I originally delivered this address (which pulls together several ideas I’ve chewed on at this blog) last spring and published it at The Anxious Bench. But it struck me last night that it’s actually better-suited to this time of year, when many of us are welcoming new students who may not understand or value the liberal … More The Three Journeys of the Christian Liberal Arts
As usual, things get quiet around here in mid-to-late August as I gear up for the start of another academic year. (Those scintillating syllabi won’t write themselves!) So while I managed to dash off a few thoughts on what happened in Charlottesville, I’ve not had a chance to reflect in any depth on the question … More How Historians Can Teach from Memorials
If you follow me over at The Anxious Bench, you might know that I wrote a multi-part series on the challenges of writing a biography. There’s a good reason for that: I was considering a biography as my next book project. Today I’m happy to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Eerdmans to contribute to their Library … More Announcing My Next Book Project!
Of all the ways that the First World War has attracted renewed attention in these years of its ongoing centenary, I don’t think any is less likely than its becoming the setting for the superhero movie debuting tomorrow: Yes, that’s Wonder Woman (played by Israeli actress Gal Gadot) leading a frontal assault across No Man’s … More Wonder Woman and World War I
The surprising power of the timeline as a tool for history professors. … More The Timeline as a Historical Tool
Greetings from Covenant Pines Bible Camp in beautiful northern Minnesota. Since I’m on retreat with other members of our congregation, I probably shouldn’t even have a laptop and wifi, but since I do… a few links from this blog and others: Here… • The real “crisis in authority” in evangelicalism is that women don’t have authority in evangelicalism. • You … More That Was The Week That Was
I’ll be down in New Ulm, Minnesota this Thursday evening giving a free lecture as part of the city’s centennial series on World War I. A German-American enclave in the southern part of the state, New Ulm had a difficult experience of the war, with its municipal leadership suspected of sedition by the state. You can learn … More Previewing My Talk on World War I Memorials
Last night marked the conclusion of The Great War, the three-part episode of PBS’ venerable American Experience documentary series focused on World War I. I live-tweeted each night of the miniseries, highlighting interesting facts and quotations from the episodes, but also trying to enrich it by sharing photos from our WWI travel course, suggesting further readings, and linking to newspapers, memoirs, … More How I Live-Tweeted The Great War on PBS
It’s not quite the “forgotten war” that the Korean War is, but World War I is certainly overshadowed in American memory by WWII, the Civil War, Vietnam, and the Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, the United States’ relatively short involvement in “the Great War” intersected with some of the most significant social, cultural, political, and economic shifts in American history. And now … More Go See the WW1 America Exhibit!
Here… • I announced that I’d be taking some time off from blogging in order to focus on revising the manuscript for our forthcoming book on Pietism… • …then went right ahead and wrote a reflection on why I (eventually) signed the Confessing Faculty statement… • …and paid tribute to one of my favorite Pietists, Glen Wiberg (1925-2017). … More That Was The Week That Was
