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May 2025

May 29, 2025

How Alasdair MacIntyre Changed How I Teach Ethics

Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the most important philosophers of his generation, died last week at...

May 25, 2025

Is Our Experiment in Democracy Failing?

Memorial Day is a time to honor those who have made sacrifices over the years,...

May 18, 2025

Great Advice for Graduates: God’s Will, and Flipping a Coin

Dear Graduates... Today is graduation day at Providence College, where I just finished my thirty-first...

May 13, 2025

Why Faith Needs Doubt: A Lesson from Exams and a Pope

Oral Exams and Conclaves Last week was final exam week--I administered 32 written exams and...

April 2025

April 29, 2025

Being a Philosopher and a Christian

There may be no need to reconcile all one’s beliefs with all one’s other beliefs—no...

April 25, 2025

Why “Christian Socialism” is not an oxymoron

We should read the New Testament as saying that how we treat each other on...

March 2025

March 14, 2025

A Return to the Problem of Evil–Part One

This week is Spring Break at my college--a week I am using to catch up...

February 2025

February 25, 2025

What is the Best Proof for the Existence of God?

Man is in his actions and practices, as well as in his fictions, essentially a...

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...

January 03, 2025

What Is Your Moral Anchor?

Is it ever right to hold a grudge? Is resentment or unforgiveness ever justified? These...

December 2024

December 20, 2024

During this Christmas Season, Don’t be Stupid

In December of 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a Christmas letter to a number of his...

November 2024

November 15, 2024

Christianity and Power

So how are you doing ten days after the election? In the wee hours of...

October 2024

October 22, 2024

A Report from Theology Beer Camp

This past weekend I was at a conference in Denver called "Theology Beer Camp." If...

October 15, 2024

Living an Autumn Life

Autumn is my favorite season, and October is my favorite month. This is not surprising...

October 08, 2024

A Christian Nightmare

What would happen if we actually took the things we claim to believe seriously enough...

September 2024

September 27, 2024

Why We Believe Things That Aren’t True

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, those who describe themselves as...

September 24, 2024

How to Make God Interesting

It is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for a [non-Christian] to hear a Christian, supposedly...

September 22, 2024

The Wisdom of Trees

In Psalm 1, one of the psalm options in today's lectionary readings, the righteous are...

September 20, 2024

Why Being Uncomfortable is a Good Thing

A new podcast that I've been enjoying recently is Ali Velshi's "Banned Book Club"--I highly...

September 17, 2024

Jesus and a Four-Letter Word

Next week will be one of my favorite teaching weeks of the semester as I...

September 13, 2024

Corrupted Memory Files

My youngest son, Justin, has a remarkable memory–for, as he puts it, “totally useless facts.”...

September 08, 2024

What Does a Mature Faith Look Like?

I detect that a rebellion against all things “religious” is growing on me. Often it...

September 06, 2024

First Day of Class Dreams and Nightmares

Last Tuesday was the first day of classes on my campus for the 2024-25 academic...

September 03, 2024

In all they do, they prosper

There are two kinds of living things. They are distinguished by the strategies they have...

August 2024

August 30, 2024

Getting Comfortable with Paradox

It is standard fare for Christians to believe that human beings are made of body...

August 18, 2024

Dr. Seuss on Immanence and Transcendence

Today is Ordinary Time 13, the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Here's the section for that...

August 13, 2024

Having the Right “Niyyah”

I recently heard an interview on NPR with Rami Nashashibi, a professor of sociology who...

August 09, 2024

Where Hatred is Disguised as Love

A few days ago Jeanne said "I've got something you have to go to." I've...

August 02, 2024

The Dangers of Unexamined Faith

He lived over two millennia ago, and as far as we know he never wrote...

July 2024

July 26, 2024

A Young Woman Confronts Her Inherent Racism

It's been a crazy week, hasn't it? I have deliberately avoided going political on this...

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