Uncategorized… Becoming the Pastor’s Wife 20 Jun 2025 This summer I don't expect to blog here very much, as I start to write the final set of essays that will conclude this digital project. But it occurred to…
Faculty and Staff The Sacrificial Service of Esther Sabel 3 Apr 2025 As World War II ended in Europe, Bethel Institute completed its financial report to its denomination, the (no longer Swedish) Baptist General Conference. For the first time, Bethel's balance sheet…
Sources From the Archives… a Cookbook 18 Dec 202418 Jan 2025 I love cooking almost as much as studying history, and cookbooks are some of my favorite historical sources. For example, when we look at 19th century views of gender in…
Background Women at the History Center 22 Nov 20249 Dec 2024 Since I've spent a lot of time in the archives this month, I thought I'd end the week by sharing some glimpses of how women show up at what's called…
Faculty and Staff… The Gender Demographics of the Bethel Faculty: 1958-1985 24 Sep 20249 Dec 2024 "In the concept of the Christian body," wrote Carl Lundquist during his last decade as Bethel president, "every member is important and essential to the others. There are no 2nd.…
Historiography… Women in Earlier Bethel Histories: “Contribution” and “Oppression” 18 Sep 20249 Dec 2024 There had been a chapter on education in the Baptist General Conference in the Centenary History of that denomination (1952) by Adolf Olson, who had previously collaborated with his son…
Historiography Women in Earlier Bethel Histories: “Compensatory History” 12 Sep 20249 Dec 2024 As when he wrote about the larger denomination in his Centenary History of the Baptist General Conference, women mostly stay in the background of Adolf Olson's coverage of Bethel, the…
Historiography… Women in Earlier Bethel Histories: “Work in the Background” 5 Sep 20249 Dec 2024 Few historians ever break entirely new ground. We might bring new perspectives to new evidence or use new methods to answer new questions, but we are all revisiting — and…
Methodology The Problem of Periodization 27 Aug 20249 Dec 2024 When do you start the story of the women of Bethel University? Most Bethel stories trace their way back to 1871, the year that sailor-pastor-scholar John Alexis Edgren founded a…
The Women of Bethel 