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By JAN FLASKA

The death of Papà Francesco — Pope Francis — has caught my attention for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he embodied and lived out the claim of a Roman Catholic universal truth that is intended to be both accessible to and attainable for every human being. As a teacher of religious studies, philosophy and ethics, and as a non-ordained dean of spiritual life, I am fascinated with the prospect that there may be some way in which all of us — yes, all of us — can embrace shared values and the colloquial common ground. In the spirit of those three realms — religious studies, philosophy and ethics — I offer these three named and representative, respectively, universal truths: natural law, human rights, and deontology.

By JAN FLASKA

Perhaps like me, folks like you find wisdom in the nearly forgotten corners and conversations of our past experiences. As a teacher of religious studies and philosophy, I stand by the idea that, truly, there are few new — few genuinely new - ideas to...

By JAN FLASKA

I often ask the students I teach to tell me which fruit was forbidden by God in the Garden of Eden. A quick, abrupt answer is speculative: “Apple!” A thoughtful answer obligates us to read the source, which states that it is not specified. Now the...