small and miscellaneous writings

  • These aphorisms are the kinds of things which spring to my mind now and then. As far as I know they are all original, but one can never tell just how the mind works. If you read through them and recognize any one of them to be amazingly close to some famous quote, please let me know and I will quickly remove it from these pages.
  • A few excerpts from my annual holiday thoughts.
  • Not exactly a FAQ, but a few questions I've been asked, and my opinions in response.
  • On the passing of Jim Morrow.
  • A personal tribute to Loren Eiseley.
  • (in work) Quick thoughts on a few selected topics.
  • (in work) A brief, non-exhaustive explanation of my use of common religious terms can be found in this glossary.

books

  • in our poverty (the book) is a completed manuscript which is approximately 42,000 words in length. It is creative nonfiction consisting of loosely related short essays. It generally covers a path which begins with the idea of seeking God through the Christian tradition when religion has come to fail us, and ends with the idea of reconciliation with God being found in his very being, which is love. I am currently trying to figure out how to write a proposal and start sending it off to prospective publishers. Unless I realize I need an agent. Or life never lets me get any further. Time will tell.
  • in our suffering is approximately 70,000 words of lecture materials and notes from my class on "Job, Judas, Jesus" which I am reworking into book form. Its material covers two of what I consider to be three of Christianity's most pressing contemporary issues; namely the problem of human suffering and the problem of evil. (Granted, these have always been pressing issues, and remain so today, but I believe I put them into a somewhat unique perspective.) It was in developing these materials that I was first able to put into words for myself why much of Christian religion is actually part of the cause of suffering and the problem of evil. Although my work on In Our Poverty predates In Our Suffering, a lot of the latter found its way into the former's final form. In Our Poverty is essentially an introduction to In Our Suffering.
  • in our loving is in the early planning stages, which means that except for a few notes on computer it exists only in my head. It is intended to address the third problem mentioned above, which is the lack of understanding most of us suffer in regard to issues of gender and sexuality; both in the more traditional (e.g., 1950's America) and more contemporary (i.e., 2000 America) senses. This book must come after the other two, because we will never solve this third problem until we come to understand the problems posed and solutions offered in the other two books. Please do not misunderstand the last statement. I am not saying those two books will solve the problem; only that the issues they discuss will have to be understood before this last issue can be successfully addressed. (As I point out elsewhere in my writings, I only write pointers to absolutes, and mine are by no means the only pointers to those absolutes.)
  • the rythym of life I cannot conceive of living without writing. But, I love my children with a passion far beyond what I feel for writing, and there is no earthly thing more important than my children growing up spiritually, psychologically, and physically healthy. If they grow up without knowing that they are loved, and marvelous, and valuable beyond price and human ambition, then I have failed in what God has given me to accomplish here and now. In the midst of writing In Our Poverty and teaching Job, Judas, Jesus, I realized that the first serious book I considered "finished" should be a book to my family. Out of this realization, I wrote The Rhythm of Life, approximately 28,000 words of week-to-week thoughts born of my love and gratitude for the gifts in my life.

lectures, etc.

academics