It’s rare for me to walk among the crepe myrtles at Auburn University and not remember that the Christian life is high adventure, filled with unexpected twists and turns crafted by the God who loves us. In my case, the fork in the road was a brush with academic suicide. During my graduate studies in […]
For most of my life, I’ve been fighting for a seat at the table. One day I’d sit with the top English Literature scholars in my field; I would earn the Ph.D., secure a tenure-track job, earn tenure, publish prolifically, and then finally have my place at the table I’ve been waiting for all my […]
It is a challenge to start conversations about faith with non-believers. It seems we often have so little in common. How do we begin to talk about Jesus with colleagues and students who differ from us in almost all categories–religiously, politically, socially, or morally? What if they are simply agnostic or just plain apathetic about […]
When I first began my career as a professor, I participated in a seminar sponsored by what is now called Faculty Commons. This seminar dealt with freedom of speech and the legal and ethical bounds of faith statements by faculty members in the academy. From that next semester until now—a period of over twenty-five years—I […]
