The Gospel that many Christians are seeking to proclaim today is, in one formulation, this: good news will sooner or later carry the day. Here are some of the particulars of that message: in the power of the Spirit, JesusRead More →
Theologically and vocationally, I learned early on to take the Sacrament of Baptism with utmost seriousness. Probably this was for two main reasons, first my doctoral studies in Luther’s sacramental theology, working under the tutelage of the eminent Reformation historian,Read More →
Out of touch as I am, I almost never wear headphones. But I did sit in a padded room once, I forget what the occasion was, which was flooded with sound. It might have been selections from a Beethoven symphony.Read More →
I’ll get to polysemosity right away. But first think of this. Those of us who identify with the traditions of the Protestant Reformation are generally more comfortable, spiritually, with sounds rather than with sights. Think about two of our traditionalRead More →
A Melting pot: That’s the oldest and a rightfully discredited metaphor, even though more than a few still believe. Everyone’s the same. Or so it is said. A Stew: That’s the metaphor once proposed by Jesse Jackson – each elementRead More →
Most first-year humanities students will have heard this famous, perhaps infamous, utterance by the British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). It first registered in my soul during my first year of college in an introductory humanities course. The lecturer tookRead More →
One of my college roommates turned out to be a world class physicist. The last time I heard Barry Berman’s voice in public was many years ago, when my wife and I were driving the long-haul route, via the PennsylvaniaRead More →
‘Tis a gift to be simple. ‘Tis a gift to be free. In our hyper-technological age, where so much is so complex, that Shaker virtue is often unattainable. Think of what it takes for our astronauts to rocket around theRead More →
My wife, Laurel, and I were returning one summer afternoon from a short driving trip to explore the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, a remarkable region of rich, vast, and flowing farmlands. As we headed home, we were silent for someRead More →
Like some others in my generation, I was slow to encounter the world of modern painting, but at some point my inner vision was radically transformed by all that amazing cultural creativity. I arrived at that experience, as I recall,Read More →
It appears that Boston Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla is no Thomas Aquinas, no Soren Kierkegard, no Henry David Thoreau. But I have taken to listening to his sometimes convoluted comments before and after games with real interest. Consider the followingRead More →
Probably I should talk to a spiritual director about this, or maybe even a therapist. But for now, I’d like to talk to you. The biblical theme of whipping is before me virtually every day. I have two framed postcardRead More →
Quo vadis? Where are you going? Peter famously asked Jesus that question, just before the Crucifixion (John 13:36). Much more mundanely, I often ask myself that question first thing in the morning, perhaps with more pathos these days, when I’mRead More →
That’s the scholarly question posed by an article in New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society (Summer 2025), authored by Debora L. Spar and Aryanne Garber, which I happened to notice not too long ago. This is how theRead More →
Back in the middle of the last century, when the triumphant general, Dwight Eisenhower, had become president and the Republican Party was winning elections on the theme “Peace, Progress, and Prosperity,” the then probably most famous religious figure in AmericaRead More →