Broken windows and empty hallways, a pale dead moon and a sky streaked with gray. Human kindness is overflowing, and I think it’s going to rain today. Randy Newman One week from today is Election Day, although people have been voting for more than a couple of weeks already (Jeanne and I put our ballots in the mail a few days ago) and chances are it will be a fes days (at the very least) after next Tuesday before we... Read more
The lectionary readings from the Jewish scriptures this month have walked us through the Book of Job, concluding today with Job’s response once God finally answers Job’s complaints about how unjustly he has been treated. The dramatic setting of Job is so familiar that it can be summarized in just a few sentences. Job is presented as the most honorable of men, one who “feared God and avoided evil.” He is wealthy, happy, content, and living the good life. Then in... Read more
One of the authors mentioned frequently by participants at Theology Beer Camp last weekend was Walter Rauschbusch, one of the most important theologians of the 20th century and a powerful force in the development of the social gospel movement. I recently wrote about Rauschenbusch on this blog; it was great to encounter any number of people at Beer Camp whose thought has been influenced by his work. Living the Social Gospel In addition to his influential theological work, Rauschenbusch was... Read more
This past weekend I was at a conference in Denver called “Theology Beer Camp.” If academics committed themselves more often to crafting such creative titles for their annual get-togethers, more people would want to go. Theology Beer Camp was a gathering of several hundred progressive/deconstructing theologians from across the country; as I’ve often said, although I’m not a theologian, I could play one on television. Several aspects of the conference were themed to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy;... Read more
Autumn is my favorite season, and October is my favorite month. This is not surprising for a native New Englander—fall weather is the best that the Northeast has to offer and October promises cloudless skies, reducing temperatures, turning leaves, and no humidity. Even though it is rainy as I write this on Indigenous Peoples day, the last few weeks have given us spectacularly beautiful weather. I love it. But those of us fortunate enough to be living the academic life... Read more
I will be receiving the copyedited version of my book A Year of Faith and Philosophy back from my editor in a couple of weeks–copyediting is an important step, since it means that the content of your book has passed editorial muster. The copyeditor is simply the grammar and punctuation Nazi who doesn’t care about the content at all. Since I’ve been doing this for a while and serve as the grammar and punctuation Nazi for my students all the time,... Read more
Today I simply want to share something brief that I heard on a podcast a couple of days ago. Many of us–most, perhaps–are stressed about the upcoming election. In my case, at least, there are byproducts of this stress that don’t “seem like me.” I find myself, for instance, feeling very judgmental toward the millions of people who are just as entrenched in their belief about who must be the next president–but they disagree with me about who that person... Read more
What would happen if we actually took the things we claim to believe seriously enough to do something about them? Seriously enough to completely change our lives? Katie is a “good person”—doctor for the National Health Service, mother, wife, and socially aware—but is desperately unhappy with her life. Her husband David is angry and cynical; he writes a newspaper column called “The Angriest Man in Holloway” in which he pillories everything from old people who walk too slowly getting off... Read more
In one month the most consequential Presidential election of our lifetimes will take place. People are already voting by mail, and all indications is that we may not know the winner for days after. Everyone is nervous, many are jaded, others have lost hope. A few thoughts about self-care are in order. Early in her 2018 book Almost Everything, Anne Lamott describes what an older woman in the midst of a twelve-step recovery program once told her. One of the... Read more
One of the teaching teammates I have taught with for the last half-dozen years is a Victorian literature scholar. This, of course, includes Charles Dickens. Her choice from Dickens for the syllabus often is the über-familiar A Christmas Carol; she gave two lectures on this text earlier this week. A Christmas Carol in late September/early October might seem anachronistic, but the text is about far more than a particular time of year. Its moral themes are both timeless and remarkably... Read more
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