Category: Uncategorized

New Frontiers Await

When I chose “Posts from the Frontier” as the title for this blog, it indicated my desire to use the blog to explore leading-edge issues in Christianity and American culture on the chronological frontier between the present and the future.  Nevertheless, in recent weeks, when I’ve found myself thinking about the future, I’ve thought much […]

How my dad has helped me be a better historian

Last week, I talked about how Garrison Keillor has served as a (perhaps unlikely) influence on my work as a historian.  This week, I’d like to talk about another non-historian to influence what I do as a historian: my dad. My dad has been a local reporter in one way or another for much of […]

How Garrison Keillor has helped me be a better historian

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a historian for the past month or so, especially in light of several conversations I’ve had in a doctoral discussion group of which I’m a part.  Some of my colleagues were affirming my ability as a historian to write about a particular topic but make that […]

Is paying for things you find objectionable a violation of conscience?

The question in the title of this blog has been on my mind for the last week or so in the wake of the health care/birth control debate.  I’m not interested in weighing in on that debate per se, but in linking it to broader questions about individual conscience and the public good. To review […]

Want a more tolerant, united world? Make some friends.

As those who have been reading this blog for a while may remember, I wrote a long series of blog posts last summer discussing the problem of unity in The United Methodist Church.  I think unity is a problem in the church, but I also think it’s a general problem in society.  How do we […]

Why being young, liberal, and devout makes me weird

Robert Putnam has convinced me I’m weird.  Of course, I have been convinced of this on any number of occasions for a whole host of reasons, but reading Robert Putnam and David Campbell’s book American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us has demonstrated to me that I represent a combination of religious, political, and […]

Christian Community and the Kingdom of God

I’ve read two interesting books recently, Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness by Bryan P. Stone, and American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell.  I’d like to combine insights from both in today’s post. Putnam and Campbell’s book is about the state […]

Blogging vs. Academia

I have been blogging for nearly a year now.  I wrote my first real blog post on Feb. 26, 2011.  Since then, I’ve tried to write about once a week, sometimes coming closer to that goal and sometimes less so.  In the last year, I’ve also been reading other people’s blogs much more than I […]

Hipsters and the death of sincerity

My fiancée and I went out to eat at the Friendly Toast in Cambridge, MA, recently.  While there, we were talking, of course, about hipsters.  (For those of you who have never been to the Friendly Toast, it both serves tasty, innovative food and is swarming with hipsters.)  Specifically, we talked about hipsters and irony, […]

Competition vs. Conflict

In another Parker Palmer-inspired post, I’d like to talk about a distinction Palmer draws in his book, The Courage to Teach.  While discussing the process of learning in community, Palmer draws a distinction between competition and conflict.  He writes, “Competition is a secretive, zero-sum game played by individuals for private gain; conflict is open and […]