by Frans van Liere. During spring break I was asked by my church friend Phyllis Van Andel to conduct a book discussion for the Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL). It could be on any book I wished to discuss, she said. CALL classes are always fun to teach, because of the great enthusiasm of …
Continue reading Hella Haasse, Threshold of Fire
by Kristin Du Mez. [This piece originally appeared in the Oxford University Press Blog on March 21, 2015. The first portion is republished here with permission of the author.] The much anticipated Valentine’s Day release 50 Shades of Grey set off a flurry of activity on social media sites, with bloggers lining up to cajole, shame, reason, or plead with …
Continue reading The Crime is the Fruit of the Theology: Christian Responses to 50 Shades of Grey
by Eric M. Washington. For African-American historians, February can be a busy month. For me, I did a podcast for the Reformed African American Network, I give a short presentation to AHANA[1] students here at Calvin about my journey into African-American history, and I gave a short presentation on the history and centrality of Black …
Continue reading February is over: What does an African-American Historian do in March?
by Kristin Du Mez. [This piece originally appeared as a guest contribution to Religion in American History. The first portion is republished here with permission of the author.] I wasn’t going to write on Gordon Wood and Bernard Bailyn. I’m not a colonialist. It’s been years since I’ve read their work, which in my recollection is far and …
by Bruce Berglund. While visiting a friend’s house recently, I noticed a new copy of Czesław Miłosz’s Collected Poems on his shelf. With my friend out of the room, I snuck the book down and turned to my favorite poems by Miłosz – which are my favorite poems by any poet. As a historian, I …
Continue reading Czesław Miłosz’s Century
by Spencer Cone. Today, Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey. As a bustling city with a thriving economy and cultural life, it’s become a symbol of the modern, Westernized Turkey. However, the city’s prosperity disguises a tumultuous history. Throughout the course of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) the city, known then as Smyrna, witnessed …
Continue reading Why the Past Matters: Izmir’s Historical Amnesia
