This isn’t really how I’d like to come back to blogging after some time off, but… I’m sad to pass on the news that Virgil Olson, an important figure in the history of Bethel University (seminary professor, 1951-1968; college dean, 1968-1974) and the leading historian of its sponsoring denomination, Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference), died … More RIP Virgil Olson
Thanks to Ken Stewart of Covenant College for taking the time to review our 2011 book, The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, in the new issue of Haddington House Journal! You’ll need to buy the issue to read the full review, since it’s not online. But in short, Stewart applauds the book on four counts: (I’ll … More New Review of The Pietist Impulse in Christianity
In 1713 the newly-crowned king of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm (Frederick William) I, visited the city of Halle and toured its pioneering educational and charitable institutions. The king’s tour guide was the institutions’ founder, the Pietist pastor August Hermann Francke. Their conversation soon turned to Friedrich Wilhelm’s central concern: the Prussian army. FW: What do you … More Francke and Friedrich Wilhelm: Can Pietists Serve “Two Kingdoms”?
Unless you limit its definition to that relatively small group of German Lutherans inspired by Philipp Jakob Spener and then led by August Hermann Francke in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Pietism is a tremendously diverse movement within Christianity — spanning centuries, oceans, languages, and confessions. So what do Pietists have in common? … More Pietism, Resurrection, and the Virtue of Hope
The revival of Pietism studies continues! As of last week, the newest book published by Johns Hopkins University Press is An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe, by Douglas Shantz. Holder of the chair of Christian thought at the University of Calgary, Shantz contributed a chapter to our Pietist … More Douglas Shantz’s An Introduction to German Pietism
I linked to it on Saturday, but the Spring 2013 issue of In Part, the denominational magazine of the Brethren in Christ Church (BIC), deserves its own spotlight here, since it focuses on Pietism. It’s the second in a series of four special issues, each focused on the four theological traditions that have shaped the … More “Jesus within us”: Pietism in the Brethren in Christ Church
Here… • Historians shouldn’t ask half-baked, existential questions about theology if they don’t want actual theologians to answer them, as I learned in pondering the role of doctrine in Pietism. (Do check the comments on that post: two come from colleagues who are collaborating on a new book about Pietism.) • Part three of my … More That Was The Week That Was
What place, if any, do Pietists give to doctrine? Do they place any boundaries on what constitutes right belief (orthodoxy)? Those questions come to my mind at least two or three times a year, generally whenever I’m getting too excited about the prospects for a “Pietist impulse” to again revive Christianity (as it’s done at … More Pietism, Doctrine, and the Boundaries of Belief
Here… • The news of Cedarville University dropping its philosophy major made me curious how many of its fellow members in the evangelical Council for Christian Colleges and Universities actually offered such a field of study. (Bethel does, and has the fourth largest philosophy faculty in the CCCU.) • Part two of my series ruminating … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • I don’t know if Frederick Buechner actually runs his own Twitter account or not, but regardless, it was an honor to have him (or “him”) retweet my post on balancing multiple callings, the first in a series on “The Vocation of a Christian Historian.” (From an essay I wrote over Christmas that drew … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 