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In the Bleak Midwinter

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Today at 4:21 AM, earth’s north pole was tilted furthest away from the sun during its annual trek through space. For thousands of years people have been marking the winter solstice, noting (in the northern hemisphere) when the place of the sunrise and sunset reached its point furthest south before moving back toward the north and its place at the spring equinox. It was a time when people looked at the sky and (ironically in our scientific age) knew the motions of the heavens much better than we do. Unlike those living centuries ago, we keep our time in our pocket or on our wrists. The solstice was significant because it was a visible marker of being in the depths of winter but also a reminder that, even when all is darkest and coldest, spring is on the way. I live in Florida now, so this connection to the seasons is less pressing than it was when I lived in central Kansas or western Michigan. For people who did not have central heat or electricity, warmth and light were at a premium at...
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2024 Dilemma

 Last September I wrote a blog in which I reflected on the potential negative effects of hypothetical moral dilemmas on ethical decision-making. I was at that time in the beginning stages of teaching a college course on the history of the Holocaust. As I did, this idea was processing in the back of my mind and surfaced in two quite different modalities. During the class we reflected on the lives of those who intervened or spoke out on behalf of Jews. We considered what it was about these people – their backgrounds, their personalities, their thinking – that enabled them to make that life-giving decision. And we discussed the question of why it is that more people did not do the same. One of the reasons that students often stated, echoed by some of the sources that we read, was that people believed that there were two and only two potential outcomes that were linked to the decision that they made about the Jews. First, they could take a step to save others, perhaps through harbor...
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The Worth of a Dilemma

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  I listened to a podcast today on “Radiolab” ( https://radiolab.org/podcast/driverless-dilemma-0923 ) that dealt with research on the so-called “trolley problem.” Briefly, it is an ethical dilemma in which someone sees a trolley in the distance bearing down on a group of five people. If they throw a switch at this minute, they can save the five people, but there is one person on the part of the track to which the train will switch who will die if you do it. Do you hit the switch? The podcast considered brain research that has been done on what parts of the brain activate during this problem and what parts activate when asked the same problem but one is required to push someone onto the tracks. The show then applied this to questions about AI in driverless vehicles. The whole thing just didn’t sit quite right with me. I got to thinking about it and realized that what I didn’t like was the whole idea of creating an ethical dilemma. At the heart of a dilemma is that you have to ch...
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The Worth of an Instrument

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  I suppose that a lot of people who know me would describe me as a rational person. Some who are mere acquaintances might even perceive me as relatively unemotional. I value thinking carefully and deeply about life and situations. Whether by nature, by practice, or by both, I tend to be highly analytical and this means that I also surely err on the side of calculation and caution. I’m sure it’s been maddening to more than one person or significant other. Lately, though, I have been watching some epic and dramatic films – specifically the Harry Potter movies. In them, at key moments, the soundtrack rises, often with the distinct sound of French horns soaring with the building tension and into resolution. And as I have allowed myself to be absorbed in these sequences, I have consistently been moved nearly to tears. In one sense it is the music and the connected film that does this. But it is also something more. I spent the years of my adolescence learning to play French horn and p...
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Happy Birthday, Old Friend

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  Today is the 400th birthday of Blaise Pascal. I could go on and on about the different ways that Pascal has helped me to think about the world that have made a significant difference to me. For anyone who knew me during the years from 1999-2008 when i was actively researching Pascal for my master's thesis and dissertation i am sorry for the many times that i said something in conversation like, "Pascal said something about this . . . " But i won't apologize for trying to give people a reason to read something that he wrote. If you have never taken the time to read the Pensées ("Thoughts"), put them in your digital library (you can probably find them for free) or buy a second-hand copy to read through at times when you have a moment to be reflective and thoughtful. The Pensées is essentially a set of snippets and sections of writing reflecting on human nature, culture, God, Scripture, and many other topics. Most famously he fashioned an argument for givin...
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Boromir and the Ring

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In recent weeks I had the privilege of spending the evening with my dad and talking until well past when we both knew we should be going to sleep. It was like a moment was held out to me to hear and to be heard, to be challenged and to find voice for what is often held silent. I hope that I will always take hold of those opportunities. I did not fully realize that the conversation was still so present with me, until tonight, when I came nearly to the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. I have been reading Tolkien’s book to my teenage daughters for the few minutes just before they turn off their lights. It has taken the better part of a year. Today we came to the tragic fall of Boromir. At some point in my late-night conversation with Dad, he and i were reflecting on the tendency of Christians to desire control in our world, to gain political influence in order to usher in what is good. Dad remarked, “That is, of course, the whole point of the Ring of Power in Lord of the Rings.” The c...
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How Silently

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I have reflected on favorite Christmas songs over the past weeks, but I think my favorite remains “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The part of the song that means the most to me is this verse: “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in.” Jesus’s birth was unnoticed and uncelebrated when it happens. In the same way, most of our profound meetings with God, I think, happen in the mundane moments. Jesus met people along the dusty roads and in the gnawing hunger of scraping out an existence. The peace that he brings comes often unseen and so I long to be ready for him, to be seeking him. I love the idea of a silent, quiet moment, but perhaps for so many of us the dear Christ must enter in while we are driving kids to school and activities, while we are carrying out the tasks of our work, when w...
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