This week I looked at the religious biography of a Minnesotan who was known for technological innovation and died on Hawaii. Not Charles Lindbergh, but Medtronic founder Earl Bakken. Elsewhere: • For Reformation Day, a Lutheran meditation on the importance of singing in church. • Two years after Rachel Held Evans died, her last book is coming … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I wrote about a doomed Arctic explorer and celebrated the launch of a new initiative from John Fea. Elsewhere: • In the week of Yom HaShoah, there was a lot to find fascinating in historian James Loeffler’s article on the little-known poetry of Raphael Lemkin, the Jewish lawyer who gave us the word … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I turned in my Lindbergh biography manuscript and recorded a new COVID-themed episode of my favorite, strangest podcast. Elsewhere: • “Nothing in a church or a family stays hidden forever,” wrote Bob Smietana of a new church scandal, centering on John Ortberg and his children. • In his first public comments since being … More That Was The Week That Was
I’m not sure why early April seemed like a good moment to devote part of a 252 episode to film… but I’m glad we did! This week Chris, Sam, and I each nominated three films for a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of sports movies. Vote below for your top four choices! More importantly, we talked about the mythic … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports Movies
A couple weeks ago a reporter from our student newspaper interviewed me in my capacity as faculty president. After we chatted about some of the theological and political divisions currently roiling our community, he closed by asking if I had any words for the people of Bethel. Just that I’m grateful, I said. It’s a … More Jay
I was busy last week writing a sermon and Pietist Option talk (more on those tomorrow) and so didn’t have a chance to blog about the latest fracas involving Liberty University and its controversial president, Jerry Falwell, Jr. A quick recap: • On Friday Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service reported that Liberty officials were eliminating its common … More What Counts as a Christian College or University?
Here… • One aspect of troubling allegations coming out of Wheaton College reminded me of the importance of interfaith engagement. • Too often, rural ministry is invisible to those of us in the cities and suburbs. (One link I forgot to include: a reflection by a Vineyard church planter in Lancaster, Ohio.) • How you … More That Was The Week That Was
By now, I suspect most of my readers have read about an incident involving students at Wheaton College, perhaps the leading evangelical institution of higher learning. As first reported by the Chicago Tribune, five members of Wheaton’s football team assaulted one of their teammates in March 2016. The victim transferred to another school, while the … More The Assault at Wheaton… and the Importance of Interfaith Engagement
Even as I await the publication of my new book on Pietism, it’s gratifying to see people continuing to engage with its 2015 predecessor, The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education. At the end of a generous review in The Covenant Quarterly, Mark Safstrom puts that book in the context of work that Christian Collins Winn and I have been doing … More Covenant Visions of Christian Higher Education
Early in professors’ careers, writes Wheaton College biblical scholar Gary Burge, they “must learn the culture in which they work and decide how they are going to fit into the corporate life of the community?” Not only do they need to hone their skills as teachers, continue the research that will earn them tenure, and form important … More Mapping Your Academic Career: Academic Freedom and Institutional Dissonance
The Pietist Schoolman 