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March 2018

March 20, 2018

What is it Like to be You?

During the last third of the semester in my General Ethics class this semester, we...

March 17, 2018

Celebrating Saint Bridget’s Day

A little over a year ago, as I dressed after working out, I had a...

March 15, 2018

The Christian Faith In a Nutshell

Sports fans old enough to remember the 70s and 80s will recall that a regular...

February 2018

February 06, 2018

Two Plus Two Makes Four

In J. M. Coetzee’s strange and fascinating novel The Childhood of Jesus, the precocious child...

February 01, 2018

Deflategate and the Nazis

Exactly three years ago, on the morning of Super Bowl 49, I wrote a blog...

January 2018

January 30, 2018

Insufficient Evidence

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist and...

December 2017

December 30, 2017

God Said It. I Believe It. That Settles It–Best of “Bearings Online” #4

I occasionally write articles for Bearings Online, the online publication of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical...

December 22, 2017

A Rashomon Nativity: Why the Details of Jesus’ Birth Don’t Matter

A few weeks ago, I was asked to take on a temporary administrative position in...

November 2017

November 26, 2017

God said it. I believe it. That settles it. (except that it doesn’t)

When trying to describe to predominantly Catholic students the religious world that I was born...

November 10, 2017

Evangelical Atheism

I just started a new unit in my General Ethics classes with fifty juniors and...

October 2017

October 26, 2017

Wherever You Go

The 8:00 show at church is for early morning people and those who prefer silence...

October 19, 2017

I Am Not Special, and Neither Are You

The Disrupter-in-Chief threw a verbal grenade into a Rose Garden event with Mitch McConnell by...

September 2017

September 03, 2017

Are You More Christian Than I Am?

If we remembered that water takes its color from the vessel containing it, we would...

July 2017

July 14, 2017

The Western Tradition in Eighteen Windows

Your assignment is to name the eighteen most important figures in the Western liberal arts...

June 2017

June 28, 2017

A Liberal’s Worst Nightmare

Liberals are appalled by the provisions of the health care bill that Republicans are trying...

June 21, 2017

To Bigotry No Sanction, To Persecution No Assistance

Two microbreweries, an historic synagogue, and powerful words from George Washington. Not bad for a...

June 03, 2017

The Confusion of Babel and the Clarity of Pentecost

The voices of spirituality, religion, secularism, materialism, power, and greed often are speaking languages so...

June 02, 2017

Radical Forgiveness

From the book of Acts, a story of a person who experienced radical forgiveness, then...

May 2017

May 29, 2017

Is Democracy Overrated?

In an early season of "House of Cards," Frank Underwood observes that "democracy is so...

May 19, 2017

A Message to the Graduates: How to be Good

If I had the opportunity to give the graduating seniors a bit of advice, I...

May 13, 2017

Everybody Must Get Stoned

One of the readings from this Sunday's lectionary is the story of the stoning of...

April 2017

April 26, 2017

Wolf Hall

Christian Wiman writes that "every single expression of faith is provisional . . . because...

April 22, 2017

One Heart and Soul

“What does the Lord require of us?" Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your...

March 2017

March 24, 2017

Clean Hands

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy...

March 22, 2017

Come In, and Come In

Once many years ago, a couple I was close friends with was having marital problems....

January 2017

January 27, 2017

Playing the Nazi Card

We ought not to hide from ourselves that Nazi Germany is a mirror for all...

January 16, 2017

Gentle Drizzle

In the interdisciplinary program I teach in and used to direct, the first semester faculty...

December 2016

December 28, 2016

Learning Our Lessons

I’ve often said during my close to three decades of teaching philosophy on the college...

December 26, 2016

Clouds of Glory

The great but incredibly difficult German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in a rare moment of clarity,...

November 2016

November 28, 2016

To Whom Do You Belong?

During this academic year, my college is celebrating its centennial. For Jeanne and me, the...

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