Onward, Christian soldiers: the war on Christmas is over, and the good guys won. Just ask Fox News host Bill O’Reilly: You may remember about 10 years ago, “The O’Reilly Factor” began spotlighting companies that refused to say the words “Merry Christmas.” In fact, some of those businesses actually ordered their employees not to say that. … More Happy Holidays (The War on Christmas Is Over)
I’ve been busy this morning packing up for our gradual trip back home, so I’ll have to catch up later and watch video of the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism. But I did manage to catch the opening remarks by Bethel provost Deb Harless and theology professor Christian Collins Winn, my friend and co-coordinator. Both spoke … More The Promise (and Problems) of “Usable Pasts”
While we expect a great turn-out tomorrow at the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism, we also know that those of you not living in or near the Twin Cities area probably weren’t able to attend. (I’m in that boat myself, since we’re in the last week of my sabbatical in Virginia.) So I’m happy to announce that … More How to Watch the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism Online
Even as I await the publication of my new book on Pietism, it’s gratifying to see people continuing to engage with its 2015 predecessor, The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education. At the end of a generous review in The Covenant Quarterly, Mark Safstrom puts that book in the context of work that Christian Collins Winn and I have been doing … More Covenant Visions of Christian Higher Education
Back in March, when Donald Trump was nothing more than the surprise leader in the Republican primaries, the fact that he was getting even 40% of the self-identified “evangelical” vote had already led Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore to declare that religious term “almost meaningless this year.” Even worse, “in many ways the word itself … More Done with “Evangelical”? Maybe You Should Try…
A big moment in my career happened last Friday around lunchtime, when I sent this document to our editor at InterVarsity Press: Yes, this is the manuscript for the book that Mark Pattie and I have been writing all year. There’s still a lot of work left to do before it comes out (maybe next fall?), but … More What Comes Next? (On Reaching Mid-Career in Higher Education)
One of the highlights of the 2016 meeting of the Conference on Faith and History was Jay Green’s presidential address, “Evangelical Historiography, Evangelical Identity, and the Spiritual Vision of History.” Like many of his predecessors, Jay offered an erudite, thought-provoking reflection on the past, present, and future of a professional society whose “primary goal is … More Should Evangelical Historians Contend for Evangelical Identity?
On the very short list of reasons that I wish I weren’t spending my fall on sabbatical in the Blue Ridge mountains is the fact that I won’t be at Bethel University on Tuesday, December 13th for the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be there! For a mere $5 (to … More Register for the 2016 Bethel Colloquium on Pietism
By the end of this week, Mark and I will have submitted the manuscript for our book on Pietism and the future of Christianity. As it happens, this stage concludes as churches like ours prepare to celebrate Reformation Sunday, and our book will come out in 2017 — the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Indeed, Martin Luther is currently … More Reformed and Always Reforming… Even 499 Years Later
If you don’t spend your evenings following Twitter, you’re both a better steward of your time than me and perhaps unaware that the evangelical internet exploded last night, after Time magazine published this story: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to dismiss employees who support gay marriage https://t.co/ExtuqqltaZ — TIME (@TIME) October 6, 2016 Elisabeth Dias reported that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA, … More InterVarsity, Sexuality, and the Importance of Christian Unity
The Pietist Schoolman 