May Your Hypocrisy Increase Tenfold Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) Not long ago, I was accused of being a hypocrite. The charge was both accurate and delightful. The charge was accurate because I was failing to live consistently with something I said …
What it Means to Take Ourselves Seriously
What it Means to Take Ourselves Seriously Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) The problem with having political or social power is that it often leads a person to take himself seriously. And of all the pathetic creatures on this earth, none are …
What Matters
What Matters Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) Social media has carved the eight minutes and forty-six seconds leading to the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd into an inescapable national monument. Conversations and exchanges of words that do not fit that definition …
Arguing: Its Meaning and Glory
Arguing: Its Meaning and Glory Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) I realize it is obvious, but we increasingly find ourselves in difficult days (like fish dropped into molasses) where the most obvious things (if we stay here, we will die) need to …
A Confused and Convicted Vicar
A Confused and Convicted Vicar Tom Carmody, Ph.D., Professor of Communication Studies, Vanguard University Five years ago, my wife and I took our first trip to England. As a newly ordained Anglican transitional deacon I was especially excited to visit the historic “Mother Church” of my denominational tribe. We took the train down from London and arrived in the late …
Zombie Jesus, Nazi Christians, Jacques Derrida, and Morality: Some Easter Reflections
Zombie Jesus, Nazi Christians, Jacques Derrida, and Morality: Some Easter Reflections (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento In my church, Easter is a season celebrating the bodily resurrection of Jesus and it lasts fifty days. On the internet, Easter is a season of …
Christians: Sending out an S.O.S – The Case of Jim Bakker
Christians: Sending out an S.O.S Brandon Knight, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Communication William Carey University In the earliest days of quarantine, I found myself scouring media and listening to medical experts, hoping to discover what would be an answer to the elusive question of our odd circumstance. Or, if I am being honest, I was looking for an emotional cure-all—something …
Better Watch Out! Santa Claus is Coming to Punch you in the Face
Better Watch Out! Santa Claus is Coming to Punch you in the Face* Paul A. Creasman, Ph.D., Professor of Communication, Arizona Christian University “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly.” (Proverbs 14:29) In 325 A.D., bishops of the early Christian Church gathered to settle several pressing theological issues. The gathering—the Council of Nicaea—included were …
Hope Does Not Disappoint. . . ?
Hope Does Not Disappoint? (from the regular Column: “Meaningful-Faith: Words, the Word, and a Life of Substance”) Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric, California State University, Sacramento Hope does not disappoint—except, most of the time. We hope that our team doesn’t lose; that the grocery store hasn’t run out of milk and bread; that our politicians don’t lie to us; …
Faith, Sovereignty, and Critical Thinking
Faith, Sovereignty and Critical Thinking Guest Columnist Richard K. Olsen, Chair, Dept. of Communication Studies University of North Carolina Wilmington To many of my friends on FB and colleagues and co-workers at my school, Christianity has never looked worse. At a time of crisis, people of faith are often the voice of calm, of perspective, of comfort. Leading through examples …
