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April 2026

April 19, 2026

Teachers with Guns

In my ethics class last Thursday we began our final unit of the semester: Gun...

September 2025

September 11, 2025

When Will We Get Tired of Hating People? A 9/11 reflection

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

August 2025

August 12, 2025

Playing a Bad Hand Well

Bein’ born is craps. How we live is poker. Doc Holliday Of the dozens of...

June 2025

June 19, 2025

There Is No One But Us

As I continue to work through my next book project that has been on the...

March 2025

March 28, 2025

A Return to the Problem of Evil–Part Two

After a week off from classes for spring break, I jumped back into the problem...

March 18, 2025

Goodness in the Midst of Evil

Regular readers of this blog know that Jeanne and I are incurable readers of mystery...

March 14, 2025

A Return to the Problem of Evil–Part One

This week is Spring Break at my college--a week I am using to catch up...

February 2025

February 18, 2025

Are You Tired of Being Angry Yet?

Do not letthe sun go down on your wrath. Ephesians 4:26 Although I have been...

April 2024

April 02, 2024

The Apocalypse During Apocalyptic Times

It is interesting, perhaps fitting, that the first class in my team-taught "Apocalypse: colloquium after...

March 2024

March 10, 2024

Serpents in the Wilderness

Today's gospel gets us back to the basics. Sports fans old enough to remember the...

February 2024

February 04, 2024

Can We Trust Each Other? A Reflection on Human Nature

The other day upon returning from her early morning visit to the gym, the first...

November 2023

November 14, 2023

What to Do When Your Conception of God Does Not Line Up with Reality

Last Thursday I posted my second recent essay revisiting the problem of evil, arguing that...

October 2023

October 31, 2023

What Atheists and Theists Can Agree On

If God is both all-good and all-powerful, why is there so much evil in the...

June 2023

June 24, 2023

How to Be the Resurrection

Lead on King Eternal, the day of march has come Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy...

November 2022

November 25, 2022

Get Thee Behind Me, Santa!

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

June 2022

June 21, 2022

So You Want to be Free? Face your Demons

Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite philosophers and novelists, a writer whose work is...

June 19, 2022

What To Do When It Isn’t Working

What do you do when it just isn’t working? In the life of a teacher,...

April 2022

April 16, 2022

Taking Death for a Walk: A Holy Saturday Reflection

A thing about dying is that you can't consult anyone who has done it. Peter...

March 2022

March 28, 2022

Wild West Ethics

Bein’ born is craps. How we live is poker. Doc Holliday Of the dozens of...

February 2022

February 03, 2022

Revisiting the Garden of Eden

I am not overstating the case when I say that I was raised on original...

November 2021

November 18, 2021

Teachers, Guns, and Sacred Spaces

Today in my ethics classes we will begin our final unit of the semester: Gun...

November 04, 2021

A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma

November is a month of transitions. Here in New England, we are squarely in the...

September 2021

September 09, 2021

A Question for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11: Are We Tired of Hating People Yet?

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

August 2021

August 19, 2021

The Hypocrisy of Philosophers

I admit it--I am not always kind or politically correct on social media (especially Twitter)....

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 04, 2021

God is Doing the Most that God Can Do

Frank Tupper, an important Baptist theologian who argued that God is in control of very...

April 2021

April 27, 2021

So You Want to Be a Good Person?

A Polish Franciscan priest. A Lutheran pastor and theologian. A French, Jewish social activist attracted...

December 2020

December 27, 2020

A Different Kind of Christmas Story

Because of Covid-19, a less-than-smooth transition from one administration to another, and a general impatience...

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 24, 2020

Christianity Does Not Solve the Problem of Evil

In the eight-plus years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve occasionally been asked what...

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