In the wee hours of this morning, the time changed from Daylight Saving Time to standard time. Are you okay? Still sane? Or has this annual event thrown your circadian rhythm out of whack out of whack so badly that you may never recover? I’m going out on a limb here—way out. I like time changes. This year Daylight Savings time began on March 12, shifting the clock to provide an extra hour of light in the evening and ended... Read more
By all measures, this has already been a successful sabbatical (there are still two more months to go). I have a full draft of both of my book projects completed; both are close to being ready for preliminary feelers to be sent out to possible publishers. I have also been able to continue sending out three posts per week on this blog without interruption while writing two books, often focusing on whatever portion of one of the books I was... Read more
If God is both all-good and all-powerful, why is there so much evil in the world? For many, the timeless and classic problem of evil has taken onnew and immediate relevance as thousands of innocent people die in the Israel/Hamas conflict and as eighteen innocent people were murdered by a shooter in Lewiston, Maine last week. I’m going to be taking a fresh look at this intractable problem here this week. Recent polls indicate that the problem of evil is... Read more
It’s Halloween week!!–one of my least favorite holidays of the year. I know that offends many people, but so be it. Still, the onset of Halloween brings back memories–many of them religion and church related. Maybe that’s why I don’t like the holiday! As a 67-year-old guy with no small children in my life, I don’t do Halloween. Often Jeanne and I celebrate the day by going to a late afternoon movie, followed by dinner, so we can be conveniently... Read more
A number of years ago, during the early years of President Barack Obama’s first term, a debate raged over his proposed “Affordable Care Act” which, once successfully made into law, became the signature achievement of his presidency. I recall a pointed debate the “Letters to the Editor” page of our local newspaper (this was in the days when there were still hardcopy newpapers and printed letters to the editor). One critic of the proposed act wrote “I’m against this! What,... Read more
My two sabbatical book projects have, without my explicitly planning it, turned out to be in rhythms that compliment each other well. The first draft of my teaching memoir is in the hands of two trusted colleague friends, probabably for the next two or three week at the very least. My attention has turned to my other book project, one that I have mentioned less often on this blog. Tentatively titled The Freelance Christian’s Guide to the Liturgical Year, this book... Read more
Last weekend Jeanne and I made a quick trip to Minneapolis to attend the annual Evolving Faith conference—their first in-person event since 2019. It was a quick event, Friday evening to Saturday evening; the speaker lineup was packed with authors and podcasters whom we both have loved for some time, including Nadia Bolz-Weber, Krista Tippett, Amy Kenny, and Sarah Bessey (co-founder of Evolving Faith in 2017 with the late Rachel Held Evans). All of the above were excellent, but one... Read more
Today around lunchtime there will be a reception on campus celebrating the tenth anniversary of the dedication of the Ruane Center for the Humanities–the reception will be held in the center’s Great Room, my favorite spot on campus. I’m on sabbatical and avoiding campus as much as possible, but I’ll be dropping by. It’s my building, after all. At least that’s how I’ve always thought of it. As the director ten years ago of the interdisciplinary, team-tuaght program that this... Read more
In our “Faith and Doubt” colloquium last spring, my Dominican priest colleague and I filled the syllabus with authors who have shaped our own perspectives on and continuing lives of faith. Many such authors on my list have made regular appearances in this blog over the past decade; Anne Lamott, Michel de Montaigne, Simone Weil, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Iris Murdoch, and Rachel Held Evans all made important appearances during the semester. My colleague’s influences included several who also are on my... Read more
The last text of the Spring 2021 semester–the last Covid-19 affected semester on my campus–in my “Apocalypse” colloquium was Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven. The apocalypse in question is the “Georgia flu,” a fast-spreading virus that kills over 99% of the human population. The story skips nimbly back and forth between the pre-and post-pandemic world; one of the many fascinating features of the novel is tracking how a person’s seemingly benign attitudes and beliefs take on... Read more
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