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My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian: the intersection of history and contemporary church life, the intersection of history and contemporary politics, serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips, publications and research projects, upcoming conferences, and speaking engagements.
I sometimes blog for two other organizations, the Canadian Baptist Historical Society and the Centre for Post-Christendom Studies. The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated. |
 My blogging experiment started around the same time as Covid, and, quite naturally, a number of my first blogs were related to coping with the pandemic. Over time, however, I noticed my blogging shifting from the subject of coping to that of politics. Increasingly my concern was with the use and abuse of the pandemic by politicians and media, and this blog continues that focus by lamenting what I see as the normalization of hate for political gain.
Niall Ferguson notes that “the worst time to live under imperial rule is when that rule is crumbling.”[1] His point is simple; scapegoating inevitably rears its ugly head and the targeting of minorities ensues in times of unrest, uncertainty, and fear. Sadly, that is now the case in Canada.
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 Image from https://botanwang.com/articles/202109/〖微历史〗是谓“民主革命的伟大胜利”.html One of my Chinese friends recently sent me this image. He knew I loved hockey and thought - quite correctly - that I would enjoy the image. The caption reads "In 1929, the hockey team of Yenching University had a friendly competition with that of an American university." (The name of the other university is not identified.)
Yenching University was founded by American Presbyterian missionary Stuart Leighton, one of the most important and influential missionaries in China during the first half of the twentieth century. And it looks like the western missionary effort included the introduction of the great game of hockey. Like many Canadians, I look forward to Canada displaying its hockey prowess in the upcoming Winter Olympics. Sadly, this year we will not be able to send NHL players. But we still hope that our male and female hockey teams bring back Gold! We have read much about the readiness of the Chinese Olympic team, but, based on this picture, the Chinese have been preparing for almost 100 years.  R. A. Fyfe, Photo from the Canadian Baptist Archives “Who are some heroes among the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (CBOQ)”?
That was a question asked at a recent presentation I was making on the subject of Baptist history and polity. I was not happy with my weak answer, and since that time I wondered how I could redeem myself. Lo and behold, the other day I came across an image of “Baptist Heroes of Canada” and thought my moment of redemption had come! |
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