This week I shared the acknowledgments from my biography of Charles Lindbergh, answered five questions from my publisher, and reflected on the cooperative nature of Olympic competition. Elsewhere: • “We are being punished for our sins against the environment, against one another, and against God,” wrote Mark Schwehn, thinking of COVID in light of older ways of interpreting … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I looked back at a debate over women in Bethel’s denomination, collaborated on a post about the faith of Walter Mondale, and shared some very positive early endorsements of my Charles Lindbergh biography. Elsewhere: • Especially as a Minnesotan, I was relieved to see justice done in the Derek Chauvin trial. But as Elizabeth … More That Was The Week That Was
I’ve been teaching an online summer course since 2013, when my friend Sam Mulberry and I debuted a new version of a multidisciplinary, gen ed pillar at Bethel called Christianity and Western Culture. (It’s still not my favorite mode of instruction, but we’ve figured out how to make it work — and, as importantly, which … More How I’m Teaching a Virtual Travel Course This Summer
When I wasn’t researching the history of a much-loved children’s hymn, I was reading the following posts and articles: • Last week I mentioned the local Methodist church that received national attention for its supposed plan to expel older worshippers. That story inspired Emily McFarlan Miller to report on the larger challenge of “restarting” declining … More That Was The Week That Was
Belated Happy New Year, everyone! Apart from year-end wraps for this blog and The Anxious Bench, I took a break for the holidays. Here’s what some others have been writing in the last week of 2019 and the first of 2020: • In many respects, 2019 was a terrible year. But it wasn’t all bad. • … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I somehow connected country music to the history of violence against women preachers, talked with author Angela Denker about faith, football, and politics in the Age of Trump, and probed my emotional response to my favorite baseball team winning a division title. (By the way, if you’ve been enjoying the new season of our … More That Was The Week That Was
The Imperial War Museum in London is pretty much my favorite museum in the world. But I’ve been there often enough over the past few years that last month I looked for new ways to enjoy familiar exhibits on the wars of the 20th century. Soon I found myself noticing how many artifacts were connected … More Childhood and the World Wars
I have to admit: I’d never heard the name Ernst Lohmeyer before I reviewed James Edwards’ new biography of that German theologian and biblical scholar for the current issue of Christianity Today. But the more I read Between the Swastika and the Sickle (Eerdmans, $30.00 in hardcover), the more I could see how Lohmeyer could … More Between the Swastika and the Sickle
It’s been far too long since I’ve shared any links, so let me go back through a busy first month of summer and recommend several pieces to readers: • I’m not the world’s biggest Stanley Hauerwas fan, but his recent comments on the church in the age of Trump are well worth considering. • The … More That Was The Month That Was
We’re in Munich, near the end of our World Wars in Western Europe tour. Before heading home, we recorded one more episode of our Pietist Schoolman Podcast with four more trip goers: Barb and Jim Lindberg, Jim’s sister Sherri Berry, and Sherri’s husband Dale. I especially appreciate them sharing reflections on our recent tour of … More Saturday’s Podcast: Family History and WWII
The Pietist Schoolman 