Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian

teaching

Select a Category abortion Advent AI Angels Artificial intelligence atheism attention baptism Baptists beauty belief Benedictines Bible bicycling Big Bird books Bovina Camaldoli hermitage Canada Catholicism cats certainty change Christianity Christmas Collegeville Covid-19 creativity Development of Western Civilization dogs doubt Easter Enneagram Epiphany Episcopal ethics Eucharist evil extroverts Facebook faith family fear flowers forgiveness freedom friends God goodness grace happiness heaven hell history Holy Spirit Holy Week hope human nature humility humor idolatry incarnation introverts irreverence Islam Jeanne Jesus Joe Biden joy Judaism justice Kamala Harris knowledge Lent listen literature liturgy love Marsue Memorial Day miracles movies music mystery mythology NPR Old Testament optimism paradox peace Penguins philosophy piano podcast politics power prayer Protestantism Providence College Religion Rhode Island sabbatical sacrament science seeing silence Simone Weil Socrates soul sports St. John's College stories suffering tattoo teaching technology television theology thinking time tolerance transcendence travel trees trust truth Uncategorized Vermont wisdom wonder writing

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

October 2023

October 19, 2023

My Favorite Building on Campus Turns Ten Years Old–Let the Learning Continue!

Today around lunchtime there will be a reception on campus celebrating the tenth anniversary of...

October 15, 2023

Why Do We Think that Everything Happens for a Reason?

The last text of the Spring 2021 semester--the last Covid-19 affected semester on my campus--in...

October 03, 2023

Why October is the Best Month

Today is the third day of October, and that's a very good thing. I took...

September 2023

September 23, 2023

Diversity and Cosmic Beautification

Early in my career at the college, during a public forum on my campus intended...

September 19, 2023

Abortion and Faith Discussions: Part Two

Except for those who deliberately and religiously stay disconnected from current events and those who...

September 17, 2023

Abortion and Faith Discussions: Part One

Exactly one year ago, an important event in which I was both involved with planning...

September 15, 2023

That was Fun! I Can Do This!

Marilynne Robinson writes that “I remember once, as a child, walking into a library, looking...

September 10, 2023

Is Tolerance the Most Important Virtue?

What happens when a perfectly good virtue gets turned into not only the most important virtue,...

September 08, 2023

Finding a Moral Compass

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

September 04, 2023

Should My Time Be For Sale? A Labor Day Reflection

What follows is a story from my current book project--Nice Work if You Can Get...

September 03, 2023

The Moral Life in One Sentence

A couple of years ago, I was interviewed in my office by a reporter from The...

August 2023

August 31, 2023

Creating a Sabbath Culture (why everyone should have sabbaticals)

Fall semester classes started last Monday. And I'm on sabbatical, not returning to the classroom...

August 29, 2023

Asking the Right Question

Several years ago during my four-year stint as chair of the Providence College philosophy department,...

August 15, 2023

What College is Good For

I began gathering materials for my main sabbatical book project five years ago. Thanks to...

August 10, 2023

If No One Reads Me, Have I Wasted My Time?

Women are not wrong at all when they reject the rules of life that have...

July 2023

July 25, 2023

God is Not a Helicopter Parent

Every teacher knows about helicopter parents. Most of us, teacher or not, intuitively know what...

July 23, 2023

You Say You Want a Revolution?

There is a saying, particularly popular among conservatives, that “A conservative is a liberal who...

July 18, 2023

Do I Teach or Am I a Teacher? On Being a Verb Rather than a Noun

I have two book projects in the works these days. I just finished a full...

July 16, 2023

Limitations, Shortcomings, and Contentment

For the past many years, my upper-division (juniors and seniors) classes have included an ongoing...

July 13, 2023

Why Is God So Wasteful?

As of next month, I will have been blogging for eleven years. As I suspect...

June 2023

June 29, 2023

The Burden of Light

Teaching for thirty years in an interdisciplinary program with colleagues from a multitude of disciplines...

June 22, 2023

How to Drink Coffee Like a Stoic

If you are fond of a cup, say “I am fond of a cup!” For...

June 02, 2023

Reading the Bible as Literarily (not literally) True

Last week I participated in a two-day end-of-the-academic-year workshop with a dozen fellow faculty in...

May 2023

May 23, 2023

Where I have Been and Where I am Going

Providence College’s commencement exercises were two days ago. As I walked out of the Amica...

May 21, 2023

Thoughts on Discernment and a Blessing for the Graduates

Today is graduation day at Providence College, where I just finished my thirtieth year on...

May 18, 2023

It’s Hard to Talk About God

In our recently completed “Faith and Doubt” colloquium, my Dominican priest colleague and I filled...

May 12, 2023

I am Not Your Friend. I am Your Professor.

The semester ended a week ago and I just turned my final grades in,. I...

May 09, 2023

Determined to Believe that We are Not Determined

In a recent edition of The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik reviews two or three books...

May 04, 2023

Various Ways of Saying “Hello” to God

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

May 02, 2023

The Most Profoundly Religious Statement of All

In last Thursday's meeting of the "Faith and Doubt" seminar I team-teach with a Dominican...

Related posts from Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

The Lonely Pawn: On Faith, Doubt, and Meaning

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Agency

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Love: When a Chatbot Becomes a...

Freelance Christianity

Progressive Christian

AI and Human Dignity

Freelance Christianity

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos