I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though my beliefs do not always align with those of the church, it has been a positive influence in my life and in the lives of my family, and in the world—sentiments shared by many others, I am confident, with respect to their religion and faith tradition.
I have practiced law in Washington, D.C. over the past 40 years. The lion’s share of my career has been devoted to representing Indian nations in the Eastern United States, along with labor unions, nonprofit organizations and a variety of businesses.
Most lawyers, it has been my experience, are frustrated writers, comedians or musicians. I happen to be all three and more frustrated than most.
The name of this website, “A Well Examined Life,” was suggested by a friend. The “life” I intend to examine here, however, is not my own. Rather, it will be the lives of others and how the lives of us all are influenced by music, science, history and literature—especially the scriptures, something which I believe many faiths, including my own, do not take as seriously as they should.
I am the proud owner of thousands of books, my most treasured personal possessions. Of them all, my favorite is the Bible. Its literature, poetry, stories, paradoxes (I absolutely love paradoxes), insights into the human condition and glimpses of the divine, repay careful study like no other book on my shelves. I accept the Book of Mormon as an inspired work of scripture and believe it contains valuable gospel truths (though I doubt its historicity), but it has never quite resonated with me the same way as the Bible.
While I am a devoted student of the Bible, I am not a biblical scholar and do not aspire to become one. But the sources I rely upon when I write about the Hebrew Bible and New Testament are typically scholarly books and articles, which I reference. The topics I address, however, are not exclusively scriptural; rather, they also touch upon history, science and music.
I started this website at the urging of the same friend who suggested its name. He had read some essays I had circulated over the past year or two on our local congregation’s listserv and believed others might find them interesting. (My youngest daughter, by the way, was kind enough to clean up my many web design faux pas.)
Many of the conundrums I explore have no hard and fast answers and are subject to multiple points of view. So, I genuinely welcome your feedback and would love to hear your ideas on the topics I address. You will help me, and perhaps others, learn.
For those who choose to comment, I have two simple requests: (1) be civil towards each other, and (2) remember that, as a male member of our species, my ego is inherently fragile.