I did not expect David Foster Wallace to unsettle my dinner plate. I have read enough of him to know he rarely leaves the reader unchanged, but Consider the Lobster struck me in a way I did not anticipate. It…
Mohler worries about dignity of presidency — from Clinton era
In what might be considered a mild rebuke of President Donald Trump’s posting of a racist video last week, Al Mohler spins out 1,500 words before he mentions the president by name. And then he says Bill Clinton was worse….
Reparations should begin with recognition of human dignity, Delbanco says in 50th annual Jefferson Lecture
Reparations for America’s history of slavery must begin with recognition of human dignity, according to Andrew Delbanco, Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University. Delbanco delivered this year’s Jefferson Lecture sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities,…
How a Muslim beggar taught me about dignity
Perhaps I had grown too accustomed to seeing people dig through the garbage containers at the edge of the street in my residential neighborhood in Semarang, Indonesia. Then, one day I prepared a sermon for the small English-language congregation I…
How to bring dignity to firing church staff
Firing staff is never a pleasant experience. No one (except maybe Donald Trump on television) looks forward to telling a person that they now have to find another job. Firing people in an organization or church is often met with…