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September 2016

September 08, 2016

Embracing the Barbarian Invasion

Every year the world is invaded by millions of tiny barbarians. We call them “children.” ...

September 02, 2016

You Are Free, Therefore Choose

Each of us can point to a time (or several times) in our past when...

August 2016

August 26, 2016

They Will Never Take Our Freedom

Although I read incessantly, I don’t read a lot of magazines. The only magazine I...

July 2016

July 25, 2016

Believing What I Think

Last week at the Republican National Convention, the Republicans nominated as their candidate for President...

June 2016

June 29, 2016

Raising the Bar

One of my greatest joys as a philosophy professor is that I get to be...

May 2016

May 11, 2016

To the Graduating Seniors

For those who read this blog regularly, it will come as no surprise that I...

May 02, 2016

Sheets from Heaven

I grew up in hunting country where at the appropriate times each year the males...

April 2016

April 20, 2016

Family Values?

I was angry with my father for a lot of reasons over the years, some...

April 13, 2016

Doubt and Dedication

Last Sunday was "Doubting Thomas Sunday." As I wrote some while ago, despite the bad...

April 04, 2016

Old White Guys

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. William Shakespeare, Julius...

March 2016

March 25, 2016

A Common Criminal

During the Providence Friars’ recent exciting basketball season, Jeanne and I frequently watched a replay of...

February 2016

February 26, 2016

Inquiring Minds

Not long ago I had the chance to read a novel by Ian McEwan that...

February 15, 2016

A Lenten Valentine

I don’t know whose idea it was for Valentine’s Day to fall on the first...

January 2016

January 13, 2016

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about God. That’s a strange thing...

November 2015

November 27, 2015

Get Thee Behind Me, Santa

Today is Black Friday, on my shortlist of candidates for the stupidest day of the...

September 2015

September 16, 2015

Where is the Gardener?

Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the...

September 09, 2015

Behind the Curtain

Not long ago I led a seminar with a number of colleagues from the Honors...

September 02, 2015

The Return of Republican Jesus

Numerous polls report that as of today, Donald Trump is the preferred candidate of conservative...

July 2015

July 08, 2015

Someone with Skin On

The story is told of a little girl who was afraid of the dark. After...

July 01, 2015

Face to Face with the Universe

A recent edition of Harper’s Magazine includes a fascinating essay by physicist and novelist Alan Lightman entitled...

June 2015

June 24, 2015

There are More Things In Heaven and Earth . . .

Not long ago I received the following email out of the blue: “My name is ___ and...

June 22, 2015

When Logic Fails

My novel of the week is Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem. I first encountered Goldstein...

February 2015

February 04, 2015

Hopeful Thinking

I have been reminded of the academic annual cycle over the past few weeks as...

January 2015

January 28, 2015

Magical Thinking

There must be something about the end of January and named snowstorms. This year it...

January 19, 2015

What I Would Love to Find

In Bird by Bird, the best book on writing that I have read, Anne Lamott...

September 2014

September 08, 2014

Family Values?

I was angry with my father for a lot of reasons over the years, some...

May 2014

May 07, 2014

Whatever Helps You Sleep At Night

About a year ago, a former student of mine working toward her PhD in philosophy...

April 2014

April 07, 2014

The Big Guy and Me

There’s nothing more stressful than lunch with all of the members of a twenty-plus member...

October 2013

October 28, 2013

Comfortable in My Bewilderment

In The Glass Bead Game, one of Herman Hesse’s characters says that “To study history...

June 2013

June 07, 2013

Oaks of Righteousness

There are times when I just cannot believe what I get myself into. Latest example:...

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