What follows is the text of a talk I gave yesterday evening at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. Thanks to Ben Cater, who directs general education and the Humanities Honors program at Point Loma, for inviting me to share some thoughts on the value of the Christian liberal arts. He had enjoyed … More The Value of the Christian Liberal Arts
I don’t think I have the energy to lead a European tour every summer, so as I look ahead to the future of Pietist Schoolman Travel, I’ve got U.S. history topics in mind for 2020 (the sports history tour I mentioned yesterday) and 2022 (more on that tomorrow or Thursday). But I do love to take … More Future Tours: Christianity and Western Culture
Earlier this month I had the honor of delivering the keynote address at the 2019 Twin Cities Undergraduate Theology Conference, a joint effort of four evangelical colleges: Bethel University, Crown College, North Central University, and the University of Northwestern St. Paul. I decided to use the occasion to think in public about another kind of … More A Sacramental Vision of the Liberal Arts
Like many of you, I spent a long time watching yesterday’s terrible fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. I’m still sorting out the feelings, trying to understand why I felt as sad as I did — knowing that others took it far harder… First, it’s always painful to see the world get a … More The Church Is (Not Just) a Building: Some Thoughts on Notre Dame
Sam and I are back from our Thanksgiving to talk through the next stop on our “World Wars in Western Europe” tour: Paris, France. After trying to decide whether or not Paris is our favorite city in the world — and why American college students rarely recognize it as anything like a contender for that … More Thursday’s Podcast: Paris
This week I started a small business and compared my Charles Lindbergh biography to a sitcom. Meanwhile, here’s what some other people were writing: • I was happy to take a week off from Anxious Bench in order to let Elesha Coffman wonder if historians make too much of empathy and too little of disgust and lament. … More That Was The Week That Was
It’s counterfactual week on The Pietist Schoolman Podcast, as Sam and I conjure up thought experiments in which the Reformation either happens before Martin Luther comes on the scene, or proceeds in a timeline from which he’s been somehow removed. Featured Book Carlos Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 Other Readings It doesn’t touch on the Reformation, but … More Thursday’s Podcast: Could the Reformation Have Happened Without Luther?
The newest episode of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast is now available! It features Sam and me talking about the Christianity that lies on the other side of 1517: the faith of the Middle Ages. We covered everything from grace and penance to Incarnation and sacramentalism, plus medievals’ relationship to the past. Our featured book this week is … More Thursday’s Podcast: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
This links wrap is a few hours later than usual because I spent the morning in Minneapolis celebrating the graduation of my brother Jon, who earned his doctorate in education. Congratulations, Dr. Gehrz! And I have no Pietist Schoolman posts to remind you of, since I was busy getting ready for the start of classes next week … More That Was The Week That Was
Greetings from Covenant Pines Bible Camp in beautiful northern Minnesota. Since I’m on retreat with other members of our congregation, I probably shouldn’t even have a laptop and wifi, but since I do… a few links from this blog and others: Here… • The real “crisis in authority” in evangelicalism is that women don’t have authority in evangelicalism. • You … More That Was The Week That Was
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