Back Again for HIS 131 Students

Dear HIS 131 Students,

I am bringing out the blog again, hopefully to provide some insight and help for the upcoming Midterm Exam and also future Reading Quizzes (there are only two more).

Please see previous posts (some are history related, one or two of which discuss test-taking and the Midterm Exam).

I still may post other observations and links to items I find interesting or newsworthy, history related or not.

Thinking about the Great Awakening today

While starting to think about the book, The Great Awakening by Kidd, and the actual great awakening of the 1700s, I wanted to provide an updated example of how some of the language from this book might sound today.  This is not completely possible, but the video below is somewhat of an attempt to do this. Similar ideas, different historical era and context.  What I like about the video is that Metaxas has written about historical figures (one of them, William Wilberforce, was an 18th century firebrand who helped spur massive social change motivated by his religious convictions).

I also enjoy Metaxas's humor, graciousness, and conviction.

The Decay of the Present

It has been a long time since I've posted on my blog, mid-September to be exact.  My next to last post was titled, "The Decay of the Past," based on my visits to several house museums in Massachusetts.  Since then, wow, it's been the decay of the present, specifically my body.  I suffered a herniated disk in mid-August, which led to two horrible months of leg pain and sciatic nerve pain.  Thankfully, by mid-November I was feeling much better.  I'm still feeling much better.

Things are "always falling apart" in our world, either ourselves, or the world around us...it is a part of life....but how we deal with it is the true mark of who we are or who we will become.  My thoughts to all the people who's bodies are falling apart (you notice this much more when your own body is in pain), or people who's worlds are falling apart.

Now, turning my attention back to history.  Hopefully you will see more related posts in the upcoming weeks.