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September 2024

September 06, 2024

First Day of Class Dreams and Nightmares

Last Tuesday was the first day of classes on my campus for the 2024-25 academic...

August 2024

August 13, 2024

Having the Right “Niyyah”

I recently heard an interview on NPR with Rami Nashashibi, a professor of sociology who...

August 11, 2024

Speaking the Truth in Love

During my youth and adolescence, my father was the president and primary fundraiser for a...

August 06, 2024

Get Up and Eat

In one of the possible readings from the Jewish scriptures for this coming Sunday, we...

July 2024

July 11, 2024

There are Two Kinds of People . . .

I ran an informal experiment on Facebook the other day, the point of which was...

June 2024

June 20, 2024

Not Long Ago. Not Far Away

Jeanne and I went to the Auschwitz exhibition in Boston yesterday--it's there for the rest...

June 18, 2024

Feeding the Hungry Stranger

In the honors interdisciplinary program I teach in, my colleagues and I have chosen over...

June 02, 2024

We are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

We are all patchwork, and so shapeless and diverse in composition that each bit, each...

May 2024

May 23, 2024

Consider the Lilies . . .

I am working my way through my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy making revisions,...

May 09, 2024

The Smell of Mulch in the Morning

Here's an essay from late April 2015 that celebrates all things spring--flowers, trees, and mulch--with...

May 06, 2024

When Life Feels Like an Afterthought . . .

Today's "golden oldie" was first posted here in early 2013, just a few months after...

April 2024

April 15, 2024

Jesus Wants You to Pay Your Taxes and to Like It

Today is tax day. As the familiar saying goes, just like death taxes are inevitable....

March 2024

March 26, 2024

God Finds Us to be Infinitely Interesting

April is going to be Marilynne Robinson month for me. In the team taught interdisciplinary...

February 2024

February 11, 2024

Basketball and Forgiveness

For someone who is a dedicated college basketball fan and a rabid follower of the...

February 06, 2024

Who Am I? How to Build a Person

In one of the essays assigned for my honors colloquium on Michel de Montaigne this...

February 04, 2024

Can We Trust Each Other? A Reflection on Human Nature

The other day upon returning from her early morning visit to the gym, the first...

January 2024

January 30, 2024

What Sort of Bubble Do You Live In?

In my last post I wrote about being comfortable in my own skin as an...

January 28, 2024

Enneagrams, Personality Tests, and the Virtues of Elitism

A bit over a year ago at my brother-in-law’s wake, I spent several minutes chatting...

January 14, 2024

How Solitude Can Lead to God

The building looked like the love child of a logic problem and a crossword puzzle....

January 07, 2024

When Things Got Real Between John the Baptist and Jesus

The gospel lectionary reading for the First Sunday of Epiphay traditionally is one version of...

December 2023

December 17, 2023

Light is Born of Darkness

During Advent season, John the Baptist gets a lot of play. This makes sense, since...

December 05, 2023

Bagpipes, Cats, and Saint Andrew

Last Thursday was Saint Andrew's Day; I was reminded beause my Scottish friend Craig posted...

November 2023

November 05, 2023

Time Change Distress is a First World Problem

In the wee hours of this morning, the time changed from Daylight Saving Time to...

November 02, 2023

Revisiting the Shy Deer-Soul Within Me

By all measures, this has already been a successful sabbatical (there are still two more...

October 2023

October 10, 2023

In Bed with Krista and Kate

It was just beginning to turn dimly light when I began to wake up. I...

October 05, 2023

Philosophers on the Pitch

For most sports fans, this time of year is exciting. The baseball playoffs just started,...

September 2023

September 23, 2023

Diversity and Cosmic Beautification

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

August 2023

August 20, 2023

Even the Best of Us has Bad Days

A conversation heard behind the scenes: Dude! Did you see what just happened?? How could...

August 17, 2023

The Problem with Wisdom, Part One

In much wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes...

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...

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