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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.
The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated. |
 In my recent trip to the Baptist archives at Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, I came across an interesting weather report in the Maritime Baptist. As soon as I saw it, I knew I should post it as a reminder the next time we have a batch of forest fires.
Well, it did not take long for that opportunity to arise.
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 Recently I was going through Baptist periodicals in the archives. My focus was not on the plight of pastors in ministry, but as I perused the Canadian Baptist I stumbled across a witty but poignant article on some steps to help “fire your pastor.”
That 1990s version of clickbait kept me reading. And the content compelled me to post it here.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Columbus_Taking_Possession.jpg The western world is locked in a death spiral of angst and uncertainty over its colonial past. In the process of working through its history, statues tumble, churches burn, streets get renamed, heroes are abandoned, histories get rewritten, and people are hurt.
In seems rare to find an example of a civil, responsible, and clear-thinking debate over issues surrounding the past. Of course, that is not new. The writing of any nation’s history is always fraught with dangers, especially since there is much to gain from winning the struggle to write the “official” narrative about the past – revenge, power, rehabilitation of reputation, and money to name some of the most common prizes available to the victor. With those dynamics in mind, I came across an impressive debate in the 1990s over the impact of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America. The context was the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing, and two academics were invited to give their opinion on whether Columbus’ arrival was a net good, or a net evil. |
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