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May 2026

May 24, 2026

The Lonely Pawn: On Faith, Doubt, and Meaning

A Doubting Faith Have you never felt like one of those pawns forgotten in a...

May 20, 2026

AI and Agency

At the beginning of the month, I set the stage for my next several posts...

May 10, 2026

AI and Embodiment

A week ago, I set the stage for my next several posts by engaging with...

May 03, 2026

AI and the Life of Faith

The rise of artificial intelligence technology is causing considerable widespread anxiety. What will the impact...

April 2026

April 19, 2026

Teachers with Guns

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

April 12, 2026

Thomas–My Doubting Hero

The Second Sunday of Easter is always "Doubting Thomas Sunday," an opportunity for me to...

March 2026

March 25, 2026

White Privilege in the Classroom

Today I am starting a unit on race issues in my ethics class. For the...

March 07, 2026

What Biblical Wells Teach Us About the Unpredictable Divine

Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12 In...

February 2026

February 18, 2026

An Ash Wednesday and Lenten Tale

Today is Ash Wednesday, which for a hardcore Protestant such as I presents several issues....

January 2026

January 29, 2026

The Nihilist Penguin

During finals week in December, a student from my Early Modern Philosophy course showed up...

January 18, 2026

Outgrowing the Need to Believe

A number of years ago, at the end of a presentation to fellow resident scholars...

December 2025

December 07, 2025

Are You the One Who Is to Come?

Fifteen years ago, on the Second Sunday of Advent, I was asked to give the...

October 2025

October 19, 2025

“Hello, God!”

You can either think of the creeds of the great traditions . . . as...

October 12, 2025

Hatred Disguised as Love

As I reported last Thursday, I am headed for Theology Beer Camp in a few...

October 05, 2025

He Who Increases Knowledge Increases Sorrow

Last week I posted an essay called “In Much Wisdom There is Much Grief,” inspired...

October 02, 2025

In Much Wisdom There Is Much Grief

In much wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes...

September 2025

September 28, 2025

Do Moral Absolutes Exist?

Do moral absolutes exist? Is human engagement with moral principles more like a treasure hunt,...

August 2025

August 24, 2025

When We Say What We Don’t Believe

Today's appointed lectionary Psalm is one of my two or three favorites of all of...

August 20, 2025

The Art of Persuasion

I was asked a few days ago to participate in an ongoing project on campus...

August 15, 2025

Owls, Penguins, and Joy

Just about fifteen years ago, on a beautiful summer morning very similar to the ones...

August 12, 2025

Playing a Bad Hand Well

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

August 10, 2025

That Sounds Like Prayer

We are all going to die! That's just so awful. I didn't agree to this....

July 2025

July 29, 2025

God is Non-Binary

My baseline criterion for whether a particular class has gone well is to answer the...

July 27, 2025

We Are Not Special

A regular occurrence at home Providence Friars basketball games is when, during one of the...

July 11, 2025

Death is Inevitable

One of my most effective attention-getters in any given class is to point out to...

June 2025

June 25, 2025

The Most Important and Influential Literary Character

Some time ago I read the first few pages of Greg Epstein’s Good without God....

June 24, 2025

Making Things Difficult

A couple of weeks ago in the morning I was greeted in the driveway with...

June 15, 2025

How to be Good

I'm re-working a full draft of my next book project--Nice Work If You Can Get...

June 06, 2025

Planted By the Streams of Water

Pastor Dan, the interim pastoral caretaker of the Lutheran church that Jeanne attends (and I...

June 01, 2025

On the Art of Discussion

I'm currently reading through my book Nice Work If You Can Get It for the first time...

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