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Category Archives: General Essays
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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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
The Return to McCarthyism
Almost seventy years ago, an obscure senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, used fear as a means to initiate widespread panic and intimidate the innocent. Fear can do this to people. Fear makes the rational become irrational, the innocent become guilty, … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Demagoguery, McCarthyism
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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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Animals and Time
Do animals have an experience of time similar to humans? I believe so. I propose that each life, whether human or animal, experiences time and the passage of time, hence history, individually, uniquely. It is difficult for a human to … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, General Essays, God's Providence
Tagged Animals, Dogs, god, Providence, Time
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Reflections on Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
I participate as a scholar through the Oklahoma Humanities Council Let’s Talk About It Oklahoma series. Last night I addressed an audience in Broken Arrow about John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The gist of my comments follow: At his … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, General Essays
Tagged books, Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
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In Defense of Great Books
Recently Yale University students asked their professors to stop assigning readings from English poets, as there is a preponderance of White male poets, and the White voice has been dominant for too long. I teach at a college where the … Continue reading
Posted in books, General Essays
Tagged books, Great Books, Liberal Arts, Quadrivium, Trivium
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The American Plutarch 