What Makes a Speaker Persuasive?
In his treatise on rhetoric, when Aristotle set out to express the factor that makes a public speaker most persuasive, he elected an element not many of us would choose. […]
Tag Archives: Jesus
Why did God allow that?
Why did God allow this evil act? I don’t know. But if God suffers with us to forge a perfect paradise out of this mess, offering his life to save undeserving people, I guess it is ok not to know.
Christmas Nostalgia
I’ll let you in on a little family secret: my wife is one of those people. You know, the people who would listen to Christmas music all year round, set […]
Christmas for me?
‘The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David […]
Christmas in the South
“Mama, it doesn’t feel like Christmas,” my five-year-old daughter declared while drinking hot chocolate on a steamy Sydney morning. “Why?” “Because we’re eating sweets and it’s hot…and we don’t have […]
All the Goodness in the World
We are bargain hunters, all of us. We make bargains with God, with reality or the cosmos or karma or whatever. We are convinced someone or something out there is keeping […]
On Food and Friends
I’m an unrepentant lover of good food. There is nothing better than a pungent combination of spices and the beautiful color of fresh produce to enliven the senses and transport […]
The Upper Hand of Evil
Is goodness feasible in an evil world? Can we maintain innocence as we seek to enter and influence the tough dynamics of the marketplace, politics and society? Can we sustain […]
The Grand Inquisitor
In one of the most electrifying chapters of all of world literature, Russian writer Feodor Dostoevsky imagines an unexpected arrival of Jesus Christ in Seville, Spain, during the height of […]
Translating Jesus
As a student of ancient texts, I often find myself faced with translational difficulties. There is an important thing one learns early on in working with more than one language: […]
Wondering Fair 