Paradox of Power: How the Weak Prevail Against the Strong

by Bert de Vries. Much of my career as historian-archaeologist has been focused on the question of how overpowered populations and culture groups - the conquered, the occupied, the colonized, the enslaved – coped, and how a historian could know that. This interest was actually shaped by my own experience as a child in occupied …

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Closeup of fingers touching from the Creation of Adam painting in the Sistine Chapel.

Homily on History

by Bob Schoone-Jongen. For the past eleven years I have ended my History 152 classes with a homily on history and this Christian’s view of what it all means. I make no claims as to profundity, but I will lay claim to its sincerity. This is what I believe history teaches: We are debtors: to …

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The Historian at a Murder Trial

by Will Katerberg. Once I had jury duty and ended up a jury foreman in a murder trial. The trial was unusual in that there were two defendants, two juries, and two defense attorneys. The victim was a drug dealer who’d taken money from a friend of the two defendants. They broke into his house …

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A Year in Cyprus: The Complex Intersection of International Politics and Historical Research

by Young Kim. During the 2012-2013 academic year, my family and I had the privilege of living for ten months in Cyprus, where as a Fulbright research fellow, I conducted research and wrote a book on the life and work of Epiphanius of Salamis, who was chief bishop of the island from 367-403.  I know …

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Student standing beside a stack of books as tall as she is.

Celebrating Our Honors Students

by Bob Schoone-Jongen. About a year ago a student walks into my office.  “Hey, professor…,” begins the conversation.  (It may have been just “prof.”)  Anyhow, the conversation immediately turns to an honors thesis: How to do one?  Would I supervise a project?  In my mind there are counter questions: What’s the topic?  Why me?  Do …

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A circle featuring symbols of several religions surrounding a peace dove.

Principled Pluralism and Interreligious Dialogue

by Frans van Liere. Last Thursday, April 25, Calvin College hosted “Principled Pluralism: Navigating America’s Increasingly Diverse Religious Landscape”, a panel discussion on religious pluralism on college campuses, with Joseph DeMott moderating a discussion among Calvin’s president Michael LeRoy, Calvin Theological Seminary president Jul Medenblik, and Alec Hill, the president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The …

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