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November 2022

November 01, 2022

Betting on God’s Existence

In my ethics class this week, we discussed an essay by Gary Gutting, who teaches...

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 25, 2022

Karl Marx and Jesus Walk into a Bar . . .

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

October 20, 2022

The Best Answer for Unanswerable Questions: “I Don’t Know”

Natural disasters have been on my mind recently. Perhaps it's because of the fury of...

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 04, 2022

Persons, Humans, and Souls

What it means to be a person, and how that is different than being human,...

October 01, 2022

Having the Faith of a Weed

In today's gospel reading from Luke, Jesus' disciples make a very simple request: "Increase our...

September 2022

September 27, 2022

Why Aren’t Red Maples Blue, and other random autumn thoughts

Autumn is my favorite season—not even a close contest. I grew up in northern Vermont,...

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 22, 2022

Autumn Peace is a Choice

Today is the first day of autumn. For those who love autumn as I do,...

September 18, 2022

How Many of Your Gods are Dead?

One of my greatest joys as a philosophy professor is that I get to be...

September 15, 2022

This Book Changed My Life: Kathleen Norris’ “The Cloister Walk”

I asked my Facebook friends at the beginning of the summer to list three or...

September 10, 2022

Remembering 9/11 and Becoming a Better Person

Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing twenty-one years ago...

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...

September 01, 2022

Abortion and Faith Discussions: Begin How You Want It To End

I wrote this essay while I was on retreat in early July but, for reasons...

August 2022

August 30, 2022

It Is “The Best of Times” Once Again

Literary phrases for the beginning of a new academic year abound, such as Dickens' "It...

August 25, 2022

Anniversary Week for “Freelance Christianity”: Here’s the #1 post in the past decade

This week marks the tenth anniversary of this blog--hard to believe! It has been on...

August 09, 2022

Remembering David McCullough and Why the Liberal Arts Matter More than Ever

I was saddened to hear that David McCullough, one of the great historians of his...

August 07, 2022

This Book Changed My Life: Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead”

I asked my Facebook friends a while ago to list three or four books that...

August 04, 2022

When are F-bombs Appropriate in the Classroom?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1...

July 2022

July 26, 2022

This Book Changed My Life: Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”

We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence....

July 18, 2022

Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream

I’ve been thinking a lot about end of life issues lately. Really. They seem to...

July 11, 2022

My Neighbor May Not Be the Person I Think It Is

I recently found myself in the midst of a Facebook discussion, the sort of online...

July 07, 2022

Descending and Ascending the Mountain of the Lord

Facebook reminded me that eight years ago I was on retreat at the New Camoldoli...

June 2022

June 23, 2022

Problems with the Soul

Last week I posted an essay called “Left-Brain Christianity or Right-Brain Faith?” which discussed the...

June 21, 2022

So You Want to be Free? Face your Demons

Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite philosophers and novelists, a writer whose work is...

June 19, 2022

What To Do When It Isn’t Working

What do you do when it just isn’t working? In the life of a teacher,...

June 03, 2022

Faith Needs Many Things, But It Doesn’t Need a Creed

One Sunday I decided to pay close attention to the words of the Nicene Creed...

May 2022

May 28, 2022

Passing the Baton: An Ascension Sunday Reflection

A disturbingly common mishap in recent Summer Olympic games has been the failure of U.S....

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