News & Articles
Who Can Predict the Future?
Who can predict the future? That’s kind of a trick question, because anyone can predict the future. The real question is “Who can predict the future accurately?” We might think that predicting the future accurately is the task of religious mystics or seers. But there are others who are accurately predicting the future, and those…
Vladimir Putin is Smiling
Vladimir Putin is smiling, and that isn’t good news. What Putin is smiling about is a recent development in our country during this election season. As he has hoped, both political parties—Democrat and Republican—have factions within them that question the level of support for Ukraine. One of the lessons we learned from the pandemic is…
A Leaf Falls
When we moved to central Indiana forty-four years ago, one of my wife’s cousins, a graduate of Indiana University, told us that we’d love the long fall season in our new home. My wife’s cousin was certainly right. Just when it seems that autumn colors are at their peak, the colors become even more vibrant. …
Glaciers
One of the most familiar Zen koans, or puzzles, is the question “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” In an unexpected way, science has discovered an answer to the question. And the scientific answer to the ancient koan is “yes, a…
Homecomings
Coming home. Homecoming. This is a tradition centuries old and even older for species such as birds who migrate thousands of miles to return to nesting sites. I was thinking about the attraction of human homecomings last weekend when I attended Franklin College’s annual fall celebration by the same name–Homecoming. A past student of mine…
The Beauty of a Slow Read
There are some books that can be read quickly. There are other books that should come with a note stamped on the cover: “Best read slowly.” One of the books that deserve a slow read is When the Music Stopped: Willy Rosen’s Holocaust, a work by a friend and colleague, Dr. Casey Hayes. Is the…