In an interview with CNN a few years ago, Barbara Brown Taylor said something that sounded familiar to me. “True believers are among the meanest people I’ve ever met,” she says, stretching out her legs in a cozy living room filled with books on poetry, religious icons and a photo of her posing with Oprah. “I cannot think of anybody of another faith who has wounded me like Christians,” she says. “Judged, condemned to hell, cast out of the body... Read more
What follows is a story from my current book project–Nice Work if You Can Get It: Lessons and Stories from a Lifetime in the Classroom. It’s a bit longer than my usual blog posts, but it is very appropriate for Labor Day. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it! In 1729, Jonathan Swift of Gulliver’s Travels fame anonymously published a short work entitled A Modest Proposal, one of the great works of satire in the Western literary tradition. The complete title of... Read more
A couple of years ago, I was interviewed in my office by a reporter from The Cowl, my college’s student-run newspaper. The interviewer was a former student and asked some reallly good questions. For instance, she knew that I have taught at least two dozen sections of General Ethics, the philosophy department’s gateway course into moral philospohy, over the three decades that I have taught at the college. “You have introduced many students over the years to many different moral perspectives... Read more
Fall semester classes started last Monday. And I’m on sabbatical, not returning to the classroom until the day after MLK day in January. I’m sure that my colleagues are probably jealous of those colleagues, such as myself, who are on sabbatical—but I don’t feel guilty about that. I felt the same way each of the last six Augusts about my colleagues who were beginning sabbatical. Unfortunately sabbatical only shows up once every seven years—that means that six out of every... Read more
Several years ago during my four-year stint as chair of the Providence College philosophy department, I found myself sitting at a table with several very concerned parents. It was during one of the summer orientation sessions for incoming freshmen, and these were the parents of students who had indicated interest in majoring in philosophy once their college career began in the fall. The question, expressed in various ways, that all of these parents wanted an answer to was “What the... Read more
The first draft of my first sabbatical book project is completed, minus the introduction and conclusion. As several trusted friends and family members read the draft and provide their insights, I am revisiting any number of essays from the past that I’m sure will inform the introduction to the book in which I will be providing a brief (hopefully) overview of my religious pedigree. One of the less attractive aspects of this upbringing was Bible camp. I was the world’s most... Read more
Last week I posted an essay called “The Problem with Wisdom, Part One,” inspired by a reading from the book of Proverbs that was part of the Sunday lectionary offerings that I read in church as lector recently. The Problem with Wisdom, Part One The focus of the reading that Sunday, and the focus of much of Proverbs is Wisdom, presented as a woman who stands at the gates and has a lot to say. Much of what she has... Read more
It doesn’t seem possible that it has been exactly three years since Marsue Harris, one of the best friends and wisest people I have ever encounteed, passed away. She died in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in August 2020 after a months-long battle with cancer. Jeanne and I spearheaded the organization of a memorial service for her early in 2021; participants signed on, readings were selected, and the date was set. But then a new variant flared up, masks... Read more
A conversation heard behind the scenes: Dude! Did you see what just happened?? How could I?? I’m in charge of the freaking luggage today and am stuck way back here. Why is the crowd always biggest when I have luggage duty? The big guy just got dissed in front of everyone! Are you shitting me? Tell me! He was already in a pissy mood and this woman kept nagging him and bothering him until he finally put her in her... Read more
In much wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18 The last time I was lector at church, the reading from the Jewish scriptures was a very cool passage from the book of Proverbs. Wisdom is introduced at the beginning of the reading from chapter 8: “At the crossroads she takes her stand . . . at the entrance of the portals she cries out.” Who is Wisdom, and what does she have to... Read more
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