It is interesting, perhaps fitting, that the first class in my team-taught “Apocalypse: colloquium after Easter is focused on the Book of Revelation. Sometimes referred to as “The Apocalypse of John,” it is a book originally intended for oppressed Jesus followers subjected to persecution by the Roman Empire; it has become the anomalous final book in the New Testament for some, a road map for how the world will end for others, and a thoroughly confusing and violent text for... Read more
Easter Sunday–the most triumphant day on the Christian liturgical calendar. According to New Testament scholar and theologian N. T. Wright, “The practical, theological, spiritual, ethical, pastoral, political, missionary, and hermeneutical implications of the mission and message of Jesus differ radically depending upon what one believes happened at Easter.” That very well may be true–and it’s a problem for me, since I’m not sure what I believe happened that day. I believe in resurrection. I believe in the beauty of the... Read more
A few years ago in a course that I was team-teaching with two other colleagues, the final seminar text of the semester was Shakespeare’s King Lear. One of my teaching colleagues, an accomplished Shakespeare scholar, described the play on the syllabus as simply “the greatest play ever.” I love Shakespeare and find his plays more insightful about human nature and the human condition than any other texts (certainly more insightful than any philosophical tomes I have read), but had not read this... Read more
Many Christmas Eves ago, Jeanne, our youngest son Justin, and I were invited to share dinner with a friend from work and her family, which included two precocious and very active children. On display was a beautiful crèche, surrounded by all sorts of interesting items—who knew, for instance, that there was a duck and an elephant (both roughly the same size as the baby) at the manger? My friend is from Italy; her mother annually sends new additions to the... Read more
HOly WeekSome people can sleep anywhere. One of those people was a student in one of my seminars a few semesters ago. Bob (his name has been changed to protect the innocent) was a bright but apparently less-than-motivated student whose verbal work, such as participation in seminar, vastly exceeded his written or objective work, such as reading quizzes and the midterm exam. He’s one of those students who always had something to say that is relevant and insightful, carefully crafted... Read more
April is going to be Marilynne Robinson month for me. In the team taught interdisciplinary program I teach in, I will be giving a lecture on two of her essays followed a few days later by a seminar on her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead. A week later I have the privilege of being one of four colleagues involved in a continuing series on campus called “Women in Philosophy.” In past semesters I have presented on Simone Weil and Iris... Read more
The Palm Sunday celebration in a liturgical Christian church can be both confusing and jarring. Everyone with a religious molecule in their bodies knows that Palm Sunday is about Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey (or colt), but this gets only about fifteen minutes of airtime in the Palm Sunday liturgy. The priest reads the Palm Sunday gospel, the ushers distribute palms while everyone sings “All Glory, Laud and Honor” or something similar, the Old Testament reading, Psalm,... Read more
In my various courses this semester we have spent a good deal of time developing and discussing a specific moral perspective that provides guidance for how to live a life of meaning and purpose in a world that provides neither directly or easily. In my honors colloquium on Montaigne’s essays, we have explored the influence that the ancient Stoics had on Montaigne as he lived in 16th century France during the violent Wars of Religion. In my team-taught interdisciplinary course... Read more
In her award-winning trilogy of novels about Thomas Cromwell, the consigliere and fixer for Henry VIII, Hilary Mantel explores the dynamic of how the son of a violent and abusive father, over many years as a soldier, a merchant, and ultimately a self-made lawyer makes his presence known at court through his sharp insights and practical wisdom. Those of noble and aristocratic birth do not appreciate the rising influence of this low-born peasant. Early in the first novel in the... Read more
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, not my favorite holiday (as you’ll see below). Portions of what follows is included in an early chapter of my work-in-progress book Nice Work If You Can Get It: Stories and Lessons from a Lifetime in the Classroom. The section of the chapter is called “Lighten Up!” Enjoy! A few years ago, I had a brief locker room conversation with a campus security guard who frequently tortures himself at the gym around the same time that... Read more
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