Today is the first day of fall classes at Bethel University. So before I get too caught up in the details of particular courses, I want to take some time this week to step back and reflect on our larger mission and identity. Let’s start with the tag line that now shows up on Bethel … More What It Means to Educate “For God’s Glory and Neighbors’ Good”
Here at Pietist Schoolman I wrote about the military history of childhood and the religious history of my own adolescence. Over at The Anxious Bench, I considered the proposition that Instagram food photos are the 21st century version of table grace, and shared a small digital humanities project. Elsewhere… • Also at Anxious Bench, Andrea Turpin considered … More That Was The Week That Was
I marked the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 by considering how people at the time made religious meaning of the Space Race, then shared my newest piece for Christianity Today and a map previewing the sites we’re considering for future Pietist Schoolman Travel tours. Elsewhere… • L.D. Burnett on the moon landing as an epochal moment: “After thousands of … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I blogged about the religious history of the Internet and the similarities between preaching and teaching. Our podcast focused on the experience of women coaching college sports. Elsewhere… • It’s the time of year that colleges and universities invite commencement speakers. One of the most controversial choices came from Taylor University, a non-denominational … More That Was The Week That Was
It’s March, and that means it’s time for The 252 to devote most of an episode to college basketball! With the help of guest philosopher/Indiana booster Sara Shady, we nominated eight players and coaches for a college hoops Mount Rushmore. You can vote for your four favorites in the poll below. Before we wrapped up that segment, … More Wednesday’s Podcast: College Basketball
As explained in this space, I’m temporarily focusing more of my online energies on podcasts, like this week’s 252 discussion of sports as religion. But at The Anxious Bench I did find the time to write a Christian case for journalism and to profile a now-forgotten religious figure who was reviled by everyone from Charles Lindbergh to … More That Was The Week That Was
Yesterday a colleague reminded me of a New York Times article that I had noticed this summer, but not read closely. Alongside striking photographs by Daniel Arnold, Bryn Stole reported on the 155th commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg, at which 6,000 people reenacted the roles of Union and Confederate soldiers, nurses, surgeons, chaplains, and even nuns. If … More The Future of Civil War Reenactment
It’s April 14th, and we Minnesotans are in the middle of a blizzard warning. A perfect day, in other words, for staying inside to read some posts and articles you might have missed during the week. Here… • I reflected on the life and legacy of Adam Johnson, a particularly brilliant colleague who died of … More That Was The Week That Was
I’ll leave it to actual American historians like my Anxious Bench colleague Kristin Du Mez to explain the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. on this, the 50th anniversary of his assassination. But one topic about which I can perhaps say something meaningful is MLK’s response to the Reformation initiated by his namesake. (As you may know, … More Martin Luther King, Jr. on Martin Luther
Aside from doing some year-in-review stuff for Pietist Schoolman and Anxious Bench, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s in order to get ready for my J-term class. But here’s a round-up of some good writing from the waning days of 2017. Happy New Year, all! • Tish Harrison Warren, fresh off winning Christianity Today‘s book … More That Was The Week That Was
