By the time this post appears, I will probably be down under. Not under the sod (I hope), but in Australia, for a couple of weeks of work and travel. From down here, though, I want to thank Richard Reinsch for inviting me to guest blog this month; I also want to thank those of you who have read and commented on my meandering musings.

As a relative alien in the blogosphere, I have the impression that blogs usually comment on current events, books, etc. Maybe that’s their proper function and best use. I’ve done a bit of that, with some commentary on the Hobby Lobby case and one book notice. But as a short time visitor in this sphere I’ve mostly tried to raise some more abstract and enduring questions. Most of my posts have been asking what sort of society we live in today? Post-Christian? Egalitarian? Liberal? Secular? There are problems with all of these answers. But the issue matters, I think, because my sense is that however we describe it, our society is one that has lost its moorings, and that is steadily subverting its own foundations. And so what might otherwise be questions for rarified academic speculation–Who are we? What do we really believe? What are our real commitments, and why? Where are we going?– become intensely practical, and urgent.

Whether a blog is the best place to explore such questions. . . well, I’m not sure. But in any case, I appreciate having had this opportunity. And I thank you for putting up with my onerous and sometimes ornery posts.