This speech was delivered during the 2025 Research Week Awards Ceremony (30 April 2025). Many thanks for the kind invitation from Jeremy McGinness, Associate Dean, Research, Instruction, and Collections. Further thanks is owed to Dr. John Eller whose three-volume biography of Ray Bradbury I mined for background information. In addition, I thank The Ray Bradbury
What to say and how to say it. Give me a minute to explain my approach to social media. Here are seven of my approaches to social media. (1) I will *never* apologize for communicating a biblical mindset. (2) I will seek to begin with Scriptural doctrine applied to life. (3) My starting point will
Do you eat salt with your friends? Give me a minute to explain. I titled my talk to a men’s group, “Eating Salt Together: How Men Become Friends.” I got the idea from Aristotle who said, “Friendship requires time and familiarity, men cannot know each other till they have ‘eaten salt together’ until each has
How can God’s Word benefit public health? Give me a minute to explain. The Bible is good for people. It seems that Harvard University might agree! The question is raised, “Is religion a determining factor of public health?” Yes, says Harvard Public Health. “Documentation suggests that weekly religious service attendance is longitudinally associated with lower
Dreading those potential disagreements over politics, culture, and other issues that might come up at the dinner table and other family events? Here are 10 Proverbial principles that will help you engage in lively conversation without losing your Christian witness. “All I wanted to do was argue.” So said a student enrolled in my public
I love Jesus. I love my country. I see no reason why one should be conditioned by the other. From time to time, I read articles from a brother or sister in The Faith which try to label what I accept as true as an “ism” (some call it “Christian Nationalism”). So, during this election
There are only two choices. Give me a minute to explain. “Humanly speaking,” “not necessarily,” and “it does not automatically follow” are phrases we use to admit our best plans, policies, and practices are ultimately outside our control. Our individual, limited viewpoint – we are all fallen, fallible, finite – leaves us with only two
This speech was delivered during the 2025 Research Week Awards Ceremony (30 April 2025). Many thanks for the kind invitation from Jeremy McGinness, Associate Dean, Research, Instruction, and Collections. Further thanks is owed to Dr. John Eller whose three-volume biography of Ray Bradbury I mined for background information. In addition, I thank The Ray Bradbury
What’s my job as a professor? Give me a minute to explain. My job, as a professor, is to hold a mirror up to myself and my students, asking each one of us to be honest about our beliefs. We may not agree with each other. But to appreciate others’ points of view, without necessarily
Are you a YouTube commercial, advertising your beliefs? Give me a minute to explain. Sports teams and race car drivers wear the names of advertisers on their uniforms. And I wonder what kind of advertisements are seen on us? How have we been influenced by groups, organizations, institutions, or communities? How do our views of
Before I open a book, this is what I do. Give me a minute to explain. Thomas Aquinas wrote “A Prayer Before Study” where he prayed, “Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech. May you guide the beginning of my work, direct its
Weather is constantly changing. But we don’t like change. Give Me a Minute to explain why. In her letters Flannery O’Connor stated, “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and change is painful” O’Connor’s ideas track with biblical truth. Grace is an undeserved, God-given gift, rescuing us from sin; but we like