My doctor says that I am his most boring patient, because there is never anything wrong with me. I show up for my yearly appointment, my blood pressure is good, my weight fluctuates within a five-pound range of my target weight, my blood work is always fine—my only complaints are spring allergies, for which he says “take Claritin,” and occasional sciatica problems, for which he suggests that I should stretch more. I have never been in a hospital overnight except when I... Read more
People are prone to apply the meaning of other people’s arguments to suit opinions that they have previously determined in their minds. Michel de Montaigne Not long ago, I found myself involved in a discussion on a progressive Christian Facebook page, a site that occasionally shares my blog posts. The article under discussion was directed primarily at evangelical Christians, wondering what they thought about the fact that Jesus in the gospels regularly speaks and acts as if he believes in income... Read more
In 1969, Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge released the single ‘Worst That Could Happen”—it went gold. It’s a ballad about how distressing it is to find out that your former girlfriend is getting married to someone who apparently is a much better catch than you were. The psychological angst is caught in the recurring chorus: Maybe it’s the best thing Maybe it’s the best thing for you But it’s the worst that could happen to me Today is Election... Read more
Today is “All Saints Day. I come from a hardcore Protestant world, a world in which we did not do “saints.” Even though I have spent much of my adult life, first as a graduate student, then as a professor, in Catholic higher education, I am still somewhat confused by and uncomfortable with the very notion of “sainthood.” In one of my classes, we are currently working on Albert Camus’ The Plague; one of the main characters, when described as a “saint”... Read more
It’s Halloween!–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 64-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 away during... Read more
One Sunday, toward the end of a particularly lively and deep seminar with my “Living Stones” adult Christian education group after the morning service, I asked the group “so what makes us think that we are anything special, that Episcopalians have a better angle on God than anyone else? What makes us think that our way is any better than anyone else’s, Christian or otherwise, other than that it is our way?” Very quickly one person replied “it isn’t any better.” And everyone... Read more
I spend a lot of time on this blog advocating for hope, for balance, for refusing to judge those who believe differently than I do simply because they believe differently, and for extending the benefit of a doubt even to those whose beliefs and commitments are not only different than mine, but completely offensive to everything I consider to be important. But today, one week before the most important Election Day of my life (and the twelfth presidential election I... Read more
We’ve all done this, we bang and bang on the door of hope, and don’t anyone dare suggest there’s nobody home. Barbara Kingsolver I recently finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel, Unsheltered. One of the first full-length, fictional treatments of what it’s been like to live in the cognitive and social dissonance that has accompanied the rise and presidency of Donald Trump, it is not one of my favorites of her many novels (The Poisonwood Bible remains my favorite). Unsheltered is populated with characters who... Read more
In a recent interview, Union Theological Seminary president Serene Jones said that “If you really believe this stuff about grace, if you really believe God loves everybody and the world, and forgives, ultimately, in mercy, everybody, it profoundly affects your politics.” Theology is always political. As we speed toward the Presidential election and its aftermath, there is no better time to consider the political implications of one’s faith. In a well-known and often-quoted passage from the Jewish scriptures, the prophet... Read more
As a philosophy professor, I have the opportunity in just about every class to investigate, along with my students, human nature. What exactly are we? What makes us different from everything else that exists? Huge questions, of course, all tangled up with assumptions, experiences, and—in many instances—religious belief. To set the stage for human nature discussions, I often rely on my students’ intuitive reactions to the following definition of “human being”: A human being is a physical thing, plus something... Read more
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