Reading, Identification, and Vocation
It was the intervention of Caesar Augustus which, one day long ago, saved one of the most celebrated narratives of ancient history. Virgil’s last wish was to burn his epic […]
Tag Archives: ethics
Christ Have Mercy
A while back I was talking over coffee with a young man who had spent several months studying primate social behaviour in Africa. I asked him what, if anything, had […]
The Bible on Slavery
“The Bible supports slavery, does it not?” This was the question posed to me by a bright, inquisitive student years ago when I was teaching a lesson for an ethics […]
Is Secularism a Faith?
In a fascinating review of Charles Taylor’s book A Secular Age, secular humanist Andrew Koppelman said a few years back: [M]odern secularism is a religious worldview, with its own narrative […]
Don’t Waste Your Life
I don’t usually make time to sweat the big stuff, never mind the small stuff, but an unexpected email recently had the effect of shoving the enormous existential question, ‘what […]
Stanley Fish and the emptiness of generic ‘grace’
Not long ago, Stanley Fish (professor of Humanities at Florida International University and public intellectual) took an opportunity to respond to critics who thought that a recent Coen brothers’ film, […]
A House of Cards Marriage
The Netflix political drama series House of Cards has been a cultural sensation. It features Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright as the leading power couple striving and conniving for ever […]
Mud Machine
In a recent book, Vieni Via con Me, Italian author Roberto Saviano points out a phenomenon which takes place in many of our contemporary societies: the mud machine.[1] Whenever someone […]
The Politics of Redemption
If you are entertained by politics, like me, or similarly by sports, there is nothing more fascinating than to see someone rise. A mom-and-pop store owner who becomes mayor, a […]
The End of Virtue
Why are we often suspicious of virtue? Why are we cynical and skeptical of people who are supposedly good, kind, even heroic? That’s just the image they project–we reason–but behind […]
Wondering Fair 