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February 2020

February 11, 2020

Spiritual Punctuation

In my life-long spiritual journey, the decade of my twenties was the charismatic decade. No,...

January 2020

January 26, 2020

Staying Sane During the Impeachment Trial

The other day somebody wrote on Twitter that “President Trump is the best president in...

December 2019

December 31, 2019

The Best and the Worst: My New Year’s Hope for 2020

There are eight to ten movies that Jeanne and I watch religiously during the Christmas...

December 19, 2019

I Will Bring You Home

Baptist preacher’s kids get to do some very odd things. I memorized large portions of...

December 08, 2019

There Is No Immaculate Perception

I have taught philosophy in Catholic higher education for twenty-eight years as a non-Catholic. Although...

December 05, 2019

Preserving Hope when Things Turn Dark

For the past several years, I have had the privilege of giving a sermon at...

November 2019

November 25, 2019

Things I Am Thankful For–what is your list?

I have a Facebook acquaintance, a fellow graduate of St. John’s College, who posts five...

November 17, 2019

White Privilege and Jesus

In my General Ethics class, my students and I have just finished a three week...

October 2019

October 31, 2019

I’m In a Halloween Frame of Mind

It’s Halloween!–one of my least favorite holidays of the year. I know that offends many...

October 29, 2019

Halloween is coming: Time to Exorcise a Couple of Jesus Imposters

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

October 09, 2019

Stop Trying to Resurrect a Dead God

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

October 07, 2019

Who Are You, Really? Think Carefully About Your Answer . . .

Jeanne and I are great lovers of movies. As I have described in this blog...

September 2019

September 22, 2019

Are You Jesus? A Prophetic Challenge from Joan Chittister

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a talk given by one of my heroes....

September 15, 2019

What if God is just the lead character in an interesting story?

The best argument in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that...

August 2019

August 25, 2019

Remembering One of my Best Friends (and celebrating seven years of blogging)

This week marks seven years since I, with trepidation, misgivings and a certain amount of...

August 20, 2019

Will All Things Be Well?

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall...

August 18, 2019

Finding the Light

We are not simply made by God—we are made of God  Julian of Norwich Toward the end of a...

August 11, 2019

This is Just Too Weird: Dealing with Inconvenient Truths from the Gospels

During the three years that I lived in Milwaukee while completing my Ph.D. studies at...

August 04, 2019

The National Cathedral Speaks Truth to Donald Trump

“Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented.” “I’m Not That Kind of Christian.” “The Christian Left.” These...

July 2019

July 28, 2019

Robert Mueller, “Hamilton,” and Taking Our Country Back

As millions of other Americans, I awoke last Wednesday intending to binge watch the Mueller...

July 23, 2019

Crows, Ravens, Golden Eagles, and the Holy Spirit

My childhood was filled with unusual characters, all products of my father’s fertile imagination. A...

July 09, 2019

Lessons from the Past About the “Other”

It is clear that immigration and the southern U.S. border are going to be central...

July 05, 2019

A Thankless and Glorious Assignment: Enter if You are Brave Enough

In the early hours of a Sunday morning not long ago, I read the final...

July 02, 2019

Superhero Theology

I think that a lot of people stop taking their birthdays seriously after a certain...

June 2019

June 20, 2019

Faith By the Light of the Moon

Broken windows and empty hallways, a pale dead moon and a sky streaked with gray....

June 18, 2019

If Norway Speaks, Donald Trump Will Listen—but probably not to this

Norway is in the news—last week President Trump mentioned Norway as an example of a...

June 16, 2019

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit walk into a bar: Some thoughts about Trinity Sunday and Ordinary Time

Next to Lent, the part of the liturgical calendar that I have always found least...

June 13, 2019

What My Father Taught Me About Reading and Belief

One of the most important tasks that an author has to face when a book...

June 11, 2019

Your tree and your dog will get more “likes” than you do, and other things I have learned in seven years of blogging

This August will mark my seventh year of blogging, the last two and a half...

June 09, 2019

For Jeanne’s Birthday: You’re my guardian angel who keeps out the cold

Last week Jeanne and I went with a friend to see the Elton John biopic...

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