Who Was Your Favorite Teacher?

Across five different universities and professional schools and four degrees, I’ve had some pretty good–and some not so good–teachers. Besides the role of parents and a child’s home life, there is an apparent abundance of evidence–not to...

Did I Say That?

Earlier this week, the Republicans who have so far tossed their hats in the ring, seeking their party’s nomination for President in the 2012 election, were debating on national television, sponsored by the so-called “Tea Party.” Along the way,...

A Wealth Problem?

My friend, Rob Dillon, a devoted and disciplined Christian, is an evolutionary biologist, a college professor who studies snails, surely one of life’s more practical endeavors. I once asked Rob, “If one of your secular humanist science professor...

What’s “Your Word” Worth?

In 2009, my friend and colleague, Mitch Carnell, edited a worthy book entitled Christian Civility in an Uncivil World (Smyth and Helwys). Dr. Carnell not only wrote the Preface and the last chapter of the book (“The Power of Words”), he envisioned the...

Good, Bad, or Tragic?

These days, the word “tragedy” (or “tragic”) is over-if not mis-used. There are many examples of what I’m suggesting, not the least of which involves the latest wearisome Congressional squabble over where to cut spending and/or increase...

Who’s Perfect?

Trying to be “perfect” can make you crazy–if not others, as well–if they let you do that to them. At least in the way most of us, these days, define the term–“perfect.” This, I recently discovered, once again, when writing the...

Hide the Weiny

A local food editor recently published an article about visiting her sister in Cleveland. Her various interests on the trip included, of course, exploring the Ohio city’s cuisine. The article contained several pictures, one of which was a homemade sign in the...