EARLY MODERN MORAL THEORY: Hobbes, Spinoza, and Hume             Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a British ethics thinker who maintained that since material reality is all there is, our moral behavior should be directed by physiological drives to avoid pain and maximize pleasure. This psycho-physical view of human life led him to conclude that what we…

BLIND BARTIMAEUS             When I was a high school senior my new girlfriend asked me to come with her to a Young Life meeting. Young Life was, and is, a nondenominational group that seeks to help teenagers relate to God. I had not grown up in any church, so this was all new to me.…