Articles

  • The most trusted man in America

    The most trusted man in America

    Photo credit: Evan Agostini, AP I’m watching the television tributes to the original news anchorman, Walter Cronkite. Growing up, the “CBS Evening News with Walter…

  • Faith and Creative Writing

    That’s the title of a summer workshop I will be leading later this month (July 27-29) at Concordia Seminary. It’s a topic I’ve studied, talked,…

  • Call no man happy until he is dead.

    Call no man happy until he is dead.

    Simon Critchley, in action Philosopher Simon Critchley writes a thought-provoking reflection on happiness on the”Happy Days” blog on nytimes.com . The ancient Greek proverb above…

  • My first Father’s Day as a father

    My first Father’s Day as a father

    Giotto’s “Saint Francis preaching to the birds” This is my very first Father’s Day as both a son and a father. Other than the blazing…

  • Budding Birder

    Budding Birder

    How about that! I actually saw a cerulean warbler. But it wouldn’t have happened without some help. At Lost Valley Trail in Weldon Spring, MO,…

  • Hopeful Discoveries

    Hopeful Discoveries

    A few weeks ago I reviewed a fascinating book by Scott Weidensaul about the migration of birds in the western hemisphere. Here in St.

  • Lutherans and Earth Day

    Lutherans and Earth Day

    Last year in a little article, “Can Lutherans Observe Earth Day?” I asked if being theologically conservative required us to be politically conservative on social…

  • Animal “rights?”

    Animal “rights?”

    My colleague, Tim Saleska, put me on to an op-ed in the New York Times regarding a ballot initiative that was passed by Californians to…

  • The Vanguard of the New Creation

    The Vanguard of the New Creation

    Sometimes I wonder if we conservative Christians have become what might be called second and third article Christians (that is we care only about the…