Today, on his 200th birthday, Charles Dickens is a writer for our times. Dickens is the rare artist appreciated both in his own day and by succeeding generations. Art that can be explained away by its component parts is not likely to be great art; the greatness of Dickens’ art,…  [more]

One of the first Holocaust novels I read was Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars, which tells the story of 10-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her family as they rescue Jews from Nazi forces in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was too young to grasp World War II’s immensity - the international impact, the…  [more]

Images are powerful. More than “holding a thousand words,” as the adage goes, images carry a power and weight that can strike us to the core. They speak to the depths of our emotional, social and spiritual lives in ways that we cannot always verbalize, but which impact us nonetheless.…  [more]

I couldn’t believe my ears. Did she really say the “fun-ness of God”? A quick rewind of the interview I was transcribing for another writing assignment proved I had heard incorrectly. “Abundance of God,” she’d said. Not fun-ness. Shoot. I mean, God’s abundance is a plenty wonderful thing to discuss.…  [more]

I am puzzled at how those who call this a Christian nation do not want our troops to come home from Afghanistan or Iraq. I am puzzled by the fact that my father applauds one of his preacher friends who ascends to the pulpit dressed in the character of Patrick…  [more]