In the iconic painting “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques Louis David, the philosopher sits on his bed, lecturing his followers in his final minutes on the immortality of the soul, his finger raised toward heaven to indicate the subject of his discussion.[1] At the suggestion of the poet André Chénier, David painted Socrates such […]
Letter From The Editor, Issue XI
Dear Reader, “What’s your major? And what exactly do you want to do with that?” Those are two of the most common, and perhaps also the most daunting, questions asked on our campus. Our campus culture assigns honor to those people who pursue impressive work – that can be due to the prestige of the […]
Busyness: Where Thoreau and the Bible Meet
American society extols the virtues of being busy. Busyness has now become a status symbol, to the extent that people grant higher status to those who use items such as bluetooth headsets (linked to multitasking) instead of headphones (associated with leisure).1 Whereas certain cultures and historical eras valued leisure time as a signal of wealth […]
What We Can Learn from Christian Responses to Past Outbreaks
The word “unprecedented” has been thrown around so frequently that it is easy to think the world has never experienced disease before. However, historical outbreaks and the response of contemporary church leaders provide a remarkable precedent for us to follow. From third century plagues of the Roman Empire to the recent Ebola outbreak, spiritual leaders […]
Gratitude in the Face of Suffering
The outbreak of the coronavirus is likely the most life-altering event most of us can remember. We are generally too young to remember 9/11, and the 2008 financial crisis did not affect daily life to this extreme. It has single-handedly brought the seemingly imperturbable flow of daily life to a grinding halt. Such an event […]