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January 2025

January 14, 2025

Now it Begins (Again)

In last few minutes of Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth, Zerah pokes his head into the...

August 2024

August 06, 2024

Get Up and Eat

In one of the possible readings from the Jewish scriptures for this coming Sunday, we...

January 2024

January 16, 2024

Now It Begins: The First Day of the New Semester

In last few minutes of Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth, Zerah pokes his head into the...

August 2023

August 13, 2023

What Are You Doing Here?

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

April 2023

April 06, 2023

Judas or Peter? A Holy Thursday Reflection

That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is really your God. Martin Luther...

June 2022

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,...

March 2022

March 31, 2022

Jesus on April Fools Day

I know it's the middle of Lent, but tomorrow is April Fools Day. It's the...

August 2021

August 12, 2021

What is the Point of a Professor?

When I was a young professor, the chair of my department frequently would say in...

March 2021

March 31, 2021

An April Fools Day Question About Jesus: Did He Ever Laugh?

I know we're in the middle of Holy Week. I know that today is Maundy...

March 29, 2021

A Holy Week Reflection: Faith is More Important than Doctrine

Holy Week is upon us once again—as good a time as any to step back...

March 02, 2021

Hitler, Trump, and the Golden Calf

In one of my seminars a week or so ago, my students and I considered...

January 2021

January 29, 2021

The Best of 2020 #2: Idolatry and Abortion

The #2 post on this blog in popularity in 2020 was published in February. I...

December 2020

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...

October 2020

October 29, 2020

Exorcising the Ghosts of Jesus Past

One Sunday, toward the end of a particularly lively and deep seminar with my “Living...

September 2020

September 22, 2020

Don’t Be a One Issue Voter–even if that issue is abortion

With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginzberg, the abortion issue is slowly...

August 2020

August 04, 2020

What if God Doesn’t Want to be Found?

Summer is a time for catching up on my non-philosophy reading and finding new authors....

February 2020

February 02, 2020

Idolatry and Abortion

I wrote the essay that follows several months ago; on the advice of some trusted...

August 2018

August 28, 2018

Happy New Year! The First Day of Classes

Today is the first full class day of the semester at my college. Everyone has...

March 2018

March 27, 2018

A Holy Week Reflection: Why Doctrine and Faith Don’t Mix

Holy Week is upon us once again—as good a time as any to step back...

September 2017

September 29, 2017

What Happiness Really Amounts To

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

August 2017

August 31, 2017

Idols and Icons

Of all the lessons I've learned in my three decades of teaching, none is more...

August 24, 2017

The Point of a Professor

When I was a young professor, the chair of my department frequently would say in...

August 13, 2017

It Isn’t Working

April may be the cruelest month, if T. S. Eliot is correct, but for teachers,...

October 2016

October 26, 2016

The Designer God Project

Voltaire once said that if God did not exist, we would have to invent him....

September 2016

September 08, 2016

Embracing the Barbarian Invasion

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

August 2016

August 29, 2016

First Day of Classes

Today is the first day of the semester at my college. I have been anticipating...

January 2015

January 28, 2015

Magical Thinking

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

October 2014

October 22, 2014

The Crucifix Train

A bit over a year after moving into our beautiful new humanities building, there is...

February 2014

February 12, 2014

Being There

In my early years of teaching, I used to include one of Woody Allen’s insights...

October 2012

October 04, 2012

The Fertility of Silence

This may sound odd coming from a person who started this blog a few weeks ago,...

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