Baylor University recently became a Research 1 (R1) university. This means that the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has recognized the school for its commitment to research and doctoral studies. Texas now has ten R1 institutions: UT-Austin, UT-Dallas,...
faith and learning
24 Hours in Cleveland, Tennessee
This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) I was spent some time at the beautiful campus of Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. I was there for the Lee Symposium: A Conversation on Faith and the Liberal Arts. Retired Calvin College history...
Christians and Politics: Power, the Liberal Arts, and People of Faith
I will be at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee this weekend to give a plenary talk at the Lee Symposium: Conversation on Faith and the Liberal Arts. This year’s theme is “Christians and Politics: Power, the Liberal Arts, and People...
An Adjunct Instructor Reflects on How Much He Should Invest in the Mission of a Church-Related University
This is an important post for those of us in church-related academia, especially administrators. Jonathan Wilson discusses his experience as an adjunct history professor at the Jesuit-run University of Scranton, but his thoughts apply to any faith-based institution or any college...
The Secondary Teacher Initiative at the 2018 Conference on Faith and History
As you may know, I am chairing the program for the 2018 meeting of the Conference on Faith and History. We will be meeting October 4-6 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can see the Call for Papers...
A Day at Boston Trinity Academy
I don’t think there are many places in the country like Boston Trinity Academy (BTA). Located in the Hyde Park section of Boston, BTA is: A very strong private school (grades 6-12) that consistently sends its graduates to some of...
Alvin Plantinga: Philosopher
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae0GJXXzVME&w=560&h=315]...
The State of the Evangelical Mind Conference
Later this week I am heading to Indianapolis to participate in the “State of the Evangelical Mind” conference. This two-day conference will explore how the evangelical mind is faring since Mark Noll wrote his seminar The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind...
“This is Your Chance”: The Pietist Schoolman on the Christian Liberal Arts
Chris Gehrz, aka the Pietist Schoolman, recently gave the keynote address for the annual Honors Symposium at Crown College, a Christian college in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota. He has graciously posted an abridged version of his address, “The Three Journeys...
History as Love
I thought this excerpt from Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past would make for an appropriate Valentine’s Day post on history blog. Love is at the center of the Christian life. It is one of the “fruits...
David Barton and Christians in Graduate School
Over at The Pietist Schoolman, Chris Gehrz, a Ph.D in European history from Yale, responds to David Barton’s “mini-tirade” against my supposedly pagan training in a secular graduate program. Here is a taste: …But in the spirit of seeing logs instead...
Robert George: A Christian Scholar on the Spiritual Disciplines
As many of you know, I am very interested in the ways that my Christian faith informs what I do as a scholar, historian, and teacher. Back in 2011 I joined my friends Jay Green and Eric Miller in editing Confessing...
Quote of the Day
Some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity; others seek knowledge that they may themselves be known: that is vanity; but there are still others who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others, and that...
Lilly Fellows Program Book Awards Announced
The LFP Book Award “honors an original or imaginative work from any academic discipline that best exemplifies the central ideas and principles animating the Lilly Fellows Program. These include faith and learning in the Christian intellectual tradition, the vocation of...
Tal Howard Leaves Gordon for Endowed Chair at Valparaiso University
Tal and Agnes Howard My old employer, Valparaiso University, keeps attracting quality historians. Last month I learned that my friend and prolific historian Tal Howard is leaving Gordon College to become the Phyllis and Richard Dusenberg Chair of Christian Ethics and Professor...
New in the Mail: “The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education”
I just received my copy today. Here is my blurb on the back of the book: I have been reading Chris Gehrz’s blog, “The Pietist Schoolman” for several years and have been cheering him on as he makes a compelling...
Lilly Fellows Book Award: Call for Entries
I want to call your attention to this book prize for works that reflect on the intersection of academic life and Christian faith. Our book Confessing History: Explorations on the Historian’s Vocation (co-edited with Jay Green and Eric Miller) was a...
R.R. Reno on The Christian Intellectual
Thomas Aquinas: Christian scholar R.R. Reno, the editor of First Things magazine, posted a nice piece yesterday on the characteristics of a Christian intellectual. Here are a few of my favorite passages: Even when we swim against the stream there’s a deep […]
Is “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?” Unlikely “To Reach Most Evangelicals”?
This week’s Books & Culture podcast focuses on Roger Lundin’s new edited collection, Christ Across the Disciplines. David Bebbington wrote the essay on the discipline of history. Listen here. John Schmalzbauer wrote the essay on sociology. In it he mentions...