Posts by D C

There is a moment in the life of the prophet Jeremiah that would make a great scene in a movie. Picture an assembly of royal officials along with a king listening to a message that Jeremiah claimed was sent from God. The message was a warning of disaster coming unless the people changed their sinful…

In an article I recently read, Michael Jordan makes an observation about basketball in the modern era that caught my attention. Despite his own proficiency, Jordan suggested that the three-point shot has had a negative effect on the game. People my age can remember basketball before the three-point shot was created. When all shots counted…

During the Cold War, we referred to Eastern European nations under Moscow’s control as the Soviet Bloc. The term “bloc” suggests frozenness—a perfect description of life in those sad countries. Those countries weren’t part of the bloc by choice; they were controlled and dominated by the Kremlin. I will never forget my own brief encounter…

It seems fitting that two men whom I admire passed away so close together last week. One was one hundred years old; the other was just short of his ninety-fifth birthday. It wasn’t their age that made them special—it was the way they lived. A few decades ago, a popular term in leadership studies was…

The winter holidays including New Year celebrations are days steeped in traditions, traditions that hold together memories of the past and hopes for the future. It isn’t really Christmas for my wife until she makes the traditional Swedish Christmas cookies that her grandmothers and their grandmothers made. Part of my wife’s joy is anticipating the…

Whether you pray often or not at all, your first response to the question, “Does Everyone Pray?” might be “no.” If we think of prayer as thinking or saying certain words to a Divine Being, I would agree that not everyone offers that kind of prayer. But there are two dimensions to prayer, with our…

Americans like their religious leaders to be non-controversial and non-confrontational. When they upset us, we feel a foul has been committed, a kind of “roughing the believer” infraction. This is especially true in sacred holiday seasons, when we’d rather see children dressed as shepherds and singing about peace on earth than hear our religious leaders…

As a professor of religious studies, I had several options about how I would present the religious diversity of our world. I could take the stance that I was raised in, which stated that only my religion held the truth and people of other religions needed to change. If I took this approach, I would…

I’ve recently been thinking about truth. This focus on truth has happened seemingly by chance, but one of the things I’ve learned over my seventy-odd years is to note when life seems to be saying “Pay attention.” It was a clue to a crossword puzzle that started my recent pondering of truth. Until I was…

Our country has been through another election cycle, and once again campaigning has widened the gulf separating us. We’ve endured months of vitriol from both sides, which leaves us asking, “Where do we go from here?” I believe one answer to that question lies outside of politics. Each side has said everything it can to…