Summer break is rapidly coming to an end, with our faculty retreat taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday and students starting to move in the rest of the week. But before summer disappears completely, I thought I’d share an update on one of my projects: I’ve mentioned before that this academic year I’ll be teaching our … More Update on Our Intro to History Webisodes
Today’s “best of” post comes from late April. It came to mind because I’ll be spending today and tomorrow doing exactly the kind of work that puts me at risk of what Parker Palmer called “functional atheism… the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: When I’m a “Functional Atheist”
My wife is deeply suspicious of my claims that I “work” in the summer. While the lengthening and warming of Minnesota’s days has no effect on her schedule, I suddenly enter a three-month period when my usual routine evaporates, to be replaced by an ever-shifting mix of quasi-academic activities: blogging on topics far afield from whatever it is that … More The King of All Media
A week that began with me celebrating my third anniversary blogging as The Pietist Schoolman ends with just a quick links wrap today, as I’m in the middle of attending the annual meeting of the Covenant Church. Next week I’ll come back to my question about that denomination… What's the @Cov_Church? "Missional Pietism," says @ECCprez … More That Was The Week That Was
Given my occupation, this title may suggest a one-line post: I studied history in college; I teach history at a college. But I rarely draw very much on the historical knowledge I acquired from the fine professors of the William & Mary history department. I did take a lot of modern European history courses there, but I suspect that the content of my … More Why I’m Glad I Majored in History
In many Christian circles, secular colleges and universities can sometimes get a bad rap. Parents are warned that their children will “lose their faith” in these environments and that professors will intentionally undermine their beliefs. Politically conservative Christians routinely express their belief that American colleges and universities are out to brainwash their kids with leftist … More Should Christian Higher Education Be “Safe”?
I’ll be spending most of today at a program assessment workshop with my friend and colleague Sam Mulberry. Next Monday we’ll help run the annual summer workshop for Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture (CWC) teaching team. About three weeks after that, we’ll start co-teaching the online version of CWC for the second year in a row. And in … More “GehrBerr,” or On Teaching as Collaboration
Here… • From our workshop on innovative teaching at Bethel, I shared some thoughts on how I plan to go about teaching our department’s first offering of Introduction to History. • Jonathan Merritt’s observations about three worrisome trends in “New Calvinism” reminded me what I’ve come to appreciate about older varieties of that theological tradition. • If you … More That Was The Week That Was
Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to hear from several of my colleagues at Bethel University as they shared some innovations in teaching at our annual “West by Midwest” festival. You can see all of my tweets from that two-hour event at the bottom of this post — they include links to some of the innovations mentioned. … More Introducing Our New Introduction to History Course
5/20/14 – For the second year in a row, tomorrow afternoon I’ll take part in West by Midwest, a gathering of Bethel University folks who want to share innovative ideas for teaching and course design. I’ll be introducing our department’s new Introduction to History course, which will blend an evening seminar with blogging and webisodes. Sam Mulberry and I will also … More West by Midwest 2014
The Pietist Schoolman 