"After this, I think I can retire," said my friend Varun Soni, the Dean of Religious Life at USC. At 36 years old, he is one of the youngest deans in the country and the first Hindu to hold a position of this kind. I've known Varun for over ten years, since he attended Harvard University's Divinity School with my brother, and we've been friends ever since. A second-generation Indian ...

"In the beginning was the Word," according to the Bible. God's words created the universe; He spoke us into being. Words created our world -- literally. Words have power -- to uplift or to tear down -- to inspire or to incite -- to heal or to hurt -- to create or destroy. Words define our reality -- for better or for worse. In the aftermath of the massacre in Tucson, we hear much debate ...

Socrates was a pretty fearless guy -- even death didn't faze him. In fact, about the only thing that scared the gadfly of Athens and father of Western philosophy was the new technology of reading and writing: He never put pen to papyrus, fearing that reading would foster forgetfulness and thwart the quest for wisdom. How do we know this? Because Plato, Socrates' star pupil, embraced re...

Can you tell me What is Wisdom while standing on one leg? This was the challenge put to a rabbi of old. King Solomon said that wisdom was the knowledge and judgment to know right from wrong. He received his vaunted wisdom from God in a dream; would that we too had such dreams! "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for he is more profitable than silver a...