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March 2023

March 16, 2023

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. Big Deal.

Tomorrow is a big day for Providence College sports fans. Our men's hockey team will...

February 2023

February 28, 2023

Riding the Tricycle of Faith

Almost three decades ago when I was a new, junior, untenured faculty member at my...

February 26, 2023

To Whom Shall I Bow Down?

Today is the first Sunday of Lent; the gospel reading is Matthew's account of Jesus’...

February 24, 2023

Why Did Jesus Turn Water Into Wine?

This is the third day of Lent. Are you one of those people who give...

February 19, 2023

Longing to be Whole: A Reflection for Transfiguration Sunday

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent....

February 09, 2023

Why I am Triggered by Trigger Warnings

I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of the peace....

February 04, 2023

What Can We Do Now That There Is No God?

One of the matters I am paying close attention to this semester, as I prepare...

January 2023

January 28, 2023

An Epiphany Worthy of the Season

I have heard of you with my ears, but now my eyes have seen you. The...

January 22, 2023

When the Well Runs Dry

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

January 07, 2023

Jesus and John Gather at the River

The season of Epiphany, squeezed in between the Christmas season and Lent, is the annual...

December 2022

December 27, 2022

“It has been done in your name”: A cautionary tale from Charles Dickens

This year Jeanne and I spent this year at home for Christmas for the first...

December 23, 2022

Have Yourself a Rashomon Christmas

A few years ago, I was asked to take on a temporary administrative position for...

December 22, 2022

Returning Straight to Jesus at Christmas

This has been an unusual Advent season. Advent is my favorite season in the liturgical...

December 18, 2022

A Stepfather with a Questionable Pedigree

In my religious tradition, we didn’t do saints. But we did do Christmas pageants—big time....

December 10, 2022

Things are Getting Real: A Conversation Between Jesus and John the Baptist

In a second season episode of “The Chosen,” a multi-year cinematic treatment of the life...

November 2022

November 19, 2022

Living Life Forwards and Understanding it Backwards

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard One...

November 17, 2022

What I Have Learned From Our Blackberry Bush

It is mid-November; the leaves on the large oak tree in the yard diagonally behind...

November 15, 2022

“Dear White America”: A Young Woman Reflects on her Inherent Racism

Yesterday was the final class in the “Race” unit in my General Ethics class; the...

November 12, 2022

“The Heart Has Its Reasons . . .”: My Evidence Against Atheism

Although I estimate that at least 80-90 percent of the negative comments and pushback I...

November 08, 2022

Why Stories are Better than Arguments

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

November 03, 2022

Warthogs and Saints: Who Gets to be at the Front of the Line?

One of my colleagues and friends and I are beginning to construct the syllabus for...

October 2022

October 29, 2022

How to Make Certain Christians Very Angry

In the ten-plus years of this blog’s existence, I have made any number of Christians...

October 27, 2022

Of Halloween, Baptists, and Socialism

Halloween is coming–one of my least favorite holidays of the year. I know that offends...

October 16, 2022

Mapping Ghosts and Believing Things that Aren’t True

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

October 11, 2022

If You Meet a Stranger and If He’s Hungry, Feed Him

Yesterday was Columbus Day. Correction, it was Indigenous Peoples Day. This is not energized by...

October 09, 2022

We Don’t Need to Protect God

Human beings never behave so badly as when they believe they are protecting God. Barbara Brown...

September 2022

September 25, 2022

Which Is More Dangerous–Moral Certainty or Moral Relativism?

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

September 23, 2022

On Being a Person: Remembering Hilary Mantel

I was saddened to learn this morning that Hilary Mantel, the two-time Booker Prize winning...

September 20, 2022

Some Stories are Not Redemptive. But They All are Important

The first reading assignment in my General Ethics class this semester was Kate Jennings’ 2002...

September 05, 2022

What Does the Lord Require of Us? A Labor Day Reflection

There are a couple of sayings attributed to Jesus that Christians often use when attempting...

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