This essay was awarded first prize in Harvard Divinity School's Bicentennial Essay Contest. The prompt was: What will the academic study of religion be like in 100 years?
28 JULY 2116
My dear Emily,
I’m not sure how to begin this letter, and the three wads of crumpled paper tossed on the floor—my previous attempts—can attest to that. So I’ve decided in this draft to get directly to what matters most and say straight out of the gate: I love you, Emily. I miss you terribly. And I’m so sorry for going AWOL.
You know, my heart attack last month seemed at first like the worst possible timing—just three weeks after being appointed Dean of Harvard Divinity School. My dream job. But I’m already starting to wonder if it wasn’t providential. Perhaps instead of nearly taking my life, those ruptured arteries are in fact saving my life...
Read the rest of this article in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin.