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December 2020

December 10, 2020

Advent 101–Finding a Retreat Within Yourself

We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . ....

November 2020

November 25, 2020

A Covid-19 Thanksgiving

For a number of reasons, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Because my sons (ages 8...

November 22, 2020

Cathedrals and Physics Labs: Saying “Hello” to God

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

November 10, 2020

Hope: The Thing with Feathers

During his first speech as the new President-elect last Saturday evening, Joe Biden quoted lines...

November 08, 2020

Fixers and Healers

My doctor says that I am his most boring patient, because there is never anything...

October 2020

October 20, 2020

The Soul is Not a Thing, but it Most Certainly is Real

As a philosophy professor, I have the opportunity in just about every class to investigate,...

October 01, 2020

Take a Deep Breath

Jeanne and I did not watch the presidential "debate" on Tuesday evening, choosing instead to...

September 2020

September 15, 2020

The Fat, Relentless Ego . . . and what to do about it

This past weekend, Jeanne and I, along with our two sons and our daughter-in-law, travelled...

September 10, 2020

Silence: The Best Answer to Prayer

I, as many people of faith, have often wondered why the divine is so apparently...

September 08, 2020

Living On the Edges of the Christian Circus Tent

Jeanne and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary in July—the gifts we gave each other are...

September 01, 2020

How to Sound Knowledgeable About Things that You Know Nothing About

In 1980, famed science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote the following in an opinion piece for...

August 2020

August 27, 2020

Speaking the Truth in a Culture of Lies

Just short of a year ago, I spent a Saturday morning listening to a lecture...

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 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 16, 2020

What if my “Best Self” isn’t that Good?

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

August 13, 2020

Leaving Jesusland . . . for good

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

August 04, 2020

What if God Doesn’t Want to be Found?

Summer is a time for catching up on my non-philosophy reading and finding new authors....

July 2020

July 23, 2020

I’ll See It When I Believe It

When we first moved to Rhode Island in the middle 1990s for my new teaching...

July 21, 2020

Roofs, Vineyards, and the Kingdom of Heaven

Last Wednesday, after three delays (one our fault, two their fault), our house got a...

July 09, 2020

Pandemics and Professors

I’m in the early stages this summer of working on my next book project—a memoirish...

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...

July 03, 2020

“There Shall be None to Make Him Afraid”–An Independence Day Reflection

Every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall...

June 2020

June 09, 2020

I Got the Little Red Haired Girl–and it’s her birthday!

It’s Jeanne’s birthday today! It is my blog custom on her birthday to post a...

May 2020

May 30, 2020

A Pentecost Reflection: Sometimes Fast Food Isn’t Good Enough

Pentecost celebrates one of the high points in the Christian liturgical calendar, the coming of...

May 26, 2020

Why Are You Such a Person?

I recently finished reading Hilary Mantel’s long-awaited The Mirror and the Light, the final entry...

May 10, 2020

Sometimes, Getting Stoned is a Bad Thing

The New Testament reading in today's lectionary line-up is the stoning of Stephen from the...

May 05, 2020

Coronavirus Seclusion and “Amazing Grace”

In the interdisciplinary program I teach in and used to direct, the first semester faculty...

May 02, 2020

Sheep in the Streets: A Reflection for Good Shepherd Sunday

As horrific and tragic as most Covid-19 stories are, every once in a while these...

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...

April 26, 2020

Facing Coronavirus “What Ifs?”

The final week of the strangest academic semester of my life begins tomorrow. As I...

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