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
Almost from the moment I got to Bethel University (sixteen years ago!), I started dreaming about developing two new courses. The one on World War II launched five years ago, with its fourth iteration starting next week. But aside from one independent study, I’ve never quite been able to follow through with a History of … More Coming Soon… The History and Politics of Sports
Apart from sharing a couple of podcasts recorded “live” in London and Paris, I didn’t do much here at Pietist Schoolman during our three-week travel course on World War I. Over at The Anxious Bench I did find time to write about the history of time travel and to collaborate with Beth Barr and Kristin DuMez on a list … More That Was The Month That Was
I’ve only half-followed the recent Twitter dust-up between historians Thomas Kidd and John Fea and journalist Jonathan Merritt. You can get caught up to speed with this morning’s Anxious Bench post from John Turner. Throw in editor John Wilson (who rose to the historians’ defense), and you’ve got several of my favorite Johns/Jonathans sparring over what it meant … More I’m a Historian, Not an Expert
After a break for Thanksgiving, this week I looked at the numerical decline of the history major and shared some of my favorite meals and museums in my favorite world capital. A few other things I was reading this week: • As a Protestant prone to lamenting what was lost in the Reformation, I was … More That Was The Week That Was
Every other January since 2013, my Bethel colleague Sam Mulberry and I have taken students to Europe for a three-week course on the history of the two world wars. Whether we’re in Trafalgar Square or at a Canadian memorial in France or on the chilling grounds of Dachau, that travel course has become my favorite kind … More Announcing My “World Wars in Western Europe” Trip – June 6-16, 2019
A rather difficult week at work kept me from blogging at The Pietist Schoolman. I’ll be back to my usual schedule in a day or two, but in the meantime, here’s some of what I was reading elsewhere: • What little writing time I had went into an Anxious Bench piece on the religious history of the world’s … More That Was The Week That Was
Today is the first day of fall classes here at Bethel University, so I thought I’d share the brief address I delivered last Tuesday at our faculty retreat, as our faculty president for the coming year. I didn’t reflect on the theme verse (“For we are the aroma of Christ to God,” 2 Cor 2:15), … More The Impact of One Life on Another: My Address to Bethel’s Faculty
After spending about 6,000 miles on the road, visiting a dozen states (and the District of Columbia), preaching three sermons, and reading through thousands of documents in dozens of boxes of Charles Lindbergh papers, I’m finally back in Minnesota. We’re only about a month away from the start of fall classes at Bethel, so I’ll … More A Deeper Dive into “Why We Teach”
It’s made by one of my best friends. It consists of nothing but interviews with professors at a small university, plus images from public domain films. I’m in it. For all these reasons, you won’t want to believe what I’m about to write. But it’s still true: Why We Teach is the most compelling documentary you’ll … More Why We Teach
