Obsessed with the Apocalypse

Last updated on: September 25, 2018 at 6:12 am By Vance Morgan

Last spring I taught a colloquium called “Apocalypse” with a colleague from the English department. Although this is well removed from my purported “areas of expertise” (one of the reasons I happily agreed to develop this new course), I focused our attention on what can be learned about human morality and psychology by studying apocalyptic stories in literature, movies, and television. One of my first self-assigned tasks as I prepared for the course in the weeks before the semester was... Read more

When an Atheist Finds Out That There is More Than One Kind of Christian

Last updated on: September 22, 2018 at 9:58 pm By Vance Morgan

One of the many things that make teaching a rewarding vocation is receiving unsolicited testimonials from former students about things they have carried away from a class they took with you. I particularly enjoy such testimonials when enough time has passed for the student to truly test whatever she or he has taken from the class in the crucible of real life, when what the student has learned has percolated and matured for a while. I received such a testimonial... Read more

Calling God Back to the Mountain

Last updated on: September 19, 2018 at 9:24 pm By Vance Morgan

What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are they not both saying: Hello? Annie Dillard, “Teaching a Stone to Talk” A bit over a year ago, Harvard political philosopher and professor of government Danielle Allen gave a talk on campus as part of my college’s year-long centennial celebration. I was fortunate enough to be invited to join ten or so faculty and administrators at the President’s house for dinner after the talk. Allen’s most recent book is Our... Read more

Is it THE truth, or is it MY truth?

Last updated on: September 18, 2018 at 6:32 am By Vance Morgan

Ian McEwan’s The Children Act is the story of Fiona Maye, an experienced and highly respected family court judge in London. The story centers on how a particular case impacts both her professional and personal life. A seventeen-year-old boy is hospitalized with leukemia; his regimen of treatment requires a cluster of powerful medicines, including one that produces anemia. To combat the anemia a blood transfusion is required—standard procedure. But the boy and his family are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and blood transfusions are prohibited by... Read more

The Unexamined Faith Is Not Worth Having

Last updated on: September 14, 2018 at 8:50 am By Vance Morgan

He lived over two millennia ago, and as far as we know he never wrote anything. We learn everything we know about him from others, often in reports and descriptions written decades after his death. The reliability and accuracy of these reports are often called into question, since their authors clearly have agendas and interests that undoubtedly undermine objectivity and an accurate accounting of the facts. He had a lot to say and attracted many followers who hung on his... Read more

The Sun, the Moon, and Prayer

Last updated on: September 11, 2018 at 9:25 am By Vance Morgan

Shortly before the 2013 conclave that would elect him as Pope Francis I, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio urged his fellow cardinals to remember that Christians should live by the light of the moon rather than of the sun. Followers of Christ should reflect the source of light rather than acting as if they are the source. With regard to the hierarchy of the religious structure he would soon be elected to lead, he said that the Church exists to reflect Christ—as... Read more

Seventeen Years Ago Today

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 12:28 pm By Vance Morgan

Two years ago, the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11 fell on a Sunday. The priest of our Episcopal church asked me to give the homily that morning–here’s what I said. Everyone beyond a certain age can remember clearly what they were doing fifteen years ago today when they heard the news. I was in my college’s main cafeteria getting coffee and noticed something weird happening on the “Today Show” broadcast on a television hanging from the ceiling in the corner. At that point... Read more

Right-Brain Faith in a Left-Brain World

Last updated on: June 8, 2022 at 8:37 am By Vance Morgan

At age thirty-seven, Harvard trained brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor woke up one morning with a splitting headache. As she tried to get ready for work, her mind began to deteriorate over the course of four hours to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Taylor later learned that she had suffered a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. She lost a large portion of the cognitive skills... Read more

What the Author Meant May Not Matter

Last updated on: September 6, 2018 at 5:17 am By Vance Morgan

At the beginning of a seminar on the books of Exodus and Job from the Hebrew Scriptures with eleven honors freshmen a couple of days ago, we had an interesting discussion about how to evaluate the stories we were (and will be) engaged with. I asked them how much difference the accuracy or inaccuracy the events portrayed made. Does the value of the stories rely on their being “true” in a factual sense? My students tentatively concluded that the value... Read more

Whatever Prayer Is For, It Isn’t That

Last updated on: September 2, 2018 at 7:16 pm By Vance Morgan

A week ago, the small Episcopal church that I frequently attend moved its morning services out of the sanctuary into a beautiful August morning, heading a half mile down the road to a town park on Narragansett Bay. A small table in the gazebo served as the altar, as twenty-five or so 8:00 service regulars enjoyed a modest version of taking the gospel into the streets (or at least onto the grass). During the passing of the peace, one of the... Read more