Category Archives: Uncategorized

The D and R Conventions

Posted on July 30, 2016 by hessd

They are over now. At least for me. For the last two nights, I have watched a bunch of very capable Democrats giving really terrific speeches. If it were just for the pleasure of living in the world their words … Continue reading →

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Leaving home and coming home

Posted on July 26, 2016 by hessd

“Coming and going and going and coming, and always too soon,” sings Lili von Schtupp in her Wild West barroom show in Blazing Saddles. When I began to call the series of essays describing this move “Moving in Time,” part … Continue reading →

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Genre and Meaning

Posted on July 22, 2016 by hessd

I want to ask you to think along with me today on meaning and scripture. I want to say that explicitly at the beginning because the opening example will seem to be about something else entirely, especially, coming as it … Continue reading →

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A Failed Conversation at Starbucks

Posted on July 10, 2016 by hessd

I experienced one of the few failures of conversation I have ever had in our Starbucks group last week. I had a position I wanted to sell. It is position the group almost certainly accepts in general, but they didn’t … Continue reading →

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Arguing with Trump voters

Posted on July 5, 2016 by hessd

I’m not recommending it. I’m just thinking about how I would go about it. The argument from self-interest is the best there is in electoral politics. And although we celebrate elected representatives who can sacrifice their own good for the … Continue reading →

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How to be seen and heard

Posted on June 21, 2016 by hessd

Much to my surprise, I discover that I am not quite finished with the movie, The Intern. In my earlier post [“The Intern as a Theological Prop,” on March 11] I considered the whole plot and let my theological sensitivities … Continue reading →

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Generosity and the Discipline of the Market

Posted on June 12, 2016 by hessd

This is another celebration of a remarkable Starbucks discussion. That is why I chose such an academic-sounding title for it; all that formality sounds like a celebration to me.  It was the kind of discussion from which the participants leave … Continue reading →

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Authoritarianism III

Posted on May 28, 2016 by hessd

I set the table for myself this time. Here is how I ended the previous post—number two in this set of three. But by far my most vivid contact with these dilemmas has not come as a person, but as … Continue reading →

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Authoritarianism II

Posted on May 26, 2016 by hessd

Since this is the second of a proposed three-essay set, I am bound to a certain extent by the promises I made in the first essay. I suggested some divisions in using the word “authoritarian,” so that I could say … Continue reading →

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“It’s in the Book”

Posted on May 24, 2016 by hessd

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Matthew 7:6, KJV. As you can almost tell, even with the … Continue reading →

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