This past year I read around the same number of books that I read the year prior. I mention this only because it indicative of the way that the pandemic has impacted my time and ability to focus. These last two years I have read far less than at almost any other point in my life. I am hoping that will shift this year. I have a sabbatical planned for June through August and the pandemic has...
In January, I try to make two blog posts: one compiling the list of books I read over the previous year and the other listing my most popular blog posts. I usually start with the list of most popular blog posts. Here it is: Most Read Blog Posts of 2021 A Prayer for DemocracyThe Senate Should Expel Senators Cruz and HawleyJoe Manchin Might be a Senator from West Virginia but He’s Paid for by...
I am excited to announce that both the Hibbert Trust and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Joseph Gittler Fund for Religion and Ethics will be partially funding the research for my forthcoming book (w/ Brill) “Unitarian Universalist Theologies” (publication anticipated in spring 2023).
This past year was not a good year for reading. While a lot of people experienced as the pandemic as a time that allowed them to do more reading than usual it had the opposite impact for me. Being a single parent meant that whenever I finished with my own work I had to turn my attention to getting my son focused on completing his school work. Between my job, my scholarly writing, housework, and...
At the start of many years, as a kind of house keeping, I make two blog posts. I compile a list of the most read blog posts of the last year and I share the list of books that I read in the previous year. The chaos of recent events and the demands of my schedule during this time of pandemic have put me a little behind with both of these posts. So, today, I am sharing the most read blog posts and...
Friends, you are no doubt horrified by the events unfolding in Washington, DC. What has happened today can only be described as an attempted coup. Constitutional democracy is under threat. Treasonous white supremacists, fascists, and neo-Confederates are trying to destroy the electoral order of the United States. It is a dangerous moment. In these dangerous times, I invite you into the spirit...
The Danish publication KATALOG — Journal of Photography and Video just published an article that I wrote with my father on Leonard Freed’s photographs of the election that brought Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power. Copies of the issue can be ordered by emailing shop@katalog-journal.com and run 19 euros plus VAT. The issue also features an extended piece on...
Next Monday, November 16th, at 6:30 p.m. Central, I will be giving an online lecture at Rice University on “Varieties of Populism in the United States.”
Kamala Harris’s selection as the Democratic Party’s Vice Presidential candidate is historic. She is the first woman of color to be nominated for the position. In today’s New York Times, the columnist Frank Bruni captured much of the excitement about Harris claiming, “She represents an America that’s evolving, fitfully, toward equal opportunity and equal justice.” In the same column, Bruni also...
Dear Members and Friends of First Church: It is with sadness that I announce that we will not be holding in-person services at neither our Museum District nor Thoreau campuses. The Unitarian Universalist Association has asked that all congregations suspend gatherings of more than 25 people — including worship and religious education — effective immediately. The rapid spread of the...