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Getting Stoned
In preparation for studying portions of the New Testament with Freshman students later in the semester, I’ve been reviewing the book of Acts. This reminded me of a brief conversation I had with a...
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Something Rather Than Nothing
One of the most reliable ways to deaden a lively conversation in class is to ask a “philosophical question.” Nothing is more certain to produce blank stares, then uncomfortable silence, than questions...
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An Avoidable Form of Death
I got involved briefly in a Facebook debate the other day over whether Jane Austen’s novels have any redeeming value—I think they do. Someone with an opposite opinion quoted the following from Ralph...
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Is Democracy Overrated?
Jeanne and I just finished binge-watching the second season of Netflix’s House of Cards, an undoubtedly appropriate activity to complete just before our nation’s birthday on the Fourth of July. In...
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Holding Off Socrates
The United States national soccer team, after a strong performance, was eliminated last Tuesday from the World Cup. Millions of typical American sports fans were stunned the following morning to find...
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Socratic Faith
He lived over two millennia ago, and as far as we know he never wrote anything. We learn everything we know about him from others, often in reports and descriptions written decades after his death. The...
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A Trip to Middle Earth
Everyone has an unforgettable teacher or two in his or her history; I aspire to be that teacher for a person or two in every class I teach. When thinking about those teachers in my own history, I...
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The Vision Thing
In 1987, as Vice President George H. W. Bush prepared to step out of Ronald Reagan’s shadow and run for the Presidency, he was occasionally urged to step back and take a large view of the America he...
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When Logic Fails
My novel of the week is Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem. I first encountered Goldstein over the past few weeks when I plowed through her most recent work, Plato at the Googleplex, a creative...
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