Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Better World

Posted on November 4, 2017 by hessd

Jean Paul Sartre published Being and Nothingness in 1943. I was five years old, so I missed most of the early discussions, but as I came to understand it, Sartre argues that life has no intrinsic meaning at all and … Continue reading →

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A Marriage Covenant

Posted on November 1, 2017 by hessd

We call it a “marriage covenant” without thinking much about it. A covenant is a “coming together,” certainly; every way of parsing the word must note com = “together” and venire = “to come.” But we “come together” in so … Continue reading →

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Is “the good doctor” candid?

Posted on October 14, 2017 by hessd

You can ask questions so that they are easy or so that they are hard. This one seems hard to me. [1] The doctor—the titular doctor in the new ABC series, The Good Doctor—is a very young man. Also autistic. … Continue reading →

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What to say to the climate change deniers of Texas and Florida

Posted on September 14, 2017 by hessd

This is the prime moment for environmentalists who have been screaming their heads off about the urgency of the need to change our practices and begin to deal seriously with the global warming catastrophe. This is the time when they—“we” … Continue reading →

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Inclusio

Posted on June 30, 2017 by hessd

I have, in mind for today a tactic to help me watch movies. I ran into it in biblical studies, where it is called “inclusio.” [1] I’m going to spend a little time on what this technique is, but let’s … Continue reading →

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The Risk-averse servant

Posted on May 18, 2017 by hessd

This story, recorded by both Matthew and Luke, has been given a lot of different interpretations. I’ve been working/playing with it recently and I have three observations I would like to make. Before I get into the observation-making business, let … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Paying Attention, Theology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

North Carolina. First and Last in Flight

Posted on April 11, 2017 by hessd

I was an early fan of the saying, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” When I was young, my mother thought that I mostly wasted mine and I wouldn’t want to argue that she was wrong. On the … Continue reading →

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I saw it with my own eyes

Posted on April 5, 2017 by hessd

April 4, 2017 I didn’t hit any serious theory about how we see things until I hit grad school. Then we paid a great deal of attention to Gestaltists—illustrations, explanations, and most fun of all, experiments. I liked it all, … Continue reading →

Posted in Living My Life, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Last Word

Posted on March 29, 2017 by hessd

I am married to a librarian and every now and then she dips into whatever bag of tricks librarians have and produces just the right observation. That happened last weekend and I want to tell you about it. Telling you … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Living My Life, Movies, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Resilience and its precursors

Posted on March 6, 2017 by hessd

So far as I have heard, everyone likes “resilience.” Especially in March. Only the good basketball teams wind up in their conference finals, and half of those good teams lose that game. And then they go on to play in … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Living My Life, Love and Marriage, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments