Category Tidbits from the Archives
“That’s one small step…”: The Moon Landing as Public Theology
Paging through the Standard from 1969, I came across an interesting article by editor Donald Anderson titled “Moon Reflections.” And while I’ve missed the 45th anniversary of the moon landing by a few days, it’s still an interesting tidbit — one that also happens to illustrate a trend I’ve noticed in the Standard. It’s a well-known story: after a four […]
“The Kid in Upper 4”: Further Thoughts on Bethel Fundraising during WWII
Earlier this month I noted how “as the [Second World] war went on, ‘Loyalty’ began to be used in Bethel publications in such a way that loyalty to country and loyalty to God were put in service of loyalty to Bethel, and its desire for better facilities.” Starting in late 1942, the prewar practice of designating February […]
Signe Erickson: A Bethel Martyr
One day after their attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces began their invasion of the Philippines. In December 1941 that commonwealth hosted twenty-one American Baptist missionaries, mostly working in hospitals and schools on the island of Panay. By April 1942, with American and Filipino defenses collapsing, only eleven of those missionaries remained at liberty. With the help of a […]
“Traveling by ‘Holy Helo'”
Paging through the July 4, 1966 issue of the Standard, I came across a small article that caught my attention. It’s rather vividly written by a Baptist General Conference navy chaplain, Kenneth Carlson, and describes how Carlson ‘choppered’ between vessels to hold worship services for U.S. Navy sailors. First though, I was curious whether Carlson ever […]
Where Did Early 20th Century Bethel Students Come From?
Next week I’ll have lots more to say about how the people of Bethel and other Swedish-Americans experienced World War I, in light of the “100 percent American” nativism of that time. But while I was working on those posts, it occurred me that I could pretty easily visualize just how much of an immigrant […]
On Loyalty and Fundraising
In July of 1942 a special issue of the Bulletin of Bethel Institute arrived in the mailboxes of alumni and other subscribers. Here’s a photo of the cover: It isn’t all that surprising that an American college would wrap itself in the colors during a war, especially in the month of July. Now, whether a Baptist […]
Prophecies from 1918
A regular feature in early Bethel yearbooks is the “Class Prophecy,” a lighthearted look into the future of graduates. For the 1918 issue, the prophecy for the Commercial Department (the section of Bethel Academy that trained young people for clerical work with courses in bookkeeping, typing, and shorthand) looked mere months into the future to […]
Bethel at War 1914 - 2014 