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February 2026

February 18, 2026

An Ash Wednesday and Lenten Tale

Today is Ash Wednesday, which for a hardcore Protestant such as I presents several issues....

May 2025

May 20, 2025

Faculty Workshops and the Muppets

That's a wrap for another academic year, number 34 since I walked across a stage...

January 2025

January 12, 2025

Remembering an Excellent Colleague and Friend

I have been in a somber mood for the last few days, ever since the...

October 2023

October 19, 2023

My Favorite Building on Campus Turns Ten Years Old–Let the Learning Continue!

Today around lunchtime there will be a reception on campus celebrating the tenth anniversary of...

September 2023

September 23, 2023

Diversity and Cosmic Beautification

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

February 2023

February 22, 2023

A Tale of Ash Wednesday and Lent

One Wednesday last winter, the student in front of me in line at the little...

August 2022

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...

May 2022

May 23, 2022

The Story I am Willing to be Wrong About

My political scientist Dominican priest friend and colleague, who was my teaching partner in our...

May 10, 2022

Saying Something Profound

Regular classes for the spring semester ended last Friday--semesters seem to go by more quickly...

March 2022

March 20, 2022

The Will of God: How to Know It?

Midterm grades are due on my campus by midnight Wednesday; last Wednesday was the official...

March 07, 2022

A Stranger (Protestant) in a Strange Land (Catholic)

Last Wednesday the student in front of me in line at the little on campus...

January 2022

January 20, 2022

The (White) Privilege of “Blending In”

Roughly a month after the 1/6 insurrection last year, at a House of Representatives event...

August 2021

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...

July 2021

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...

June 2021

June 30, 2021

A Modest Proposal, Part Two: Why My Time Should Not Be For Sale

A week ago, I described a proposal concerning access to my services that I proposed...

June 24, 2021

A Modest Proposal: Should My Time Be For Sale?

My next book project is a memoir about the teaching life. I started gathering materials...

May 2021

May 20, 2021

Why Graduation Day and Pentecost Belong Together

Today is commencement on my campus. There were no commencement exercises last year--that there will...

May 03, 2021

Because Survival is Insufficient

“Remember K from our colloquium last year?” my teaching partner emailed late last week. “G...

April 2021

April 29, 2021

Speak What We Feel, Not What We Ought to Say

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. Shakespeare, King Lear Last week,...

February 2021

February 02, 2021

Why Don’t I Feel as Badly as I Should?

I am sure that I’m not the only person who has spent noticeably more time...

January 2021

January 31, 2021

God Is Not Information

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

January 05, 2021

The President Who Wouldn’t Leave

One of my favorite skits from the early years of Saturday Night Live involved a...

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...

October 2020

October 12, 2020

All Things are Become New: A reminder of why teaching is the best profession of all

I realized this morning that exactly seven years ago, the beautiful humanities building on our...

August 2020

August 02, 2020

How Would YOU Feed a Party of Five Thousand?

My youngest son was always the inquisitive sort, the kind of kid who, from the...

July 2020

July 14, 2020

“Give unto Caesar”: It’s the Christian Thing to Do

A recent edition of The New Yorker had a timely cartoon on the back page. Two mourners...

June 2020

June 23, 2020

Does the Arc of the Moral Universe Really Bend Toward Justice?

Former President Obama loved to quote a hopeful statement from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:...

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...

February 2020

February 20, 2020

Professional Wrestling and the Liberal Agenda

My tattoo-artist oldest son reported in a phone conversation the other day that one of...

November 2019

November 23, 2019

Difficult Dialogues: Can We Disagree Without Demonizing?

Over the past several years on my campus, events called “Difficult Dialogues” have regularly been...

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