The Pietist Schoolman

Share this post

That Was The Week That Was

chrisgehrz.substack.com

That Was The Week That Was

March 12-18, 2023

Chris Gehrz
Mar 18
1
Share this post

That Was The Week That Was

chrisgehrz.substack.com

This week I was on spring break and did no writing except for a brief check-in on the role Christian colleges play in this year’s installment of March Madness. Elsewhere:

• Were Adam and Eve meant to live forever?

William Blake’s 1795 painting of God judging Adam - Wikimedia

• The anniversary of a colleague’s sudden death reminded Lisa Clark Diller that historians “are society’s professional rememberers.”

• Francis marked his tenth anniversary as pope.

• A Nigerian-American pastor whose church left the Southern Baptist Convention was the centerpiece for a fine New York Times Magazine piece on the tensions experienced by Black evangelicals.

• This preview of a digital archive of sermons by John Stott reminds me why I liked that evangelical Anglican priest so much.

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) - CC BY 3.0 (BlueMoses)

• “When I confront my own weakness and vulnerability,” realized one Christian who struggles this time of year with seasonal affective disorder, “I often have my most intimate encounters with God. I’m forced to more fully lean on God’s grace and rely less on my own will.”

• Both the far right and far left “are wrong. Only a censored and denatured liberal-arts curriculum can be employed in the service of ideological conformity.”

• Academics are understandably nervous about the implications of artificial intelligence for college writing. But there are bigger problems with AI than teenagers committing plagiarism.

• Meanwhile, grading is more and more important, and still uneven and unfair.

• Military history may be in decline nationally, but I can report that enrollment in my various “war” courses remains high — enough so that our department has created a Military & Diplomatic Studies endorsement.

• I observed St. Patrick’s Day by reading Verónica Gutiérriez’s account of the Irish immigrants who defected from the U.S. Army to fight for Mexico in 1846-1847.

The U.S. military executed fifty members of St. Patrick’s Battalion, including thirty hanged at one time on September 13, 1847 - Wikimedia

• “Journalists benefit from thinking historically,” wrote one reporter for the American Historical Association, “and historians benefit from learning to write for general readers. But there are risks, too, when journalists and historians fail to appreciate the strengths and limits of each other’s endeavors, and end up abusing them—and disserving the public.”

The Pietist Schoolman is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Share this post

That Was The Week That Was

chrisgehrz.substack.com
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Christopher Gehrz
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing