We are unavoidably moral beings. Perhaps from a Christian view, Western culture today appears to cast off morality or celebrate immorality, and in some cases that might be true. However, conversations with my non-Christian friends, especially as we turn to spiritual or social matters, become deeply moral. It is not that the secular person celebrates...
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The entire collection of 150 Psalms has a single, profound message toward which every psalm is ultimately oriented. This message is prominent in a series of Enthronement Psalms at the beginning of Book IV of the Psalter. The proclamation, “The LORD reigns” is central to this group between Psalms 93 and 99, but we encounter...
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The end of the school year is almost upon us. And every student knows what that brings… exam season. Think of all the different exams we take in our lives. High schoolers take AP Exams, college students take finals, and plenty of professions require you to take some sort of board exam — health care,...
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My favorite recording of my favorite Louis Armstrong tune, “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” features the great trumpeter Byron Stripling and his friends. They bring that great jazz masterpiece[i] to life in ways that would make Louis smile that great big grin of his. As jazz performances frequently go, this one begins with the entire ensemble...
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I love Lucy! Except he didn’t— and that is the great grief at the heart of the new film, “Being the Ricardos.” Having grown up with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, watching them, their family and friends on television as a boy, it is a story we assume we know pretty well. But like...
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“At crucial moments of choice, most of the business of choosing is already over.” There are some truths that are true across time, perennially true. Year after year, generation after generation, century after century, civilization after civilization. In a sentence, the Oxford moral philosopher Iris Murdoch captured the heart of our humanness. We see out...
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