In one way or another, Santa Claus and “Jingle Bells” aside, most of us are on a figurative journey to Bethlehem these days. It’s a pilgrimage that’s old, and yet ever new, one we share in ancient lore with the players in the familiar story—Mary and Joseph, shepherds, wise men—and with a great company across all…

For most of my career I have grappled,publicly and privately, with the issues of liberal education—and written close to a dozen papers/presentations on the subject—while serving two institutions that celebrate in their mission statements a commitment to the core values of the liberal arts.  Having said that, I wouldn’t pass myself off as an expert. Far…

Over the years I’ve become aware that at a certain stage of life for most of us, some ideas and controlling metaphors begin to “settle in,” and one finds them reappearing in varying incarnations—the same forms in different dress, the same themes with different melodies. One of those themes that keeps popping up in my…