Aside from noting the season finale of our department webisode series (on calling and careers) and the newest episode of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast (on sciences and visual arts within the liberal arts), the only new post at this blog was an overview of four key findings from the new Pew survey on this country’s changing religious landscape. … More That Was The Week That Was
5/6/15 – The penultimate episode of Past & Presence revolves around the relationship of historians to the church. In addition to a conversation on that topic with my colleague Amy Poppinga, I interview a Bethel History alum who serves as an Anglican pastor here in the Twin Cities. And the whole episode is hosted from three great European cathedrals — … More Past and Presence: Historians and the Church
Introducing my talk on Pietism and Christian colleges last Thursday morning at Messiah College, my friend Devin Manzullo-Thomas underscored that my training is in the history of international relations. It’s not something I hide in such settings — I’d pointed out exactly the same thing before a similar talk earlier in the month — but hearing it aloud from … More “Who Do You Think You Are?”: On Doing Theology as a Non-Theologian
Ever since I entered the world of Christian higher education, I’ve been bumping into people connected to Messiah College. And that pattern has only amplified since I started researching Pietism. So it was perhaps inevitable that I would find my way to Grantham, PA… It was a rich, full day yesterday at Messiah. Let me just share … More My Visit to Messiah College
Having spent a couple of posts last week unpacking Liberty University’s ambition (and the older one of Baylor University) to become “the Protestant Notre Dame” — and asking just what that meant, I’m surprised it took almost four days to see this comment appear: The question isn’t so much whether Liberty is a Protestant Notre Dame, … More Notre Dame and the Idea of the Catholic University
Today I’m happy to share a guest post by George Demetrion: a review essay on Philipp Jakob Spener’s 1675 work, Pia Desideria, originally written while George was auditing my colleague Glen Scorgie’s Pietism course at Bethel Seminary San Diego. The author of In Quest of a Vital Protestant Center: An Ecumenical Evangelical Perspective, George found much to appreciate in Pia … More The Enduring Influence of Pia Desideria (George Demetrion)
The church is never more the church than at a funeral. Or so I decided last week, as the members and friends of Salem Covenant joined five families in paying final respects to five saints of the church. I didn’t know all five well, but I am glad that I was able to attend last Friday’s memorial service for Alyce Hawkinson … More Alyce’s Song: Reflections on a Funeral
It’s going to be an unusually busy summer week for this college professor, so in place of new posts, enjoy a few of my favorites from the first half of 2014. We’ll start with my attempt to sketch a Pietist alternative to the scholarly model known as “faith-learning integration” — a three-part series that represented … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship
My series sketching the contours of a Pietist model of Christian scholarship concludes. In part one I critiqued the prevailing model of “faith-learning integration.” Then part two considered how scholarship transforms the scholar. In the conclusion, I’ll suggest how scholarship — particularly when understood not just as the production of knowledge but its transmission — benefits … More A Pietist Model of Christian Scholarship: Loving Neighbors
I concluded the second part of this preview of the conclusion to our forthcoming book on Pietism and Christian higher education (IVP, late 2014) with the sentence that provides the essay its title: “…Pietist educators ought to bear one principle in mind: Their mission does not depend on innovations; their mission is innovation.” Explaining what … More The Pietist University in the 21st Century (part 3)
The Pietist Schoolman 