No Cow in Moscow

How does one pronounce the name of our lovely little town? We have grown accustomed to telling people that there is “no cow in Moscow.” It is moss koh, not mos cowww. But there may be additional significance beyond the absence of that special bovine je ne sais quoi in our name. Or, if not …

The Cosmos Containing the Orchard

When it come to moral reasoning, the premises must encompass and contain the entire moral world. We are creatures, which means that our starting point must be bounded and finite, with a consistent set of moral assumptions embedded. “The ultimate ethical injunctions have always been premises, never conclusions. Kant was perfectly right on that point …

Feminism in Denial

A few days ago, I tweeted this: “We have really gotten messed up by our servant-leaders, b/c we think we are to lead by serving instead of serving by leading.” Some consternation ensued, with some people liking this fine, sending it on down the twitter-road, with others thinking that it explained everything about me that …

On Planting Black Damnation

The judgments of God are organic. That is, they do not operate in a mechanical way, as though dispensed from a vending machine. But they do operate in predictable ways, ways that we should be able to anticipate. We understand seedtime and harvest, and so we should also be aware that it is not possible …