Start Here
In 1877, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli looked through a telescope in Milan and drew a map of Mars laced with channels: canali. English readers mistranslated the word as “canals,” and suddenly a planet became a civilization. Engineers, theologians, and novelists spent the next half-century arguing about who built them. The canals were never there. The longing was.
That’s the kind of story I can’t leave alone.
I’m a philosopher and historian of ideas, and this website is about the unexpected kinships between them: the moments when traditions that were never introduced turn out to be family. Rumi and the Jewish mystics, whirling toward the same silence. Finding Heidegger on Mars. A Holocaust survivor’s perspective on the philosophy of time. We tend to sort these things into departments and centuries and shelve them apart. But here, on Scribespark, we will see how these things make curious and exciting connections with one another.
Scribespark is a series of introductions. Essays on faith, philosophy, and film for the curious reader. Less jargon, no gatekeeping, and no assumption that you’ve read what I’ve read. Just the conviction that ideas catch fire when traditions touch, and that watching the spark become a light is one of life’s genuine pleasures.
About Me
For the last 15 years, I have taught philosophy and religion in East Texas. I chair a Humanities department at a small liberal arts college and adjunct at the neighboring university. I give public lectures that aim to feed and grow the public sphere. The best part of my day is the moment an idea lands for someone unexpectedly. I know that moment well. I was the first in my family to finish college. I came to the life of the mind by way of military service, the long way around, and the long way has its advantages: you arrive grateful, and you never forget that someone held the door for you. So I try to hold it open, too. Great ideas are common property, and half the pleasure of this work lies in sharing them with my neighbors.
Welcome to Scribespark.