Two days back from vacation and it’s been hard to get back into the blogging swing of things. So I’ll tread water a bit by passing along the tiny, surreal bit of YouTube celebrity to which my friend Sam just drew my attention. It features Matt Richards, senior pastor of Sidney Lutheran Brethren Church in … More My (Minor) YouTube Moment
I don’t even know how to begin to explain this: Okay – first, I’m co-coordinator of GES130 Christianity and Western Culture (CWC), a course on Western Civilization, church history, philosophy, and theology that about two-thirds of Bethel students take in their first year. In addition to a team of 8-10 professors, the course is taught … More My MTV Unplugged Moment
My wife and I were blessed to be part of a very special wedding yesterday. Among many other memorable elements of the occasion, the New Testament text that our friends chose stood out: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in … More “One in spirit and of one mind”
During my Thanksgiving hiatus I’m reprising some older posts: one each from June/July, August, September, and October. This one was originally posted on October 7, when I asked who people used to think of as the “worst person in history” before Adolf Hitler came along to seize that title. If you like what you see, … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Worst Person Before Hitler
11/10/11 – On this week’s episode of CWC: The Radio Show… Amy, Sam, and I discuss Glee, Harry Potter, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, British English, Reformation Day, and how to explain to our children what we do. Get episodes here, or click on the logo on the right side of the home page.
Happy Reformation Day, everyone! My friend Sam and I made this video for Bethel’s Christianity and Western Culture class several years ago. (The words are by a Lutheran pastor from Iowa.) Remarkably, it’s now been seen well over 120,000 times on YouTube, and it never fails that we run into or hear from excited students … More This Day in History: “Papal Bulls, Indulgences, and Transubstantiation!”
Hank Williams, Jr. stirred up a fracas this past week by likening Barack Obama playing golf with Speaker of the House John Boehner to Adolf Hitler playing golf with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Not following the analogy? From the Bocephus SAT Prep Guide answer section… Obama:Hitler::Boehner:Netanyahu.) (On overly facile Nazi analogies, check out the … More The Worst Person Before Hitler
This week I’m launching a new series previewing the chapters in our newly released book, The Pietist Impulse in Christianity. Where better to start than with the deceptively simple question, “What is Pietism?” As we point out rather obviously in our editors’ introduction, that question “is not easily answered” (xxi). Some scholars prefer a “strict … More The Pietist Impulse: Definitions
My favorite story making the blog rounds today concerns a new release from Concordia Publishing House: This is the story, from birth to death, of Martin Luther who headed a revolution that changed the world. From a small town in medieval Germany, the Reformation resulted in dramatic, sweeping change that still echoes today. Here is … More Luther!
Now that our series on teaching the history of World War I in Europe (“Over There”) is well underway, I’m starting a new (though somewhat less frequently updated) series stemming from my research into Pietism and higher education, in which we consider some significant (neo)Anabaptist critiques of Pietism. Growing up in suburban evangelical churches, I … More The Anabaptist Vision
The Pietist Schoolman 