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Category Archives: General Essays
Being a Christian Scholar in a Secular Academic World
The culture wars of our times have been centered in universities since the emergence of the Counter Culture in the 1960s. University scholars have often taken the lead in progressive stances on ethical, cultural, and religious issues. For many years … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, General Essays
Tagged academe, Christianity, faith, god, philosophy, Religion, scholarship, secularism
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The Sound of Freedom
My community allows unrestricted fireworks of any type on July 3 and 4 until 11:00 p.m. Many people complain but those who enjoy shooting them off and making noise late at night argue that it is the “sound of freedom,” … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays
Tagged American Revolution, sound-of-freedom, War
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What Higher Education Administrators do not Understand about Budget Cuts and Furloughs
The poet Walt Whitman, visiting army hospitals along the Potomac River in 1862, came upon “a heap of amputated feet, legs, arms, hands, &c., a full load for a one-horse cart,” hospital waste of soldiers of the Army of the … Continue reading
Democracy
The idea of democracy, like the idea of capitalism, promises much, though the reality always falls short. The promise is of wide participation in government, free and open competition among diverse groups, self-determination. Democracy offers the vision of individuals … Continue reading
Posted in European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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From Modernization to Globalization
Modernization is a major social scientific theory that emerged in the 1950s to explain different levels of development in the world’s societies. Although the roots of modernization theory developed in the response of nineteenth-century American and European intellectuals to industrialization, … Continue reading
Liberalism
Liberalism refers to a system of thought that focuses on the good of the whole of society as opposed to its neglect in the service of the restricted few. Liberalism began at a time of rejection of traditional feudal … Continue reading
Posted in American History, European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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Laissez Faire
Laissez-Faire, a French phrase that means literally “let do” meaning “let a person alone,” was applied to economics by English and French thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The phrase generally applies to the same conditions in modern as … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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Conservatism
Conservatism is a system of thought that focuses upon upholding traditional values, social structure, government, and economic systems. Conservatives hold specific views about the role of government in the economy and the value of democracy. Conservatives have sometimes been suspicious … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Christianity, European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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The American Southern Hill Country Personality
The Southern hill country personality type is a reticence towards others, even a reticence toward life, a suspicion about others, really a suspicion about everything, being afraid to commit, being afraid to take action, waiting, accepting—accepting not so much God, … Continue reading
Grunter’s Plea: The Ancient Philosophy of Vegetarianism
One of the more fascinating tales of Homer in the Odyssey is that of the bewitching of Odysseus’s men by the witch Circe. Odysseus and his men have arrived at an unknown wooded island. Odysseus sends a detachment of men … Continue reading
Posted in European history, General Essays, Natural History
Tagged Homer, Plutarch, Vegetarianism
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The American Plutarch 