A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship: Against Faith-Learning Integration

What would Christian scholarship look like if rooted in the Pietist tradition? Would Pietists affirm something like “the integration of faith and learning”? Yesterday I had the chance to talk about these questions as part of Bethel’s annual faith-learning workshop for faculty on the cusp of applying for tenure. Thanks to workshop facilitator Kathy Nevins for the invitation! (Kathy … More A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship: Against Faith-Learning Integration

That Was The Week That Was

Here… • From our workshop on innovative teaching at Bethel, I shared some thoughts on how I plan to go about teaching our department’s first offering of Introduction to History. • Jonathan Merritt’s observations about three worrisome trends in “New Calvinism” reminded me what I’ve come to appreciate about older varieties of that theological tradition. • If you … More That Was The Week That Was

The New Online Home of The Baptist Pietist Clarion

Readers interested in Pietism, Baptists, social justice, Christian spirituality, religious liberty, or Bethel University should head over to the brand new website for The Baptist Pietist Clarion, edited by my friend G.W. Carlson. Clarion issues have been available for download for several years now, but they were hosted by a page at a now-outdated version of our department’s website. … More The New Online Home of The Baptist Pietist Clarion

Our Pietism and Higher Ed Book as Word Cloud

It’ll no doubt go through some more editing before coming out later this year, but if you want a kind of sneak peek at The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons (forthcoming from InterVarsity Press)… Check out the word cloud that the current manuscript forms: For more about the book: check out … More Our Pietism and Higher Ed Book as Word Cloud

“That They May Be One”: Evangelical Unity after World Vision

Ten minutes after I pressed “Publish” on Monday’s post about my struggle to find a way to blog well about the World Vision controversy, I found myself lecturing on the Catholic Reformation and Wars of Religion in Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture class. While the fracturing of the Church into tens of thousands of denominations didn’t start or … More “That They May Be One”: Evangelical Unity after World Vision

The Challenge of Introducing Pietism

In recent months I’ve been invited to review two books seeking to introduce English-speaking audiences to German Pietism: Douglas Shantz’s An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe (Johns Hopkins University Press, paperback $31.50 on Amazon), and Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom’s Angels, Worms, and Bogeys: The Christian Ethic of Pietism (Cascade Books, $15.20). While … More The Challenge of Introducing Pietism

In the New Baptist Pietist Clarion: Pietism, Baptists, and Walter Rauschenbusch

The newest issue of The Baptist Pietist Clarion, an annual newsletter edited by my friend and occasional co-blogger G.W. Carlson, is now available in print and online. (For the former, I can put you in touch with GW. For the latter, click here.) Some highlights in a typically strong, wide-ranging issue: • Joel Lawrence reflects on … More In the New Baptist Pietist Clarion: Pietism, Baptists, and Walter Rauschenbusch