Several of these blog entries are reflections of various aspects of the holocaust-studies tour. These essays are designed to provide the reader with specific information about various memorials and locations as well as a personal reflection of meaning associated with a location or feature of a memorial. Some blog entries will not be animated by the holocaust-studies tour.
Additionally, I recently completed a writing project overhauling a behavior and social sciences statistics textbook. Some selected sidebar essays that may be of interest to a more general audience have been extracted and placed in this section of the website.
Resurrecting Eugenics: Should Only Healthy Children be Born?
A talk given by bioethicist Dr. Calum MacKellar, director of research for the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics in Edinburgh. On Thursday afternoon, Feb 10th, 2022, Dr. Calum MacKellar delivered a presentation for the Asbury University Human Dignity Lecture series entitled, Resurrecting Eugenics: Should Only Healthy Children be Born? (Please see the full video of Dr. MacKellar’s talk to the right. The password “4kh3k4m3a3MC” is required to access the video.) Dr. MacKellar’s presentation, which is easily accessible to the non-scientist, started with some basic definitions and a brief historical review of eugenics, including a recounting of significant events which occurred
Dr. Calum MacKellar speaks at the Human Dignity Lecture Series
Here’s a brief write-up from Asbury University’s SEARCH website (reproduced by permission) on the talk given by Dr. Calum MacKellar, professional bioethicist, entitled, “Resurrecting Eugenics: Should Only Healthy Children be Born?” (A brief interview and video of his talk will be coming soon.) On February 10, the Asbury University Honors Program (AUHP) welcomed Dr. Calum MacKellar bioethicist from St. Mary’s University, London, UK to deliver a lecture titled “Resurrecting Eugenics: Should only Healthy Children Be Born?” to a packed room of students in the Kinlaw Library. The SEARCH-sponsored event was the second of a three-part lecture series on human dignity and
Book Review: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
by Carl R. Trueman; Crossway Books, 2020 (425 pages) Accessibility rating 3 (out of 5) Recommendation rating 5 (out of 5) (Note: This first book review is about two-parts description [to inform a potential reader] and one-part analysis and critique. This ratio may change with subsequent reviews.) Description Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, offers a rather extensive analysis of the historical roots that have yielded the contemporary understanding of the western self. Trueman argues modern selfhood is understood as a predominately-psychological structure, and fully detached from any sense of the sacred. It is
Pride Before a Brawl
In the heart of Berlin sit three landmarks that reflect the multifaceted power of historic Germany, each one being just a short walk from the other two. The Brandenburg Gate is, perhaps, the most well-known symbol of the city. This iconic 18th century neoclassical monument featuring Quadriga, an ancient symbol of victory, represents well the prodigious military power that Germany and her Prussian fore-bearers exercised over the past quarter of a millennium. One city block to the north of the gate is the Reichstag, a legislative building that served as the center of German political life from 1871 to the
A Memorial and the Measure of Humanity
In Berlin, just one block south of the Brandenburg gate, sits a relatively new holocaust-related exhibit, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This installation, which opened in 2005, is massive, taking up an entire city block. Yet curiously, as one looks at it from the street, at no point does any part of the display rise above eye level. The exhibit consists of an assembly of over 2,700 rectangular concrete blocks, or stelae, ordered in grid-like rows and columns, spread across an area of 19,000 square meters. The blocks all measure the same in width and length with
Some Thoughts on Diversion and Hurried Living
Recently, on numerous occasions and across a variety of contexts, I’ve had my attention drawn to the topic of time; specifically, how I treat (and mistreat) it; that is, my time, my slowly but quite certainly expiring life. These referents have served to remind me of how easily I give up my time to practices that, while they may be healthy if well-regulated, far too often eat up significant chunks of my day. For me, the temptation typically takes the form of watching sports, playing games, and just thumbing through social media. To be clear, I do not believe there