Okay, let’s go back to Wesleyan University president Michael Roth’s claim that while he wants his students (even fellow secularists) to engage with religious ideas and feelings, he certainly isn’t “trying to make a religious believer out of anybody.” But as a Christian historian — and as a professor at a Christian college — aren’t … More Am I “Making Religious Believers” Out of My Students? (part 2)
Coming next month to iTunes: The Pietist Schoolman Podcast! I’m not sure if “triumphant” is the right word here, but who am I to disagree with the people who are going to host the first podcast series I’ll have attempted in about four years? (Yes, I have a past life as a serial podcaster, having produced Radio Modern Europe from 2007-2008 … More My “Triumphant Return to Podcasting”
I’m happy to announce that five weeks from today I’ll be in Winona Lake, Indiana to speak to the faculty of Grace College about our book on Pietism and Christian higher education. Readers of this blog may know Grace best as the academic home of our regular guest-blogger Jared Burkholder, who played a key role … More Taking Our Book on the Road: Grace College
This past fall I stepped away from The Pietist Schoolman as part of an effort to focus on research and writing that also took me on a sabbatical from Grace College to the Young Center for Pietist and Anabaptist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. (Here’s our interview with Jared about that sabbatical.) I took my … More Thanks for holding my place, Chris!
2/23/15 – I’m quite sure I have no business being admitted to any intellectual club whose membership includes Stanley Hauerwas, Merold Westphal, and John Milbank. So it was beyond kind of Nathan Gilmour to interview me for the newest episode of Christian Humanist Profiles, one of several terrific podcasts produced by the prolific team of Christian Humanists. We touched on several chapters … More Listen to My Interview on Christian Humanist Profiles
I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be at Messiah College on April 30th to give a variety of presentations related to our book, The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons! We’ll kick off at 9:45am with a chapel talk on “New Persons, New Church, New World: Pietism and Today’s Christian College.” After lunch … More Taking Our Book on the Road: Messiah College
Like many American colleges and universities founded in the nineteenth century, the place I work came into being thanks largely to the efforts of a pioneering figure who is as venerated within the school as he is unknown outside of it. For Bethel, that figure is John Alexis Edgren, whose 176th birthday our campus celebrates today. Born in Sweden … More Happy Birthday, John Alexis Edgren!
I’m convinced that one of the main reasons that those of us who appreciate Pietism face an uphill struggle in reclaiming its contemporary value is that Pietism is often equated with piety. For some, piety connotes an intensely private kind of religiosity that detaches the Christian from concern for this world, leaving them “too heavenly minded to be earthly good.” But probably … More Reclaiming Piety
Please join me in supporting an exciting new project being spearheaded by Mark Safstrom (University of Illinois; editor of Pietisten) and Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom (North Park Theological Seminary; author of Angels, Worms, and Bogeys: The Christian Ethic of Pietism): a six-part documentary film series on the history of Pietism! God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good will be written by Michelle and … More Announcements: How You Can Support a Documentary Series on Pietism
As excited as I’ve been to share our book on Pietism and Christian higher education, I’m at least as thrilled by the near-simultaneous publication of a broader study of Pietism. And as it happens, Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition (Eerdmans) is written by two of the contributors to our book: Roger Olson and Christian Collins … More Announcements: Reclaiming Pietism
The Pietist Schoolman 