Matters of Faith, or It's Faith that Matters

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Taming the Tongue

June 14, 2021

A few months ago, we looked at how words are perhaps the most important element in determining who we are and what we do. The geek word for the study of words is etymology, but let’s stick with words we can all relate to easily without having to open our online dictionary. I recommend Merriam-Webster’s, […]

Teaching with James

March 12, 2021

In earlier columns we dealt with different aspects of research and teaching. We examined teaching in general as one of the three principal missions of a modern university—teaching, research, and service. We also explored the “Socratic method” of teaching. Today let’s consider another approach, in this instance by one of my favorite Biblical teachers, James, […]

The Great American Awakenings, Redux

November 16, 2020

We tend to think of ourselves pretty much at the center of the universe, and, in a way of course, we are. We are alive and everyone before us is gone, and those before us are unborn and in the future. But we are tied to the past, personally by our memories, and collectively as […]

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 […]

The “I”s Have It

March 19, 2020

If you think you’ve heard the expression, “the I’s have it,” you are right, but not using “I.” Rather the traditional expression is “the ayes have it” in referring to a vote where those voting “yes,” say “aye” in the old English. It may be a nautical term, since in the Navy we hardly ever […]

The Emperor’s New Clothes

February 1, 2020

Hans Christian Anderson penned a short tale years ago, based on a story composed by a Spanish writer centuries before Anderson wrote, about two weavers who conned the king. They promised him a new set of clothes—very fine and expensive—but they would be invisible only to those who are unfit, stupid, or incompetent. No one […]

America Today

November 17, 2019

A few weeks ago we left off with some Attorney General William Barr’s assessment of modern America. He presented this view in a speech he delivered October 11 before the School of Law at Notre Dame University on the freedom of religion and its underpinning of American life. Christianity is on the decline in the […]

The War for the Soul of America

November 16, 2019

Last week we challenged higher education’s goal of diversity rather than excellence in mission and teaching. Today, let’s rachet up the stakes a bit. Our nation today is engaged in a war for its very soul. I don’t want to exaggerate for the sake of notoriety or getting your attention, but a speech by Attorney […]

My Hispanic Friend and the Holy Spirit

August 17, 2019

While in jail a few weeks ago I ran into a couple of friends, one new and one old. Let me hasten to add that I was in jail to teach the Bible with a group of Christian men and women who go into the Tuscaloosa County Jail every Tuesday night. So, I go into […]

Dancing Around Anti-Semitism

May 26, 2019

Dancing Around Anti-Semitism The recent, and some not so recent, remarks by our two new Muslim Congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib from Michigan and Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, has raised a hullaballoo among many politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. The issue is portrayed as the Muslim desire to eradicate the state of Israel in favor of a […]