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 2021

October 05, 2021

The Moral LIfe of Dogs

Over the years I have developed dozens of strategies for getting students to participate in...

October 01, 2021

What is the best month, and why is it October?

Today is the first day of October, and that's a very good thing. Autumn is...

September 2021

September 28, 2021

Moral Certainty Is Both Overrated and Dangerous

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

September 23, 2021

What if God exists, but isn’t very nice?

Three weeks ago, I posted an essay that described a new course called "Faith and...

September 20, 2021

Is God More Like Ella Fitzgerald or Ludwig van Beethoven?

Autumn officially begins this week, which is wonderful news. Autumn is by far my favorite...

September 18, 2021

Is There Reason to be Optimistic? Seriously?

In the interdisciplinary Honors course that I am team-teaching in this semester, we are smack...

September 16, 2021

Is Ignorance Just as Good as Knowledge?

A continuing theme of my various classes over the first three weeks of the semester...

September 14, 2021

Is Happiness Overrated?

It is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have...

September 12, 2021

The Stories We Tell and the Lies We Believe

As always, this past summer was a season of eclectic reading. I am team-teaching a...

September 07, 2021

When Life Gets Messy

We all know that when life hands you a lemon that you should make lemonade....

September 04, 2021

Jesus and Capitalism: A Labor Day Reflection

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

September 02, 2021

Not Even Jesus Was Always His Best Self

My first teaching position was at a small university in Memphis. My department was the...

August 2021

August 31, 2021

I’m Faith and He’s Doubt

One of my favorite things to do is plan a new course, especially when I’m...

August 26, 2021

Now It Begins . . .

In last few minutes of Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth, Zerah pokes his head into the...

August 21, 2021

Bad News for White Evangelical Christians

Coming in at #2 of the most-read posts in the nine years of this blog...

August 19, 2021

The Hypocrisy of Philosophers

I admit it--I am not always kind or politically correct on social media (especially Twitter)....

August 14, 2021

The Coronavirus and End Times

Sometimes various elements of real life align in unexpected ways. In the Spring semester of...

August 12, 2021

What is the Point of a Professor?

When I was a young professor, the chair of my department frequently would say in...

August 08, 2021

Charles Darwin and the Creator of the Universe Walk Into a Bar . . .

I'm currently reading Shankar Vendantam's Useful Delusions; one of his continuing points throughout the book is...

August 05, 2021

How To Tell the Difference Between Arrogance and Expertise

After participating in a frustrating “discussion” on Twitter the other day (is there any other...

July 2021

July 31, 2021

Is Christianity a Way of Life or a System of Belief?

August is this blog's anniversary month! It's hard to believe that it has been nine...

July 29, 2021

Is This America?

During Tuesday’s initial hearing of the Congressional select committee tasked with investigating the January 6th...

July 27, 2021

Of Marx and Vineyards

After getting sucked into an discussion on Twitter a few days ago in which it...

July 22, 2021

A Philosopher Who Happens to Be a Christian

Who gets to call themselves "Christian"? A few months ago on this blog, I suggested...

July 20, 2021

Dear Evangelical Christians: You’re Ruining the Brand

In “Slander,” from her latest collection of essays, What Are We Doing Here?, Marilynne Robinson writes...

July 18, 2021

Of Introverts and Sheep

I have the privilege of giving the sermone at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pawtuxet, RI...

July 14, 2021

The Tongue of a Teacher

One of the many positive things that happened to me during the months of pandemic...

July 12, 2021

A Portly Angel with a Boston Accent

Some have entertained angels unawares Hebrews 11:2 I’ve never known what to make of angels. I...

July 08, 2021

Is There Anyone Home Up There?

This week, my preliminary work on my next book project--a teaching memoir tentatively entitled Nice...

July 06, 2021

What an Ancient Greek Puzzle Can Teach Us About the Life of Faith

After several years at sea rescuing besieged towns from monsters, slaying the Minotaur, and doing...

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 Transcendence

Freelance Christianity

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos