When I shared my summer reading list last year, it started with John Turner’s biography of Mormon leader Brigham Young and Philip Jenkins’ religious history of World War I. Little did I know that a year later I would be sharing a blog with both scholars! So I’ll start this year’s list as optimistically as I … More My 2016 Summer Reading List
Offered as a daydream, as by one who trusts rather than knows that the grading will get done and this impossibly busy academic year will reach its end… John Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Harvard UP, 2012) A big part of my summer reading is simply playing catch up, and I’ve already got a head start on that … More Is It Too Early For a Summer Reading List?
My Saturday links post will take a break, since on Monday I’ll be giving a “best of 2012” version of it. Instead, let me know what you think about a couple of film-related questions on my mind the last few days… My wife and I finally had a chance to watch Lincoln earlier in the … More Biopics: The Best, and the Can’t Misses No One’s Made
While I catch up on grading some overdue midterms… Enjoy one of the reflections I wrote after reading Lauren Winner’s Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis this past summer. As you might guess from the title, Lauren Winner spends plenty of time alone with her thoughts in Still, but it doesn’t usually take more than … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Potluck Church
It’s been almost three weeks since my last post inspired by Lauren Winner’s Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis. So let’s start with some review: Still finds Winner (a historian who teaches Christian spirituality at Duke Divinity School and writes for a wide array of publications) “in the middle of the spiritual life,” an awkward place … More Reflections on Lauren Winner’s Still: Friendship
Today: a second reflection inspired by Lauren Winner’s Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis. Read the first here. As you might guess from the title, Lauren Winner spends plenty of time alone with her thoughts in Still, but it doesn’t usually take more than a page or two before a relative or friend or pastor … More Reflections on Lauren Winner’s Still: The Potluck Church
Let’s see… More than halfway through my summer vacation and so far I’ve only completed one of the books on my summer reading list. And that the shortest one. But if that’s all the progress I made, it’s okay, since the one book I crossed off the list was Lauren Winner’s Still: Notes on a … More Reflections on Lauren Winner’s Still: Writing
I probably won’t get through all of these before classes start up again, but expect to see posts inspired by these books on my summer reading list: Peter Englund, The Sorrow and the Beauty: An Intimate History of the First World War Adam Hochschild, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 … More My Summer Reading List
Yesterday being Holy Trinity Sunday in the liturgical calendar, my mind couldn’t help but take up the question of what it means for Christians to believe in one God who is three persons. Now, I may play one from time to time on this blog, but I’m no theologian. In fact, I’m quite sure I … More I Believe…
Here • Eight of my students took a shot at defining what historians do. • Do political churches risk decline? Are apolitical churches drawing new members? Is there such a thing as an “apolitical” church? (For another critique of political partisanship in churches, see this from Chuck Gutenson.) • Another year, another Oscar ceremony. Perhaps … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 