The English Department
In 1969, in the Fall semester, darkly painted leaves, broken from their stems by a season dying and grasping, danced across winding university walkways. The English department,…
Louis Auguste Sabatier and the Subjective Turn in Theological Education
The nineteenth century saw seismic shifts of emphasis and consciousness within the field of theology. Developments in other disciplines on the rise in academic authority, such as…
Roger and Me
Walking into the Reform Club in London’s ritzy Pall Mall, the aspirations of a 26-year-old American student had come true. Recently graduated from Yale but deciding against…
A Siberian Rebirth
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. At the end of Crime and…
More Than Money?
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. One of the more horrific scenes…
Motivations to Murder
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. Overhearing a young officer and a…
The False Promise of Money in “Crime and Punishment”
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. One of the fascinating questions Dostoevsky…
Dostoevsky on Descartes
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. Earlier in the semester we had…
Breadth versus Depth: Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. We are finishing our freshmen core…
A Genealogy of Christianity: Why I Teach Nietzsche at a Christian University
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. Christianity for Nietzsche was the greatest…
Questioners of the World, Unite!
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. Maybe the most influential text written…
Slavery as the Original Sin of America?
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. With religious arguments sanctioning slavery at…
The Reasons of Motivations: Teaching Kant to Freshmen
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. What should students make of Kant’s…
Beneath the Contract: On Hobbes, Locke, and The Social Contract
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. It is difficult for a person…
First Impressions and Ideas
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. This past week we read excerpts…