Prose

"The Exploit." When a gifted young hacker discovers a vulnerability with consequences far beyond the digital world, exploiting it becomes both an act of resistance and a test of responsibility. “The Exploit” explores the seductions of technological power, the moral ambiguity of good intentions, and the moment when a seemingly private choice escapes its maker’s control. Through fiction, the story asks a question central to responsible imagination: What do we owe one another when our power to act exceeds our ability to foresee what follows?

AI and the Crisis of Control: How Leaders Can Reclaim Responsibility in the Age of AI challenges the assumption that responsibility depends upon control. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in increasingly complex institutions and systems, no individual can fully predict or govern everything it sets in motion—but neither leaders nor organizations are thereby released from responsibility. Drawing on ethics, technology, and organizational practice, the book offers a framework for responsible stewardship: anticipating consequences, acknowledging uncertainty, preserving human judgment, and remaining answerable for the futures our technologies help create.

"Ellul's Prescience and the Unfinished Task of Responsibility in an Age of AI." Revisiting Jacques Ellul's prophetic critique of technological society, this essay argues that the central challenge of artificial intelligence is not merely technological but moral: recovering human responsibility amid systems that increasingly exceed human understanding and control.

"Remembering Eden in the Age of AI," An examination of climate change and AI as parallel crises of dispersed accountability. Using Eden as framework, I argue true stewardship orders technological abundance toward care through accepted limits, not optimization. Valiant Scribe, January 18, 2025. [Valiant Scribe is now defunct]

"A Legacy of Words: In Gratitude to Bill Moyers" A tribute to Bill Moyers, the legendary journalist-commentator who became an intellectual mentor and kindred spirit, inspiring my transition to poetry through a shared love of language's transformative power. The Write Launch, Issue 97, July 2025.

"Goodbye, Rosalynn -- and Thanks!" A memory of meeting Rosalynn Carter at the State Fair of Texas as her powerful life among us comes to and end. The Writer's Club, November 25, 2023.

"Responsibility and Covenant in Writings of E. Clinton Gardner," with Frederick E. Glennon, in Living Responsibly in Community, ed. Fredrick E.  Glennon, et al. (University Press of America, 1997).  

"Complex Responsibility in an Age of Technology," in Living Responsibly in Community, ed. Fredrick E.  Glennon, et al. (University Press of America, 1997).  

"Ambassador McGovern: Elder Statesman," in George McGovern: A Political Life, A Political Legacy, Robert P. Watson (editor). (South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2004).  Read Review

Cosmic Witness: Commentaries on Science-Technology Themes.  With George L. Murphy and LaVonne Althouse.  (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing, 1996). Reviews on Publisher's Page   American Scientific Affiliation Review

"The Gift of a Broken Body: A Case Study with Teaching Note." Journal for Case Teaching 7 (Fall 1995, published Summer 1996).

Toward a Theological Ethics of Technology: An Analysis in Dialogue with Jacques Ellul, James Gustafson, and Philosophy of Technology. Ann Arbor, Michigan; University Microfilms International. 1990.  Citation by PhilPapers.  Cited in Illusions of Freedom: Thomas Merton and Jacque Ellul on Technology and the Human Condition by Jefferey M. Shaw.