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January 2021

January 07, 2021

The Best of 2020 #5: Leaving Jesusland . . . For Good

For the next several Thursdays, I will be reposting my top blog posts of 2020,...

November 2020

November 17, 2020

The Ancient Stoics in Zoom Land

I was asked a few days ago by someone in our Marketing and Communications area...

November 01, 2020

Being a Person Rather than a Saint

Today is “All Saints Day. I come from a hardcore Protestant world, a world in which...

October 2020

October 14, 2020

Will We Be Able to Move Past Polarization?

During the past week, I have observed two people get into trouble on Facebook for...

October 11, 2020

The Gospel According to Marilynne Robinson

This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it. Marilynne...

September 2020

September 27, 2020

“It has been done in your name”: When Christians do un-Christian things

One of my teaching teammates this semester in the interdisciplinary course I regularly participate in...

September 13, 2020

There is No Substitute for the Real Thing

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to return to one of my two favorite...

September 06, 2020

What it Truly Means to be Free

Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite philosophers and novelists, but I seldom get to...

August 2020

August 25, 2020

O God, Come to My Assistance

Classes begin at my college next Monday, and the stress levels among the faculty (and...

August 23, 2020

The Connection between Faith and Politics? It’s a Secret

Today's reading from Matthew's gospel is both famous and infamous. Jesus asks his disciples "Who...

August 21, 2020

The Big Sister I Always Wanted: Remembering Marsue

Every once in a while, our lives are blessed with a person who uniquely and...

August 13, 2020

Leaving Jesusland . . . for good

I make no secret, on this blog or in person, of my love for Canada....

July 2020

July 07, 2020

Congratulations, President Trump: You Got Your Wall

Two summers ago, Jeanne and I took our first honest-to-God vacation in our thirty-plus years...

May 2020

May 17, 2020

A Message to the Graduating Seniors: Survival is Insufficient

Under normal circumstances, my college’s Commencement exercises would be taking place this morning, with thousands...

April 2020

April 30, 2020

We are Nothing but Wind

I am not a complainer by nature. My wife, my family, and my friends would...

March 2020

March 20, 2020

If you want to witness the resurrection, then be the resurrection

Lead on King Eternal, the day of march has come Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy...

March 07, 2020

The time, it is a-changin’

For many of us, Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow at 2:00 am. That's "spring forward,"...

March 05, 2020

When I’m Sixty-Four

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?" Paul McCartney,...

January 2020

January 28, 2020

When to Care, and When Not to Care

The only way I can get through the tedium of working out on an aerobic...

December 2019

December 01, 2019

Living in the Advent Zone

In Philosophical Fragments, 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard tells a lovely story about a powerful king...

November 2019

November 04, 2019

Surviving the Time Change, and other first world problems . . .

I’m going out on a limb here—way out. I like time changes. This year Daylight...

October 2019

October 03, 2019

Possible Responses to the Current Insanity: “Whatever” and “Oh, Well”

Given my teaching schedule this semester, I begin each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday on the...

August 2019

August 25, 2019

Remembering One of my Best Friends (and celebrating seven years of blogging)

This week marks seven years since I, with trepidation, misgivings and a certain amount of...

August 13, 2019

Maybe It’s Time For A Revolution

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

July 2019

July 23, 2019

Crows, Ravens, Golden Eagles, and the Holy Spirit

My childhood was filled with unusual characters, all products of my father’s fertile imagination. A...

July 03, 2019

Compromise is Patriotic

I think it’s time for us to get a little bit more uncompromising in our...

June 2019

June 29, 2019

It’s My Life, and I’ll Die When I Want To

If you got to choose the manner of your death, what would your choice be?...

June 11, 2019

Your tree and your dog will get more “likes” than you do, and other things I have learned in seven years of blogging

This August will mark my seventh year of blogging, the last two and a half...

May 2019

May 09, 2019

I’ll Remember You

There is no greatness where there is no goodness, simplicity, or truth Leo Tolstoy Although Jeanne...

March 2019

March 06, 2019

On My Birthday, Here Are Some Things That I Know Are True

Today is my birthday, so I ask for your indulgence. Our culture tends to assume...

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