By Abram Van Engen
What does it mean to contemplate whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? It means to live and do them from…
Read More
By John Hendrix
For the last 10 years, I've drawn a side-project comic strip called The Holy Ghost. This little diversion has given me a way to ruminate on ideas using the fictional voices of a doubting little squirrel, a self-righteous badger and a blue ghost…
By David Peters
As an engineering professor, I have studied much that is praiseworthy. One of the most extraordinary is the swimming green alga, Chlamydomonas…
Read More
By George Stulac
I wonder sometimes what the Apostle Paul meant in Philippians 4:8 by the word “lovely.” I have used that word to describe the sight of my granddaughter’s face (you can see why), the sound of a White-throated Sparrow’s song, the taste of my wife’s apple pie…
Read More
By Abram Van Engen
Philippians 4:8: “whatever is admirable…”
Twenty years ago, Professor Dale Brown introduced me to “A Small, Good Thing,” a short story by Raymond Carver. I will tell you the story here, but it…
Read More
By Mark Valeri
In Philippians 4:8 Paul sets aside the Hebrew scriptures, his usual source, and reaches for the books (scrolls?) of pagan moral teaching to find the right words…
Read More
By Mark Leary
A recent article published in the academic journal Review of Corporate Finance Studies was titled “Have Instrumental Variables Brought Us Closer to the Truth?” While not exactly click-bait for those outside the field, the title does…
Read More
By S. Joshua Swamidass
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. --- Philippians 4:8
This verse embeds a paradox. Its advice would be easy to follow in a perfect world. But we live in a fallen world…
Read More
By Emily Somerville
What signifies excellence?
Years ago, I would have said a gold trophy on the shelf, a blue ribbon pinned to a project, or a green laurel wreath on a victor’s head.
Today, I am less sure.
By Abram Van Engen
My two-year-old son, Hendrik, has just recently reached the Age of Why. Any statement, at any time, can get the same response: “But why, Daddy?” Finish your dinner. Why? Put the blocks away. Why? Time for bed. Why? And every answer, of course, gets a why in response. You need to nourish your body; we need to clean the floor; you need your sleep—why, why, why? It is adorable and annoying all at once.
Read More