Welcome to my Blog
My Weekly Blog Post speaks out of my need to grapple with things that matter. It is also an expression of the joy of learning. My love for Holy Scriptures leads the way, but as well you will find poetry and story and history and the great art of the ages. In the words of Jesus, I’m asking this question these days: “What are you looking for?” In a world gone awry, and in personal lives challenged every day, indeed, what am I looking for? We’ll try to give some answers to that question and more along the way. I hope you will join me.
Latest Posts
One Final Note on Character, Part IV
One Christmas Eve a couple of years ago, as we began a joyous dinner in our home with our whole family, I opened our time with a blessing for our meal. I gave thanks for our family as we gathered together to celebrate the baby Jesus on this sacred evening in the Christian calendar. Read more...
On Character and Education Again, Part III
When I was a young faculty member some years ago we often engaged in some fairly intense discussion about the role of the university in the life of the student. Some of the old assumptions needed to be challenged, to be sure. "The Times They Are a-Changin,” the great Bob Dylan reminded us so eloquently during those years. Read more...
On Teaching Character, Part II
Last week in the blog I was reflecting on the profound discouragement we all feel as we witness, on an almost daily basis, eruptions of ugly scandalous behavior in our midst. … “Doesn’t it seem to be worse than it used to be?” “And why is it so hard to talk about these things without seeming inappropriately judgmental?” I’d like to think about these kinds of questions again. Read more...
Can We Actually Teach Character Anymore?
It’s Saturday morning, my time for catching up on things, for some reading and reflection. I’ve been on the road so much lately, I have not attended to the news as carefully as I would like. But the news this morning is depressing. There is no better word for it. Read more...
Can We Actually Choose the Stories by Which We Live?
I have written and spoken at length about a comment made on my campus some years ago by the late, great Jewish novelist Chaim Potok. Potok said that day that “we live in a world of colliding maps.” We all construct our own little maps and stories of reality... Read more»
My Top Five (Or 10) Book Lists
I have put together a list of My Top Five Books. I have also included a list of My Top 10 Books of Literature. Personal, eclectic, even eccentric as any such list must be these days, nevertheless, these are great books, books that have hugely influenced my life and my thinking about things. I hope you find them helpful. Read more»
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Suffering, Hope, and Haiti
Over the last few days, we have been assaulted with the horrifying images of bodies being dumped into trucks, images of people not only without shelter... Read more»
Five Traits of a Great Leader
I have been thinking and writing lately about leadership. I don’t usually write about this topic, in part because I think there is too much writing and perhaps too little of the actual doing of leadership. Read more»
The Hammer, the Train Set, and the BB Gun
Our vivacious, ever-so-verbal, 2-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Esmee, told Santa Claus the other day that she wanted a yo-yo and a hammer for Christmas. … Should Santa comply, I’m a little worried about what that hammer might do around the house. Read more»
It’s Not That Easy Being Green
Kermit the Frog once said so eloquently, “It's not that easy being green.” Sometimes you'd like to be something nicer, like red, or yellow or gold or something much more colorful like that.” Read more»
Video: Are God and Santa Claus Neighbors?
Watch President Eaton's new video on the biblical imagination and God's "grand, sweeping story."
Is This the Season to Be Worried?
I am worried. I am worried that people are worried. I am worried that people seem to have lost a sense of optimism. I know that can seem such a sweeping statement ...
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Video: Where Joy, Mystery, and Beauty Meet
President Eaton braves a Seattle rain in his newest video that explores where joy, mystery, and beauty meet.
Ashton Kutcher’s Got Four Million Followers
A few of my students have given me a bad time for ragging on texting. They want me to lighten up about texting. They want me to join the real world of new writing. And I am reluctant. Read more»
Is There Anyone Anymore Who Will Tell Us How to Write Well?
William Strunk? E.B. White? The Elements Of Style? Does anyone remember those names? Does anyone anymore recognize this little book as one of the shaping forces of good writing for the last 50 years? Read more»
People of Faith and the Presumption of Pluralism
I’ve been delighted by the amount and quality of the responses to these blog posts. Thank you for challenging me, for opening up my blind spots, for filling in the vacant spaces in the things I am trying to think through too. Read more»
What Does It Mean to Separate Faith and Culture?
When John G. Roberts was nominated to become the Chief Justice of the United States, politicians and major media outlets were concerned because he was a devout Catholic. Why should they be? Read more»
Found at Starbucks: A Latte and a Big Idea
Watch President Eaton's newest video about his conversation with a Starbucks barista on the topic of text messaging. Are we in danger of losing our ability to read and to write sophisticated text? Read more»
Lincoln Spoke for Two Minutes and Changed the World
Lincoln believed that good language could not only capture ideas, but it could communicate, motivate, clarify, encourage. Good language could move the nation toward understanding its own identity. Read more»
Deep Nerves on Health Care
Could core themes for American democracy, as described in the 1800s by Alexis de Tocqueville, help explain at least some of the heated debate about health care? Read more»