A number of years ago, during a public forum on my campus focused on steps we might take toward addressing the fact that we had a blindingly white student body, faculty, and administration, one of my senior faculty colleagues raised his hand and asked the question that a number of people in the room were probably wondering, but didn’t have the guts to ask: Why do we want to have a diverse campus? Despite its serious violation of all standards of... Read more
On Facebook a couple of days ago, I posted this: It’s times like these that help me understand what was going on in Yahweh’s mind when he, on several occasions in the Jewish scriptures, planned to wipe out humanity (or a problematic group of humans) and start over again. I really wish I was in the middle of a semester right now. The confluence of Covid-19, the murder of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests and riots throughout the country... Read more
Pentecost celebrates one of the high points in the Christian liturgical calendar, the coming of the Holy Spirt “as a mighty wind,” accompanied by tongues of fire and various miracles, that is commonly referred to as “the birth of the church.” For Christians, it arguably ranks just after Easter and Christmas in terms of historical markers of the divine’s interaction with humanity. But this year, Pentecost is different—as everything else has been different for the past many weeks. When I... Read more
I am currently in the middle of reading Sue Monk Kidd’s new novel, The Book of Longings. I purchased it for Jeanne for Mother’s Day, and it was a home run as a gift. Jeanne devoured it in just a few days, regularly commenting on what a great book it is and how much I would love it. The premise of the novel is simple, and might be shocking to the more theologically conservative: What if Jesus was married? The... Read more
I recently finished reading Hilary Mantel’s long-awaited The Mirror and the Light, the final entry in a trilogy of novels about Thomas Cromwell, the consigliere and fixer for Henry VIII. Cromwell is the son of a blacksmith, a violent and abusive father whom Cromwell flees as a young teenager. Over many years as a soldier, a merchant, and ultimately a self-made lawyer, Cromwell begins to make his presence known at court through his sharp insights and practical wisdom. Those of... Read more
Memorial Day is a day for solemn remembrance, a time that this year must also include collective remembrance of the more than 95,000 fellow Americans who have died of Covid-19. Because of required sequestering and isolation, it has not been possible for there to be proper collective grief and mourning for those who have died—let’s make it a point to remember them as part of our Memorial Day thoughts and prayers. Memorial Day is also a day when many Americans... Read more
One of the central units in my General Ethics class is titled “Does ethics have anything do to with God?” Although the question of how a good and powerful God—a “perfect” God, in other words—can allow the suffering, violence, and pain that human beings and other living things are subject to in our world is not a question that fits seamlessly on the syllabus of an ethics class, the question always comes up. It’s difficult to avoid the problem of... Read more
In preparation for my next book project, a teaching memoir tentatively titled Nice Work If You Can Get It, I have been reviewing dozens of teaching-related posts on this blog from the past several years. This one from 2017 strikes a chord that many people of faith will find familiar these days. By the time this posts, close to 100,000 Americans will have died of Covid-19, with no obvious end in sight. Each of those people were someone’s mother, father, brother,... Read more
Under normal circumstances, my college’s Commencement exercises would be taking place this morning, with thousands of family members, friends, well-wishers, and members of the college community packing the arena where the Providence Friars play basketball. Circumstances right now, of course, are anything but normal, so our college President will confer degrees virtually on Zoom to our hundreds of graduates. If I had the opportunity to deliver a commencement address to our graduating seniors, it would be quite different than the... Read more
I viewed Martin Doblmeier’s documentary about Dorothy Day, “Revolution of the Heart,” a few days ago. Doblmeier is a graduate of Providence College where I have taught for the past twenty-five years. I use Doblmeier’s documentary on Dietrich Bonhoeffer in class every time I team-teach “Grace, Truth, and Freedom in the Nazi Era” (fourth time this coming spring). Dorothy Day was a radical Catholic Christian. She understood that anarchism, communism, and Christianity have far more in common than many would... Read more
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