This week I interviewed the host of a new podcast on animal rights, and recorded a new episode of our podcast on sports history. Elsewhere: • Every revelation about church sexual abuse is disturbing. But this morning’s was especially hard to read, as it involved the founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier. • The executive committee … More That Was The Week That Was
I interviewed a former Pro Bowler, considered what’s being lost with the decline of mainline Protestantism, and explained why this blog is going to be relatively (but not completely) quiet for most of 2020. Elsewhere: • A local newspaper here in St. Paul reported that a local Methodist church was banning older people. Not surprisingly, … More That Was The Week That Was
Lots of Lindbergh here at The Pietist Schoolman, where I considered Charles’ connections to the space program and Anne’s diaries and letters. Over at The Anxious Bench I reported that a recent book on hymnals says as much about the histories of reading and childhood as singing. Elsewhere: • Charles Lindbergh is far from the only famous … More That Was The Week That Was
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
In spare moments between grading, I passed along the story of Bethel’s soon-to-be first Digital Humanities graduate and took note of a proposed culture war compromise involving evangelical colleges. Then over at The Anxious Bench, I suggested that no historian writes about the past “as it actually happened” without imagining the past as they think … More That Was The Week That Was
Greetings from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan! After a terrific couple days at the Conference on Faith and History, I’m waiting for my flight home and thought I’d share a few of the pieces I’ve been reading the last seven days: • With all that’s been going on at my … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • Looking for a free Lenten devotional? You’ve come to the right place. • Last Sunday I preached on the Ten Commandments, death, and other things. Your next chance to hear me preach (and teach) is February 9-11 in Minneapolis. • An interview with a former gymnast raised “important questions about church complicity in … More That Was The Week That Was
In Saturday’s links wrap, I mentioned Rachel Denhollander, the former gymnast whose testimony at the sentencing hearing of serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar went viral — particularly among her fellow Christians, who were inspired that she used that difficult platform to talk about the Bible’s message of grace and forgiveness. But I also encouraged anyone … More On Sexual Abuse and the Church
The Pietist Schoolman 