Thanks to Brian Gumm for drawing my attention to a recent post by Joshua Brockway, a minister in the Church of the Brethren, considering how the Pietist half of the COB’s heritage contributes a “spiritualist corrective” to its Anabaptist half. As I continue to prepare my comments for this weekend’s seminar, Pious Wishes and Better … More A Pietist-Spiritualist Corrective to Anabaptism
As part of the seminar on Pietism that I’m leading this weekend at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, I’ll devote an hour or so to my chief area of interest: Pietist models of education. In doing some reading for that talk, I revisited an interesting document from my own denomination‘s history: a working paper from … More Don Frisk on Pietism and Christian Education
How important is St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo? Let’s put it this way… I don’t write and perform parody rap videos for just any theologian-philosopher: Six years later, that lyric and video don’t seem quite as awesome as they did in the moment. But I stand by this couplet as containing some of my finest … More Happy Birthday, Augustine of Hippo!
Some more Reformation Day fun… A few of my favorite — and not-so-favorite, but significant or revealing — quotations from Martin Luther: On Faith Faith is God’s work in us, which transforms us and by which we are reborn from God. By faith the old Adam is crucified. Faith makes us entirely different in heart, … More The Quotable Luther
Wondering how to celebrate the 495th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 theses? Well, if you happen to study or work at Bethel University (or live in the area), you could stop by my office for our department’s “Reformation ‘PUN’ Day” (10:00-12:00) and enjoy a diet of (gummy) worms. Otherwise… Remember that the original … More Reformation Day Reflections from Around the Web
On Sunday night this blog received its 50,000th visit. Which both got me feeling profoundly grateful to all of those who take the time to read my digital scribbling, and in a mood to reflect on the blog’s founding. The choice of name, for example. As I wrote in an early post, “The Pietist Schoolman” … More The Pietist as a “Catholic Evangelical”
That’s the question asked by political scientist Tony Gill on his podcast, Research on Religion, of three Christian scholars familiar with religion and politics in 18th century America: Gregg Frazer (The Master’s College), Jonathan Den Hartog (Northwestern College, MN), and Mark David Hall (George Fox University). More specifically, he asked each: “As a Christian in … More Should Christians Have Fought in the U.S. War of Independence?
Two days back from vacation and it’s been hard to get back into the blogging swing of things. So I’ll tread water a bit by passing along the tiny, surreal bit of YouTube celebrity to which my friend Sam just drew my attention. It features Matt Richards, senior pastor of Sidney Lutheran Brethren Church in … More My (Minor) YouTube Moment
On Monday one of my colleagues, joking about the growth of “Leadership Studies” programs, suggested that we should probably offer a “Followership Studies” minor. From his mouth to God’s ear. Or, at least, to David Brooks’… Maybe before we can build great monuments to leaders we have to relearn the art of following. Democratic followership … More David Brooks, Erasmus, and Luther Walk into a Bar…
Happy Reformation Day, everyone! My friend Sam and I made this video for Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture class several years ago. (The words are by a Lutheran pastor from Iowa.) Remarkably, it’s now been seen well over 120,000 times on YouTube, and it never fails that we run into or hear from excited students … More This Day in History: “Papal Bulls, Indulgences, and Transubstantiation!”
The Pietist Schoolman 