“Accidental Racist” and the Uses of History

So, Brad Paisley’s new album includes a duet with LL Cool J entitled “Accidental Racist.” Perhaps you hadn’t heard… For (to paraphrase Sideshow Cecil) you spent yesterday on Mars, in a cave, with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears. (And your iPhone off, to update a 16-year old pop culture reference a … More “Accidental Racist” and the Uses of History

Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Abolition as Grace

After taking a day off from social media yesterday as part of the END IT movement’s attempt to draw some attention to the continued enslavement of at least 27 million people around the world, it seems right to return to blogging/Facebooking/Tweeting with something on slavery. But while I think yesterday’s “disappearance” was a well-intended, perhaps … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Abolition as Grace

Spielberg the Historian?

A while back I noted on our department blog that Steven Spielberg’s new film, Lincoln, was receiving extraordinarily positive responses from film critics who had seen advance previews of the movie. (And asked if any of our students or alumni would be interested in writing their own reviews — that invitation still stands, if any … More Spielberg the Historian?

Abolition as Grace

You and I believe that slavery is wrong, but neither of us came to this conclusion on our own. So starts perhaps my favorite blog post of the year, published last weekend by historian Jay Case (professor at Malone University; author of An Unpredictable Gospel) and entitled, “An Ethical Conviction That You Hold, For Which … More Abolition as Grace