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Sibyl’s Leaves
One of my favorite authors is Michel de Montaigne, author of Essays. In Montaigne’s final essay, “Of Experience,” he traces his experience with the disease of kidney stones. He wrote about his anxiety and fears, his expectation of death, which became … Continue reading
Posted in books, European history, Michel de Montaigne
Tagged books, Montaigne, Poem
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The Shawl
The Shawl, by Cynthia Ozick, is a small book combining a brief short story and a short novella that are connected together by the central characters, an event in the past, and a shawl. This book has many themes combined … Continue reading
When is a Historian Judge and Jury?
Over a century ago, the world became intrigued by the theories of Sigmund Freud and his interpretation of humans as irrational, rather than rational, creatures. People wondered about the significance and consequences of irrationality in courts of law, legislatures, schools, … Continue reading
The Liberal Arts: The Continuing Foundation for Learning in Our Society by means of the Trivium and Quadrivium
The Liberal Arts are based in the historical trivium and quadrivium. The Trivium is Latin, literally “a place where three roads meet”. Quadrivium is Latin for where four roads meet. The Liberal Arts of today derive from the meeting of … Continue reading
The Small Liberal Arts College in Crisis: Is there a Solution?
I teach at a small parochial liberal arts college in Oklahoma. Like other such colleges, parochial and secular, this college, Bacone College, is continually in crisis: financial crisis, enrollment crisis, staffing crisis, management crisis. There are a host of reasons … Continue reading
All Things are Possible
Recent conflict and protests in America, about statues and monuments recalling troubling events in the past, seem to be dividing a country that clearly needs uniting. Those who focus on division rather than unity seem to think that all things … Continue reading
Posted in books, Christianity, God's Providence
Tagged books, Christ, god, Providence
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Historical Sites along the Maine Coast: Kittery to York
Kittery, Maine, situated on the northern shores of the Piscataqua River, was a home to seamen and fishermen. Most such men of the salt sea were not well known in their own time and forgotten today. An exception was Lieutenant … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, Christianity, God's Providence, Great Commission
Tagged Christ, Daniel Little, god, Great Commission, History of New England
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The Philosophy of Veganism
I have been vegan. Such a statement might immediately arouse suspicions: “Why would a person not eat fast food, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, steak, fish? Isn’t such food what a large part of the American economy is based on? How can … Continue reading
Posted in books, Christianity, General Essays, Great Commission
Tagged Great Commission, Love of God, Veganism, Vegetarianism
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Independence: Disorder in a Democracy
In today’s day, we are confronted with disorder, almost chaos and anarchy at times. How do we bring order out of a disorderly situation? The concluding years of the American Revolution in the 1780s provides us with an example. The … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, Christianity, God's Providence, Government
Tagged Biography, books, Constitution, god, history, Providence
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The Mysterious Mr. Lee
Almost 200 years ago, in 1819, a scientist from England, Thomas Nuttall, journeyed up the Arkansas to near this spot, the Three Forks, the confluence of the Arkansas with the Verdigris and Grand rivers. Nuttall was exploring what had been … Continue reading
The American Plutarch 