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August 2024

August 16, 2024

What I Learned About Teaching From My Favorite Movie

Last Sunday Jeanne and I had guests over for dinner whom we had not seen...

July 2024

July 30, 2024

Memories of Olympics Past

It often is a surprise to those who know that I am a college professor...

July 22, 2024

When a Word is a Complete Sentence

All of us live in a world filled with words. For academics, words are the...

June 2024

June 18, 2024

Feeding the Hungry Stranger

In the honors interdisciplinary program I teach in, my colleagues and I have chosen over...

June 13, 2024

The Fruit of the Spirit

A shorter version of this essay from Fall 2021 will be the entry for the...

May 2024

May 31, 2024

You Always Have the Poor

As I work through my book under contract getting it into shape for the editor...

May 26, 2024

The Trinity Walks into a Bar . . .

Next to Lent, the part of the liturgical calendar that I have always found least...

May 23, 2024

Consider the Lilies . . .

I am working my way through my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy making revisions,...

May 09, 2024

The Smell of Mulch in the Morning

Here's an essay from late April 2015 that celebrates all things spring--flowers, trees, and mulch--with...

April 2024

April 23, 2024

Of Betta Fish and Forgiveness

One day several years ago, Jeanne said “I want a fish.” This was a rather...

March 2024

March 31, 2024

I See You: An Easter Reflection

Easter Sunday--the most triumphant day on the Christian liturgical calendar. According to New Testament scholar...

March 21, 2024

Growing Tomatoes on Death Row

In my various courses this semester we have spent a good deal of time developing...

February 2024

February 15, 2024

A Terrible Beauty

The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper. I cannot quite make...

February 13, 2024

Lent and Valentine’s Day

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent (my least favorite liturgical season). As the...

January 2024

January 18, 2024

Real Wives of the Ancient Middle East

Last Sunday's lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures is the story of God's call of...

January 14, 2024

How Solitude Can Lead to God

The building looked like the love child of a logic problem and a crossword puzzle....

December 2023

December 31, 2023

A Prayer for the New Year

So here we are at the end of yet another year. Kate Bowler, who all...

December 24, 2023

God Made Into Flesh

Grace means suddenly you’re in a different universe from the one where you were stuck,...

November 2023

November 30, 2023

A Poem for You

I am retreat this week at Ender's Island south of Mystic, CT. So far my...

November 16, 2023

Is Confirmation Bias a Bad Thing?

Commenting on a new blog essay that I wrote while on retreat last summer, a...

November 12, 2023

The Cost of Doing Evolutionary Business–God and Darwin have a conversation

Regular readers of this blog know that I am currently thinking through an old issue--the...

October 2023

October 10, 2023

In Bed with Krista and Kate

It was just beginning to turn dimly light when I began to wake up. I...

October 03, 2023

Why October is the Best Month

Today is the third day of October, and that's a very good thing. I took...

September 2023

September 28, 2023

What Would Dorothea Do?

I saw a bumper sticker once that said “So many books, so little time.” I...

September 23, 2023

Diversity and Cosmic Beautification

Early in my career at the college, during a public forum on my campus intended...

August 2023

August 17, 2023

The Problem with Wisdom, Part One

In much wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes...

July 2023

July 20, 2023

Achieiving the Peaceable Kingdom

One Sunday morning a number of years ago, I noticed that a reproduction of a...

July 16, 2023

Limitations, Shortcomings, and Contentment

For the past many years, my upper-division (juniors and seniors) classes have included an ongoing...

July 11, 2023

Complete Sentences in One Word

All of us live in a world filled with words. For academics, words are the...

July 05, 2023

Is There Life Before Death?

A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear one of my heroes give...

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