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There’s been an ongoing, race-to-the-bottom-like debate about what actually constitutes the “last acceptable prejudice” in mainstream culture. Among a list of contenders, I want to focus on one that has been suggested elsewhere—a bias toward rural America and rural Americans. I highlight this bias, not because I have particular empirical support for it, although much…

In the first weeks of 2021, during what were (please God) the deadliest days of the pandemic, a theoretical modeling study was published in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Behind the confidence intervals and bewildering acronyms is a testimony of God at work, bringing life and life flourishing where otherwise death and isolation would…

Half a century ago, my parents were expatriates in Brazil during a volatile time of that country’s history. My father was a university chaplain and my mother a nurse in the local favela. Reflecting on what has unfolded in the US over the past weeks, my mother wrote to me: “We watch with anxiety what…

When the seriousness of the current pandemic began to hit us all, I realised very quickly that one of the best ways I could contribute would be to pray. I wanted to try to take my own praying habits up a notch and spend some extra time each day praying about the events happening in…

March Madness. The Masters in April. The Champions League in May. The NBA playoffs in June. The Olympics in July. We’re bombarded with popular sporting events to watch in the coming months, offering us a wealth of opportunities to consider the connection between sport and character even in COVID constraints. What does it mean to…

On Friday, March 6, 2020, at 4:05pm, our Vice-Provost sent an email that the remaining classes for Winter Quarter were cancelled at Seattle Pacific University due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Classes wouldn’t meet in-person until September, and even then in a distanced and hybrid teaching model that continues to this day. Seven separate emails sent…

This past August, Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR published Traitor, the debut novel of Amanda McCrina. FSG describes Traitor as “a tightly woven YA thrill ride exploring political conflict, deep-seated prejudice, and the terror of living in a world where betrayal is a matter of life or death.” A native of Atlanta, Georgia, McCrina studied…

Some time ago, I noticed a poster on a departmental noticeboard at my university bearing the heading “Vocational Retreat.” It invited students to join a retreat at which alumni would share insights and experiences. The speakers, it promised, would address racial reconciliation, peace building, environmental sustainability, and advocacy. They would “give students practical advice about…

When I was a young kid, I watched my dad do other things besides parent and work. We moved to Littleton, Colorado when I was almost four. My dad had a new job and two young kids. For some people, this season of transition with children would have been a good reason to step away…

Related to kinesis, Greek for movement, the word cinema resonates with the beginnings described at the start of the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis we read, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” According to Hebrew scholar Brian Smith, the verb translated as “moved” occurs only three times…

Thanks to my friend and colleague Kent Van Til for his thoughtful response to my blog post on universal basic income.  In his response, he demonstrates very well what we at Hope College have formulated as our Virtues for Public Discourse.  In responding to his comments, I would note that we have much agreement on…

A recent Netflix documentary titled The Social Dilemma interviews several engineers who had helped build social media platforms, but who are now sounding the alarm on their creations. The film features prominent designers from Google, Facebook, and Twitter, including the engineer who created the pervasive “like” button and the inventor of the “infinite scroll.” The…

It’s Ash Wednesday, a time of repentance, and I’m put in mind of an artist of sorrow. Rogier van der Weyden, a 15th-century Netherlandish genius, was known for many things (including an audacious portrait of himself as a saint), See https://collections.mfa.org/objects/31035  but his paintings of Christ’s death are his most profound. They are almost unrivaled…

Landscape view of Salsberry Peak in the Pahrump Hills region, Gale Crater, Mars. Inset: Curiosity Rover “selfie.”  Credit: NASA Part 1. Full speed ahead 2021 will be a busy year for space exploration and commerce with the promise of great advances in science and technology. NASA Highlights will include landing the Mars Perseverance Rover and…

After the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in July 2020, I participated in a BLM protest in Harrisburg, PA. I brought along my copy of The Souls of Black Folk by Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois. I sat on a step of the State Capitol and read, aloud but quietly, the eleventh…

My friend Todd Steen has written a good and thoughtful article about providing a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all in the United States.  In it, he makes direct references to the way Christian faith might direct our thinking on this subject.  As a theologian with an interest in economics, I would like to respond.…

“Christ Animated Learning” is an inspired title for this blog, for Christ the Logos (“word, thought, rationality”) is always the one who animates (from Latin anima, “spirit, breath of life”) the journey toward Truth that we call “learning.”  The same Spirit who effected my conversion to Classics as a college sophomore, immersing me in the…

Contemporary culture is obsessed with the human body. It (that is, the body) carries so much responsibility. Weak, mortal, finite, it is made to bear burdens of eternity: it is made to be a sign of dignity, meaning and status that is somehow eternal. So, we punish it, whipping it into shape with brutal exercises.…

Although I am a college professor, I must confess that my most important education during college did not come from professors. As an undergraduate majoring in history, political science, and religion at Rice University, I had some great classes with outstanding professors—one even won a Professor of the Year award among faculty for the entire…

A mere four years – something of a lifetime – ago, the Berkley Center asked many scholars and activists to offer advice for the new administration of President Trump. At the time, I argued that the new administration needed to leverage its multilateral assets: that freedom of religion or belief needed American leadership, but that…