It is just about time for my yearly lesson in humility, and I am beginning to get nervous. Each academic year, at some point, I am forced to confront either my own humanity, or that of one of my ...

St. Augustine wrote that there were two kinds of love in the world: amor sui ad contemptum Dei et amor Dei ad contemptum sui — “love of self to the contempt of God and love of God to the contempt of ...

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“The chances are good you won’t last here your entire life.” These words were the first ones spoken to us eight novices by the archabbot on our first day inside the cloister. “And even if you do make ...

For at least 170 years, modern scholars of psychology have recognized humanity’s capacity to prove to themselves that their opinions are correct, as Charles Mackay wrote in 1852: “When men wish to ...

A few weeks ago, I realized we were overdue for our biannual clothes haul to the launderette. So my middle girl and I packed up about 10 loads and headed out. With a family vacation just around the ...

Now that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has some time on his hands, I’d like to book him as a trainer for public figures. He’s got a message folks from all walks of life could use: Be humble ...

Last weekend, I visited Nashville to serve on a panel for the Southern Festival of Books. I appeared with Brandon Byrd, a history professor at Vanderbilt University, and the Northeastern University ...

It's a religious rite that's one of the most intimate and symbolic acts of the Christian faith: the practice of foot-washing, undertaken by many denominations surrounding the observance of Holy ...