Today Mark, Sam, and I return from our spring break with the first of six proposals for how a revival of the Pietist ethos can benefit Christianity early in the 21st century. Continuing to parallel the structure of Pia Desideria (1675), we joined Philipp Jakob Spener in urging greater attentiveness to Scripture: Thought should be given to a more … More Thursday’s Podcast: A Greater Attentiveness to Scripture
In the course of trying to convince evangelicals that they might actually be Pietists, yesterday I argued again that the beginning of Christian witness is the unity of the church. With Jesus, we ought to pray that his followers “may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them … More Christian Unity Is a Task for Christian Formation
Here… • What qualities should Christian voters seek in political candidates? (Thanks to Mennonite World Review for picking up this post.) • We’ll be asking what’s wrong with Christianity when we record next week’s newest episode of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast, but I suggested that I shouldn’t really try to answer that question until I’m ready to answer a … More That Was The Week That Was
For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day… Here’s a series of three posts I wrote in the summer of 2014, inspired by Ed Gilbreath’s Birmingham Revolution, on King’s famous letter from a jail in that Alabama city. Gilbreath (author of Reconciliation Blues and executive director of communications for my denomination) provides enough biographical and historical context that I began to realize just how little … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Birmingham Revolution
My thoughts and prayers are with the shooting victims and their families in San Bernardino. — Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) December 2, 2015 In the wake of the mass shootings on Wednesday, social media was predictably filled with politicians and others saying that their “thoughts and prayers” were with the victims’ families. But that prompted a fierce … More “Thoughts and Prayers”
Here… • I turned forty. • A leading Holocaust historian rebutted the abuse of that history by two politicians. • What are the best Cold War movies? (Follow up: I saw and enjoyed Bridge of Spies yesterday. More later perhaps…) • Molly Worthen provided our annual reminder that the lecture is not actually a terrible way to teach. • … More That Was The Week That Was
Last Friday North Korea announced that it would soon be adopting its own time zone — putting the country half an hour behind South Korea and Japan and half an hour ahead of China. Now, this isn’t actually unprecedented; Foreign Policy pointed out that there’s a “long history of what might be described as time zone manipulation … More North Korea and a Christian View of Time
Here… • Can a Pietist institution redefine and renew Christian higher education? That’s the plan. • Advice of the week to churches: don’t overlook college professors when filling leadership positions. • Thanks again to Devin Manzullo-Thomas for joining us on this week’s Pietist Schoolman Podcast! • The polls are still open this weekend if you’d like to vote for a … More That Was The Week That Was
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
It’s one of my favorite teaching weeks of the year at Bethel University: Renaissance week in GES130 Christianity and Western Culture, the multidisciplinary course that’s at the foundation of most Bethel students’ general education experience. It’s not so much that I enjoy the Renaissance itself (I think we once devoted a whole segment of our CWC podcast … More What If Education Serves Primarily to Teach Us How to Pray?
The Pietist Schoolman 