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Ronald A. Wells

Essays

Jan Hus after Six Centuries

Six hundred one years ago – July 6, 1415 – in the German city of Constance, a Roman Catholic council declared Jan Hus, the Czech church reformer, to be a heretic. He was turned over to secular authorities to be burned at the stake. Because he was accused, among other things, of being a disciple of the English reformer John Wycliffe, is was oddly fitting that when Hus was burned some of the kindling for the fire included the writings…
Ronald A. Wells
June 30, 2016
Essays

The Cost of Faithful Witness in South Africa: Russel Botman, 1953–2014

Russel Botman, Reformed theologian and university president, died on June 28, 2014, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. A 60-year-old dying in his sleep is not typically a matter for international attention. But in later press investigation and commentary a more complex story emerged. The context of his life and the circumstances of his death should interest us because they illustrate a theme about the personal toll exacted on those who would follow in the gospel train of Mandela, Tutu and King…
Ronald A. Wells
January 10, 2015
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The Next Generation of Christian Historians

JANUARY 2012: REVIEW by Ronald A. Wells CONFESSING HISTORY: EXPLORATIONS IN CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE HISTORIAN'S VOCATION EDITED BY JOHN FEA, JAY GREEN, AND ERIC MILLER UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS, 2010 $35.00. 354 PAGES. This welcome collection of sixteen essays is the result of collaboration by three young historians: John Fea, Jay Green, and Eric Miller. They are professors in small colleges in the orbit of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, institutions that value the essential question…
Ronald A. Wells
October 30, 2014
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Heidelberg (City and Catechism) Again

Ronald A. Wells Forty-five years ago, I arrived in Heidelberg, Germany, for military service. With my freshly minted doctorate in history and an officer's commission, I had come to be the commanding officer (some command—five people!) of the Military History Detachment at the headquarters of the U.S. Army European Command. While I was aware of the historical importance of the Palatinate in the history of the Reformation in Europe, I had not given much attention to the Heidelberg Catechism. A…
Ronald A. Wells
November 1, 2013
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Religion on Campus: The New Reality

Ronald A. Wells No Longer Invisible, the latest in a series of books this remarkable academic couple has produced over the past decade, serves as an essential field guide for anyone associated with the territory of faith and higher education, a terrain that has shifted significantly in the past generation. The Jacobsens are professors at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Together they direct the Religion in the Academy project, funded by the Lilly Endowment. Once again we salute toward Indianapolis to…
Ronald A. Wells
September 1, 2013
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Sietze’s Gamble and His Big Heart (a Memory of Stan Wiersma)

by Ronald A. Wells I began writing this story on All Saints Day, but I didn't finish it then. Now, looking forward to Easter and to our communion with those for whom death has been conquered, it still seems appropriate. It is about the best storyteller the Dutch community has produced in the past fifty years. Stan Wiersma was a professor of English at Calvin College for many years, a career that ended with his untimely death twenty-seven years ago. His…
Ronald A. Wells
March 1, 2013
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Francis, Frank, and Me: A Reflection on the Career of Francis A. Schaeffer

Twenty-five years ago in a predecessor of this magazine, The Reformed Journal, I asked a question that got me into a lot of trouble. The question was "Whatever Happened to Francis Schaeffer," a takeoff on one of Schaeffer's book titles. The RJ submitted the article for an award, which in due course it won; the essay was named "the best feature article in a religious magazine" for 1983. That got it some notoriety and the attention of the Schaeffers, who…
Ronald A. Wells
January 1, 2009
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Remembering Brother Roger of Taizé

Roger Schutz, the founder of the Taizé Community--and its leading light over the past sixty years of its existence--died unexpectedly and violently in late August. A deranged person killed him with a knife just as the Community was gathering for evening prayers at the Church of Reconciliation on the Taizé grounds. It is with the utmost revulsion and shock that one thinks of this gentle giant of world Christianity, and a leader in the fields of church unity, social justice,…
Ronald A. Wells
December 16, 2005
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Educating for Shalom

Ten years ago, Richard Hughes of Pepperdine University and Theron Schlabach of Goshen College organized a small working conference with an awkward title: "Peace Thinking Among Churches other than the Historic Peace Churches."  Despite the awkwardness one can see the good point that Hughes and Schlabach were making: you don't necessarily have to be a Mennonite or a Quaker to take part in peace discourse. The conference issued in a good book in which I was glad to be a…
Ronald A. Wells
June 1, 2004