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October 2021

October 17, 2021

The Music of the Book of Job

When discussing which Biblical text or texts we should include in our new “Faith and...

October 10, 2021

An Appropriate Level of Outrage

As we have been selecting the required texts over the past couple of weeks for...

October 01, 2021

What is the best month, and why is it October?

Today is the first day of October, and that's a very good thing. Autumn is...

September 2021

September 26, 2021

Sometimes, it just doesn’t matter

One day, Jeanne said “I want a fish.” This was a rather random request, but...

September 20, 2021

Is God More Like Ella Fitzgerald or Ludwig van Beethoven?

Autumn officially begins this week, which is wonderful news. Autumn is by far my favorite...

September 14, 2021

Is Happiness Overrated?

It is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have...

August 2021

August 24, 2021

Remembering Winnie: What Our Pets Teach Us About What’s Important

Our dachshund Winnie died a week ago. She spent a bit over twelve years with...

August 08, 2021

Charles Darwin and the Creator of the Universe Walk Into a Bar . . .

I'm currently reading Shankar Vendantam's Useful Delusions; one of his continuing points throughout the book is...

July 2021

July 08, 2021

Is There Anyone Home Up There?

This week, my preliminary work on my next book project--a teaching memoir tentatively entitled Nice...

June 2021

June 27, 2021

It’s Time to Get Back to Work

As we continue to move toward "normalcy" after close to a year-and-a-half of pandemic shut...

June 12, 2021

God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It? Not so much.

One of the books I gave Jeanne for her birthday this past week is As a...

June 09, 2021

How Did Covid-19 Affect Your Most Significant Relationship? A Birthday Reflection for Jeanne

Over the past year, I have read and heard reports of marriages either on the...

May 2021

May 29, 2021

The Trinity and Adult Beverages: A Reflection on Trinity Sunday

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

May 18, 2021

Twelve Years Ago, My Life Changed–here’s why

Exactly twelve years ago today, I headed home from a four-month sabbatical as a Resident...

May 15, 2021

Do You Want to be Healed?

My wife Jeanne and I have been enjoying “The Chosen,” a multi-year cinematic life of...

May 09, 2021

A Mothers Day Reflection: Her Children Rise Up and Call Her Blessed

I once learned something interesting about giraffes from one of my colleagues. He was lecturing...

May 03, 2021

Because Survival is Insufficient

“Remember K from our colloquium last year?” my teaching partner emailed late last week. “G...

April 2021

April 06, 2021

Diary of a Pandemic Organist

After more than a year hiatus, I found myself sitting at the organ bench at...

April 03, 2021

An Easter Warning: Jesus Isn’t Walking Through That Door

God is not an insurance agent. H. G. Wells During Rick Pitino’s tenure as the...

December 2020

December 23, 2020

Grace and Peace Be with You

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

December 22, 2020

That Mary Thing

I have a colleague and friend with whom I share a lot in common. Eric...

December 19, 2020

We Are the Hands and Feet of God

I begin with a couple of stories. Story #1: There has been vigorous debate on...

December 17, 2020

What to Say when Any Word is the Wrong Word

After a number of years of engaging with social media, primarily Facebook and Twitter, I...

December 03, 2020

Will Goodness Become Cool?

As President-elect Biden rolls out his National Security choices, his economic strategy team, his communications...

November 2020

November 28, 2020

The Message of Advent: Stay Awake!

I have the privilege of giving the sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, at...

November 25, 2020

A Covid-19 Thanksgiving

For a number of reasons, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Because my sons (ages 8...

November 22, 2020

Cathedrals and Physics Labs: Saying “Hello” to God

You can either think of the creeds of the great traditions . . . as...

November 12, 2020

Dancing with the Stars

I love the stars. Not as in “Dancing with . . .” or in Hollywood...

October 2020

October 20, 2020

The Soul is Not a Thing, but it Most Certainly is Real

As a philosophy professor, I have the opportunity in just about every class to investigate,...

October 12, 2020

All Things are Become New: A reminder of why teaching is the best profession of all

I realized this morning that exactly seven years ago, the beautiful humanities building on our...

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