Of Christmas, Climate Change, and Communication

My title is not mere alliteration. Christmas, climate change, and communication have more in common than just the letter “c.” What else unites this holiday, hot topic, and humanistic discipline? For starters, climate change referentials are hidden throughout the holiday hymns. We sing “Joy to the world” and “Let earth receive her King!” (#201, emphasis …

On Confidence

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break, and best of luck as you move into the wind-up phase of the semester. I promise to keep this blog entry brief—proceed with confidence. I’ve been musing on confidence and its origins. Etymology provides no sure guide to words’ current meanings, I know, even if words do seem to remember …

Gratitude for Guilt, for Grace

As Thanksgiving celebrations take place this week, my thoughts have repeatedly turned to gratitude—what it is, what it means, and perhaps more importantly, how to express it. The Oxford English Dictionary defines gratitude as “a warm sense of appreciation of kindness received, involving a feeling of goodwill towards the benefactor and a desire to do …

The Art and Science of Philosophy

When I tell people that I am a philosopher, I sometimes see an inchoate question behind their eyes. What is philosophy? Is it the same thing as psychology? Is it old men wearing togas? Where does philosophy fit into the life of the university? The university is filled with those who seek truth. They seek …

Things: As They Seem and As They Are

A number of years ago I visited with a therapist on a weekly basis, discussing the constant, heavy feeling I couldn’t shake off. I was a newly returned missionary, and I was struggling to return back to school while two of my family members were hospitalized and one of my grand-parents had recently passed away. …

History and the Humanities in Portugal

This past summer, I went on a study abroad trip to Portugal. Prior to my travels, I had very limited knowledge of the country. I could not recite a list of its famous people, nor could I produce the names of its top tourist attractions. I couldn’t talk about its food, its citizens or its …

Joy and Human Dignity

Mary Clark Moschella of Yale Divinity School recently visited campus for a series of events on joy and pastoral care. As a postlude to her visit, I want to reflect briefly on joy as one theological foundation for an understanding of human dignity.[1] Moschella links these concepts when she offers a pastoral theological description in …

Musings on Methodology: Or, On Types of Inquiry

One of the mandatory jobs of a new graduate student is to be extremely frolicsome among research interests and subdisciplines—to haphazardly flit among the flowers of knowledge in one’s department or program, relishing the opportunity to taste the nectar of as many buds as possible. Such a metaphor was also invoked by the Renaissance-era humanist …