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Privilege and Equity

January 31, 2021

This is going to be a thought piece which some of you may like and some may dislike. But I compose it with the old rules in place: we can disagree on just about anything, but we agree to listen to each other with civility, and usually reach an accord or compromise. There are however […]

November 22, 1963

December 1, 2020

Today is the 57th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. More than half a century ago sounds like a lot of time. Maybe this happened back at the end of the Roman Empire, or he was shot on a Crusade, or by the rebels at the Battle of Gettysburg. Or, given that […]

The more things change, the more they stay the same

November 14, 2020

The saying is an old one in French, often quoted by the literati in the original–plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose– to sound more egg heady. So, I thought I would do the same and think for a moment like a literati instead of plain old Larry. Now let’s turn to Scripture and […]

Some thoughts on the coming election, Nov. 2020

August 29, 2020

There seems to be next to little left to write about with respect to the coming election of 2020. It is truly difficult to determine truth from fiction, fact from fraud, honest opinion from outright lies and prevarication of the grossest sort. If words truly carry the day in any way, then we are in […]

Guilt and Words

August 9, 2020

Guilt is a word and issue we need to know and deal with. We are facing it right now as the race issue divides rather than unites us a nation with a major election in November 2020. Webster’s defines it several different ways, from official guilt in the commission of a crime or offense to […]

and a woman named Damaris

August 9, 2020

In the Book of Acts, which is really one of the best historical sources for the story of Jesus’s followers and disciples after his Resurrection, there is a short account of the Apostle Paul visiting the Areopagus in the city of Athens during his many missionary travels. The Areopagus fulfilled many functions in ancient Athens, […]

A Historian’s View

July 8, 2020

Everyone these days seems to have an opinion or action on how to interpret the past. Some claim systemic racism characterizes U. S. history and the residual evidence, like statues, monuments, names of buildings, bridges and other artifacts of life, need to be removed to achieve some semblance of “social justice,” a tricky phrase to […]

How to Explain Who We Are

May 28, 2020

Not too long ago I read two pieces that got me to thinking. The first was a piece in an online journal, The Daily Signal, titled “The Virus Before the Virus” by Armstrong Williams, and the second was “How a civilization ends,” a review of a new book, The Abandonment of the West, by Michael […]

The Long Run

May 20, 2020

I’ve heard it say, over the years and at different times, that so and so, or such and such is in it for the long run, and Americans, for whatever reason or cause, will give up eventually, and take the short cut to the end, not invest in the long haul. “They’re not a long […]

Spanish History, 101

May 5, 2020

We periodically revisit Spain in this column not simply because I like Spain, but in the U. S. today 41 million people speak Spanish as their first language, or 13% of the population. There are also nearly 12 million bilingual Spanish speakers here, like me. In fact, the U. S. is the second-largest Spanish speaking […]