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January 2021

January 05, 2021

The President Who Wouldn’t Leave

One of my favorite skits from the early years of Saturday Night Live involved a...

December 2020

December 30, 2020

Am I Old Yet?

A few days before Christmas, Jeanne and I were talking with a friend of hers...

December 14, 2020

News Flash: There is Going to be a Doctor in the House

When does a person get to use the title "Doctor" in front of their name?...

December 12, 2020

Beauty for Ashes: Accepting the Call of Advent

Two weeks ago, I gave the First Sunday of Advent sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church...

December 01, 2020

I Don’t Know. I was Wrong. I’m Sorry. I Need Help.

A popular Christian writer got herself in trouble a while ago by suggesting on Twitter...

November 2020

November 28, 2020

The Message of Advent: Stay Awake!

I have the privilege of giving the sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, at...

November 19, 2020

God is Bigger than Religion

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks died on November 7, after a brief bout with cancer. Sacks...

November 17, 2020

The Ancient Stoics in Zoom Land

I was asked a few days ago by someone in our Marketing and Communications area...

November 10, 2020

Hope: The Thing with Feathers

During his first speech as the new President-elect last Saturday evening, Joe Biden quoted lines...

November 08, 2020

Fixers and Healers

My doctor says that I am his most boring patient, because there is never anything...

November 05, 2020

What to Do When an Argument Leads to a Conclusion that You Don’t Like

People are prone to apply the meaning of other people’s arguments to suit opinions that...

November 01, 2020

Being a Person Rather than a Saint

Today is “All Saints Day. I come from a hardcore Protestant world, a world in which...

October 2020

October 25, 2020

“If people are just going to keep doing that, I wish I’d never been born.”

We’ve all done this, we bang and bang on the door of hope, and don’t...

October 22, 2020

“Political Jesus”: Yes, those words belong together

In a recent interview, Union Theological Seminary president Serene Jones said that "If you really...

October 20, 2020

The Soul is Not a Thing, but it Most Certainly is Real

As a philosophy professor, I have the opportunity in just about every class to investigate,...

October 12, 2020

All Things are Become New: A reminder of why teaching is the best profession of all

I realized this morning that exactly seven years ago, the beautiful humanities building on our...

October 11, 2020

The Gospel According to Marilynne Robinson

This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it. Marilynne...

October 08, 2020

Bombing Raids and a Spark of the Divine

Perhaps a novel whose main character is the squadron leader for World War II bombing...

October 06, 2020

On Earth, as it is in Heaven: Why Faith is Always Political

Last Sunday, it was my turn to be lector at church. The reading from the...

October 01, 2020

Take a Deep Breath

Jeanne and I did not watch the presidential "debate" on Tuesday evening, choosing instead to...

September 2020

September 29, 2020

A Few Thoughts Before the First Presidential Debate

The first debate between the 2020 presidential nominees is this evening. It will come as...

September 27, 2020

“It has been done in your name”: When Christians do un-Christian things

One of my teaching teammates this semester in the interdisciplinary course I regularly participate in...

September 24, 2020

Karl Marx and the Parable of the Vineyard Owner

My college campus is in the middle of a (hopefully) temporary lockdown, due to a...

September 17, 2020

The Dangers of Cognitive Immorality

An item popped up on my Facebook news feed not long ago reporting that Harper...

September 15, 2020

The Fat, Relentless Ego . . . and what to do about it

This past weekend, Jeanne and I, along with our two sons and our daughter-in-law, travelled...

September 10, 2020

Silence: The Best Answer to Prayer

I, as many people of faith, have often wondered why the divine is so apparently...

September 06, 2020

What it Truly Means to be Free

Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite philosophers and novelists, but I seldom get to...

September 03, 2020

Love is the Discovery of Reality: A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

Iris Murdoch was one of the philosophers whose work was front and center in my...

September 01, 2020

How to Sound Knowledgeable About Things that You Know Nothing About

In 1980, famed science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote the following in an opinion piece for...

August 2020

August 16, 2020

What if my “Best Self” isn’t that Good?

My first teaching position was at a small university in Memphis. My department was the...

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