If you are fond of a cup, say “I am fond of a cup!” For then when it is broken you will not be upset. Epictetus Every time I teach the Stoics, I am reminded of how full their philosophy is of “Well, duh!!” truths. That’s a compliment, not a criticism. As a philosophy professor, I rely on such truths when trying to hook students into a discipline that can often be—as Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor accused Jesus of being—“vague, exceptional,... Read more
I have the privilege of giving the sermon at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pawtuxet, RI this morning for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Here’s what I’ll say (and sing). Many of you folks in the pews today are old enough to understand what I mean when I say that I grew up with the Beatles. They were an important part of the soundtrack of my youth. Now, “Alexa, play the Beatles!” is my most common command if I’m looking for... Read more
The soundtrack of my youth is classical music. I was classically trained on the piano from ago four through high school. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninoff—these were my rock stars. And at the center of my well-worn playlist was Handel’s Messiah. The “Which is the greatest work of classical music ever composed?” debate will never be settled, but I guarantee that, after six-and-a-half decades of immersion in the classical canon, Messiah is my favorite. I know every measure of... Read more
We seek retreats for ourselves in country places, on beaches and mountains . . . but that is altogether unenlightened when it is possible at any hour you please to find a retreat within yourself. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Most people think of Advent within a religious context, the annual month-long season of introspection, inwardness, quietness, and hope that anticipates the nativity and the Incarnation. But there is secular value to Advent as well, particularly in the middle of pre-Christmas insanity surrounding shopping,... Read more
The premise of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2020 novel The Book of Longings is simple, and will be shocking to the more theologically conservative: What if Jesus was married? Early in the novel, Ana—the girl whom Jesus will marry—has an important conversation with her beloved and iconoclastic aunt, Yaltha. Ana is a misfit, a young girl who reads, writes, and has visions—none of which fit the traditional template for a Jewish woman of the time. Ana is betrothed to a much older... Read more
As I write this essay on Friday afternoon, it is the last day of regular classes for the Fall semester. Several days of final exams begin Monday, but it’s essentially all over but the shouting. Not that anyone’s shouting—everyone’s too exhausted for that. We are finishing the fourth consecutive semester of higher education during Covid-19, and everyone I know—both students and faculty—is showing the strain. Yet we have a lot to be grateful for on my campus. All classes were... Read more
Baptist preacher’s kids get to do some very odd things. I memorized large portions of the Bible under duress, including–as a dutiful five-year-old–the names of the books of the Old Testament minor prophets to an obnoxious sing-songy tune. I could run through all of them in one breath—Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These obscure texts were written in a ancient time for a distant people in contexts and for reasons known only to the... Read more
At the end of the first of two semesters in the interdisiplinary and team-taught honors course I am teaching in this academic year, we are considering important events, movements, and texts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The topic for seminar yesterday was broad, including Social Darwinism, workers movements, and Christian responses to social upheaval. Along with essays from Herbert Spencer and Andrew Carnegie, the students read Pope Leo XIII’s influential 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. The final text... Read more
Jeanne got on the Amtrak early one Sunday morning not that long ago, beginning two weeks of work-related travel. Bummed out, I decided to head south for church an hour and a half early in order to spend that extra time in the coffee shop just down the street, reading and doing my introverted thing. My text for the morning was Herodotus’s Histories, the reading assignment for the coming week’s Development of Western Civilization freshman seminars. Herodotus is considered to... Read more
November 30 was Saint Andrew’s Day. Even though I am two days late, I offer the following in honor of the patron saint of Scotland (the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen) and my dear friend Marsue, who loved bagpipes. I miss you a lot, Marsue. Although I am a philosophy professor by trade, I believe William Shakespeare’s body of work is more insightful about my favorite philosophical topic—human beings—than anything the Western tradition in philosophy has to offer. The... Read more
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