It’s not how I wanted to head into 2023, but I need to cancel our planned June tour of Germany. In the end, there just wasn’t enough customer interest to support even a scaled-down version of what I had in mind, so I’ve refunded deposits and will return any late-arriving checks. It may be that … More Cancelling Our Germany 2023 Tour… But Planning Our Return to Europe
No, it’s not unexpected that the capital of Germany would have commemorative sites related to World War I. But the ways that the memory of that war show up in Berlin can catch you off guard, as I discovered on my recent tour. Amazingly, I’d never been to Berlin, so we started by orienting ourselves … More Unexpected Sites of WWI Remembrance: Berlin
This week: a Bethel colleague and I launched a new podcast meant to help Christians thinking about college, and I recorded an hour-long conversation about Ukraine with two other Bethel colleagues. Elsewhere: • Here’s a historical analogy I didn’t muse about in our Ukraine podcast: is Volodymyr Zelensky the 21st century version of Lajos Kossuth? • I … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I shared a Lenten devotional that I created with colleagues on the Bethel faculty — one that made me think of former Bethel president George Brushaber, whose memorial service was last Sunday — and I took my turn to write the lead essay in our Following Jesus conversation, “A Week in the Life of … More That Was The Week That Was
Any reasonable, empathetic person can find any number of reasons to find troubling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The suffering, dislocation, and grief that any war inflicts on anyone in its path. The odiousness of Vladimir Putin, who had the gall to say that one goal of his “special military operation” was the “denazification” of Ukraine: … More Thoughts on Ukraine
This week I revisited a mid-1950s Bethel talk about Pietism and considered whether a university like ours can truly satisfy all of its external constituents. Elsewhere: • My favorite post this week at The Anxious Bench found David Swartz visiting thriving churches in a northeastern city that white evangelicals tend to view as highly secular. • I’ve … More That Was The Week That Was
Even as we start to get back to something like a pre-COVID normal, this summer I want to do even more of one of my chief pandemic hobbies: reading books. Here’s some of what’s on my reading list for the next three months. History Most of my more academic reading will be devoted to boning … More What I’m Hoping to Read This Summer
This week I shared video of my first Lindbergh book talk and considered whether we’re seeing a realignment of American Christianity along lines other than the mainline-evangelical divide. Elsewhere: • If you liked my post last weekend on the history of religious colleges in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, you’ll want to read pieces by Benjamin … More That Was The Week That Was
Yesterday I mentioned that I’ve recorded 21 podcasts this year, including a limited-run series with Amy Poppinga called Pandemics and the Liberal Arts and new episodes of my sports podcast with Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry, The 252, and Nothing Rhymes with Gehrz, the odd little show in which Sam and I simply talk about … More Thursday’s Podcast: A 2020 Time Capsule
Despite what some members of my own family think, It’s a Wonderful Life is the best Christmas movie ever made. Not the cheeriest, but the best. But as I watched it again this Christmas Eve, it struck me that what makes it “the best” has changed for me over my own life. When I was … More Twelve Days: A Wonderful Life?
The Pietist Schoolman 