Here… • I couldn’t spend four weeks at Yale without writing about its World War I memorials… • …which are right next to the auditorium where Charles Lindbergh made his first public address against U.S. participation in World War II. • In other news, I preached a sermon about sibling conflict, grace, and Christian unity. … More That Was The Week That Was
“He was brilliant,” said his friend Joel Frederickson of our late colleague Adam Johnson, at the Bethel memorial service this morning. “But he never acted like he was brilliant.” Over and over that hour, we heard students, alumni, and friends bear witness to Adam’s humble brilliance. But the meaning we most often attach to the … More Be Thou My Vision
Here… • Election Day had me wondering how Christians can best “honor the emperor” in contemporary American politics. • We said farewell to a farm that’s been in my mom’s side of the family for over a century. • It’s awards season: here’s how you can nominate our book for one. • Just how many … More That Was The Week That Was
“What’s Pietism?” It’s one of the most common questions I’m asked, and I still don’t have a concise answer cued up and ready to go. I’ll try to do better on that count before our book comes out this fall. But at least in some respects, I just want to sing yesterday’s pulpit hymn at … More Pietism in a (Musical) Nutshell
The third of the three short meditations I contributed to a Hanging of the Greens service last month. Merry Christmas to you all! It was December 1863, and America’s bloody Civil War had entered its third winter. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was grieving: two years before, his wife had died in a fire; less … More The Ringing of Bells: A Christmas Meditation
As longtime readers know, I love Christian hymnody, especially that of my own tradition, Scandinavian Pietism. So I was happy for the excuse to revisit those songs as I kicked off a new Anxious Bench series today: on looking beyond books to other types of Christian writing. It’s a kind of belated response to the top 25 Christian writings list that Christian … More Beyond Books: Hymns as Christian Writing
If you missed it in my Saturday wrap-up, Leah Libresco’s analysis of the unrelenting cheeriness of contemporary Christian music (CCM) is well-deserving of your attention. Looking through the last five years’ worth songs to wind up Billboard’s year-end Christian Top 50 charts, she found striking lyrical imbalance: There were 2.5 times as many mentions of “grace” as “sin” in … More Three of My Favorite Un-Cheery Christian Songs
It’s just like a historian to live in the past, but… Before we get too far into 2016, I thought I’d look back once more at 2015: Not to the most-read posts of the year, but to those that were barely noticed. Most of them were announcements: new podcasts or webisodes, speaking engagements, etc. But for whatever … More What You Might’ve Missed in 2015
Next to the works of Lina Sandell, probably no hymn is more beloved among us pietistic Swedish-Americans than “Thanks to God for My Redeemer.” The original lyrics by A.L. Storm (“Tack, O Gud”) were translated by one Covenant pastor, Carl Backstrom, and set to a tune by another, J.A. Hultman. I can’t imagine a more fitting source for … More Tack O Gud (Thanks to God)
Okay, I really hadn’t meant to blog this week. But then my onetime colleague Chris Armstrong posted a link to the newest issue of Christian History Magazine (he’s the senior editor) and I knew that I had to put up at least one post. How could a self-respecting Christian historian-blogger fail to make some kind of response to a list claiming … More Are These the Top 25 Christian Writings?
The Pietist Schoolman 