YEAH, LIGHT BLOGGING TONIGHT. Went to a retirement dinner for my dad, who closed out 40 years as a professor of Religious Studies, and only had a couple of posts scheduled for the evening. Lots of reminiscences about his confrontation with Billy Graham and Richard Nixon (more on that here), his founding of the Journal of Religious Ethics, and an amusing message from Stanley Hauerwas. Plus, more affectingly, lots of people talking about how he started or boosted their careers in academia. As an academic, your life is like George Bailey’s, affecting people in ways you often don’t fully realize, except, on rare occasions like a retirement dinner, when they tell you.
UPDATE: Posing with an admirer, afterward.
And addressing the crowd:
