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December 2022

December 29, 2022

Is it the end of us? An end-of-the-year reflection

He who loves his life will lose it. John 12:25 I subscribe to two magazines, The...

December 06, 2022

“With Mutual Respect”–An Exercise in Eloquent Listening

On the last Wednesday of September, an event took place on my college campus that...

November 2022

November 29, 2022

Living the Social Gospel: Your faith is not just about you

In the interdisiplinary and team-taught honors course I am teaching in this academic year, we...

November 17, 2022

What I Have Learned From Our Blackberry Bush

It is mid-November; the leaves on the large oak tree in the yard diagonally behind...

November 15, 2022

“Dear White America”: A Young Woman Reflects on her Inherent Racism

Yesterday was the final class in the “Race” unit in my General Ethics class; the...

November 03, 2022

Warthogs and Saints: Who Gets to be at the Front of the Line?

One of my colleagues and friends and I are beginning to construct the syllabus for...

November 01, 2022

Betting on God’s Existence

In my ethics class this week, we discussed an essay by Gary Gutting, who teaches...

October 2022

October 29, 2022

How to Make Certain Christians Very Angry

In the ten-plus years of this blog’s existence, I have made any number of Christians...

October 25, 2022

Karl Marx and Jesus Walk into a Bar . . .

We should read the New Testament as saying that how we treat each other on...

October 09, 2022

We Don’t Need to Protect God

Human beings never behave so badly as when they believe they are protecting God. Barbara Brown...

September 2022

September 25, 2022

Which Is More Dangerous–Moral Certainty or Moral Relativism?

Do moral absolutes exist? Is human engagement with moral principles more like a treasure hunt,...

September 20, 2022

Some Stories are Not Redemptive. But They All are Important

The first reading assignment in my General Ethics class this semester was Kate Jennings’ 2002...

September 10, 2022

Remembering 9/11 and Becoming a Better Person

Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing twenty-one years ago...

September 01, 2022

Abortion and Faith Discussions: Begin How You Want It To End

I wrote this essay while I was on retreat in early July but, for reasons...

August 2022

August 27, 2022

What the Wounds on Jesus’ Resurrected Body Tell Us

I consider myself to be well informed and well read, but every once in a...

August 25, 2022

Anniversary Week for “Freelance Christianity”: Here’s the #1 post in the past decade

This week marks the tenth anniversary of this blog--hard to believe! It has been on...

August 14, 2022

“Whatever” is No Way to Live

Although I occasionally find myself immersed in things medieval with a bunch of freshmen in...

August 04, 2022

When are F-bombs Appropriate in the Classroom?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1...

July 2022

July 11, 2022

My Neighbor May Not Be the Person I Think It Is

I recently found myself in the midst of a Facebook discussion, the sort of online...

July 05, 2022

When People of Good Faith have Incompatible First Principles on the Abortion Issue

I had an unusually positive experience a couple of days ago—amazingly enough, it was in...

July 02, 2022

On Independence Day, Be Glad that the United States is Not a Christian Nation

Christianity, or any branch of it, loses its Christian character when its self-proclaimed supporters outnumber...

June 2022

June 30, 2022

Cassidy Hutchinson and a Story from Ancient Syria

Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the January 6th Select Committee last Tuesday was both powerful and...

May 2022

May 30, 2022

Loving My Country and Loving God are Not the Same Thing

The June edition of The Atlantic contains an excellent and sobering article by Tim Alberta. Titled...

May 23, 2022

The Story I am Willing to be Wrong About

My political scientist Dominican priest friend and colleague, who was my teaching partner in our...

May 21, 2022

Some Advice for the Graduating Seniors: Don’t Forget About the Room at the Back of your Shop

Today is Commencement Day for the Class of 2022 at my college. Commencement is always...

May 10, 2022

Saying Something Profound

Regular classes for the spring semester ended last Friday--semesters seem to go by more quickly...

May 04, 2022

Glad that Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned? You have sown the wind, and you will reap the whirlwind

I seldom jump into current events in this blog, simply because I don't want to...

April 2022

April 26, 2022

The Wisdom of Socrates’ Younger Brother–Mediocrates

A Facebook friend who knows that I am a philosophy professor sent me a thought-provoking...

April 20, 2022

Curb Your Enthusiasm

There is a saying attributed to Saint Francis that I have heard frequently in more...

April 19, 2022

A Physical Body Plus Something More

The central theme of my ethics class last fall was human dignity. Through short stories,...

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