical Association (AHA) published a study by Luke Clossey and Nicholas Guyatt finding that, … More The Global Reflex: An International Historian Appraises David Swartz’s Moral Minority (part 2)
Yesterday I had the privilege of joining historians Dick Pierard, Owen Strachan, and Miles Mullin (who organized the session) on an Evangelical Theological Society panel dedicated to David Swartz’s groundbreaking history of the “evangelical left.” Here’s part one of my paper (fleshing out some themes I introduced earlier this month); look for part two early … More The Global Reflex: An International Historian Appraises David Swartz’s Moral Minority (part 1)
The modern distinction between sacred and secular has allowed the studies of religion and politics to go their separate ways in virtual isolation. (Nathan O. Hatch) By training, I’m a historian of international relations. More recently, I’ve become interested in the history of Christianity. That wouldn’t seem like an unlikely pairing, given the global reach … More Mind the Gap: The Histories of Christianity and of International Relations
Here… • Announcements: Books & Culture is alive and kicking; Efrem Smith took a new job; the U.S. News Best Colleges report came out and it’s still ridiculous. That is all. • Not exactly the finest hour for either Britain or France: the Phoney War of 1939-1940. And WWII would get worse for both countries … More That Was The Week That Was
If you’ve been wondering “Who is John Fea, and why has his forthcoming book, Why Study History? Reflecting on the Importance of the Past, been spotlighted in Christianity Today as “New and Noteworthy” and his blog, The Way of Improvement Leads Home, been named by one semi-knowledgeable source as one of ten by Christian historians that … More John Fea in The Juvenile Instructor
I’ll be going back on break tomorrow, while we spend a week with my parents in Virginia. But first, let me briefly return to a series I started earlier this month: blogging through some of the excellent questions I was asked via Skype by Mr. Ferda’s 8th grade history class in Kalispell, Montana. The first … More Good Questions: How Do You Become a Historian?
Mutual admiration society: (idiomatic) A group of two or more people, in a workplace or other social environment, who routinely express considerable esteem and support for one another, sometimes to the point of exaggeration or pretense. So says Wiktionary, and I fear that a picture of Messiah College history chair John Fea and I … More Must Watch: John Fea’s Virtual Office Hours
The Pietist Schoolman 