Here… • Reviews of The Pietist Option continued to come in: one predictably positive; one less so (also predictably). • I loved how Mark Safstrom linked the Protestant ideal of “always reforming” with a more agricultural metaphor. …There and Everywhere • Well, at least we Covenanters can no longer complain that no one knows who we are. … More That Was The Week That Was
Here… • In some ways it’s not strong enough, in other ways it’s too strong, but it’s what I think about the Nashville Statement. (For another perspective… a British evangelical tried to explain why he signed the Nashville Statement, even though he regarded it as “far from perfect” and worried that its credibility was damaged.) … More That Was The Week That Was
As usual, things get quiet around here in mid-to-late August as I gear up for the start of another academic year. (Those scintillating syllabi won’t write themselves!) So while I managed to dash off a few thoughts on what happened in Charlottesville, I’ve not had a chance to reflect in any depth on the question … More How Historians Can Teach from Memorials
Here… • Study Day during Finals Week isn’t really a typical day in my life as a Christian college professor… but this year it reminded me of all the reasons why I enjoy my job. • John Fea’s observations about the loneliness of people in our line of work got me thinking about history as being … More That Was The Week That Was
If your image of Christian higher education is a Donald Trump commencement address or a scandal-plagued football team, let me share a sample day in my life as a professor at Bethel University. Yesterday was atypical in a sense (no classes, since it was the study day that breaks up our final exam week), but it still provided … More A Day in the Life of a Christian College Professor
Okay, let’s try this again: the college lecture is neither obsolete nor fool-proof. Like anything, it can be done badly, but rightly understood, it’s still a highly important mode of teaching. Two reasons I’m thinking about a topic I’ve addressed several times before: First, Wired just offered another of its biennial critiques of the lecture. Entitled “The Traditional … More The Lecture Lives. I Would Know — I’m a Professor.
Only time for a short set of links, since we’re getting ready to head up to Collegeville, Minnesota, where Bethel is taking on Macalester for a spot in the NCAA Division III baseball tournament. Here… • Perhaps historians like me have given nostalgia short shrift. • What do I do as a Christian blogger? Not teaching, … More That Was The Week That Was
The surprising power of the timeline as a tool for history professors. … More The Timeline as a Historical Tool
Here… • It’s not just for evangelists and vice-presidents. Does the so-called “Billy Graham Rule” contribute to gender disparities in the leadership of Christian colleges and universities? • I thought that Molly Worthen was right that evangelicalism is often the source of its own problems… but perhaps it can also help generate its own solutions. • … More That Was The Week That Was
What do the following words have in common? Crusader, optics, process, unity, upset, wondering 1. They don’t rhyme with Gehrz. But then, it seems that nothing (in English) does. 2. They’re discussed by Sam Mulberry and myself on the pilot episode of Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz, our latest venture in the world of podcasting. (Last year, Sam joined … More My New Podcast: “Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz”
