Author Archives: Chris Gehrz
What Bethel Students in 2014 Thought about Bethel in 1914
On Monday we’ll be flying to London to begin our three-week travel course on the history of World War I. So don’t expect much from me here at this blog. (Not that I’ve exactly been prolific of late!) But before we go, I thought I’d share some thoughts from the students on our trip: As a pre-trip assignment, I […]
Thoughts from an Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran: A Bethel Adjunct Professor’s Perspective
Today we’re happy to share a post from Mark Martin, who has been an adjunct professor in Bethel’s College of Adult and Professional Studies and Graduate School (CAPS/GS) since 2011. (He currently teaches in the MBA program.) An officer in the Minnesota National Guard, Mark was kind enough to share his reflections on his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. […]
Following Up: “It Might Lead to Drinking”
There’s a hoary old joke about Baptists: “Why are they opposed to pre-marital sex? It might lead to dancing.” Reading issues of their denominational magazine from the first half of 1942, I can’t help but wonder if people at the time told a different version of the joke about the people of the Swedish Baptist […]
Following Up: A Veterans Day Story on the G.I. Bill
Today’s Veterans Day edition of the Minneapolis StarTribune features a story on the 70th anniversary of the G.I. Bill, including some comments from me on that legislation’s impact on Bethel College and Seminary in the years after World War II. Reporter Kevyn Burger contacted me after coming across this blog — specifically, my late June post on […]
Following Up: Bethel’s First War Casualty
In my one of my first posts for this blog, I briefly shared the story of August L. Sundvall (A ’09), the Marine lieutenant who was killed on the Western Front on April 20, 1918 — making him the first former student from Bethel to die in our century of warfare. In honor of today’s incredibly well-timed football game between Bethel […]
Christians at War: Retrospect and Prospect
It’s been a busy fall, too busy to permit for much Bethel at War blogging past sharing my reminiscences of 9/11/01 on 9/11/14. But as the Bethel of 2014 settles down for a few weeks, I’m ready to get back to the Bethel of 1917-18 and 1941-45. (Fletcher, meanwhile, is spending the term in Oxford. If he spends more […]
Our Most Popular Posts
It’s been exactly one month since either of us posted anything to this blog, which seems like as good an excuse as any to check which posts have generated the most interest. In order of page views: The Evangelical Left and Vietnam (Fletcher Warren) War on Terror: We Need You! (FW) Can You Help? A Community Invitation (FW) Welcome to […]
The War on Terror: My Experience
Over the summer Fletcher invited Bethel alumni, faculty, and staff to share their memories of the War on Terror by completing a questionnaire. I want to join him in thanking those of you who have taken the time to write us. But I also want to step out of my usual role in this project and add […]
Bethel Goes “Over There”
This morning let me leave Bethel’s past for a moment and look to a small part of Bethel’s future, as it connects to one of the wars we’re studying… This coming January, my colleague Sam Mulberry and I will take a group of Bethel students to Europe for a three-week course on the history of World […]
The Future of This History
If you’ve been wondering why it’s been so quiet here at the Bethel at War project blog… Bethel just finished its first week of class, which kept me occupied, and Fletcher just scarpered off to start his semester abroad. So what’s the future of this digital history? While we had originally thought that we would take our full site live this fall, […]
Bethel at War 1914 - 2014 