Last night I attended my first grad class of the semester—not one of the two I’m teaching, but the one I’m taking. I’m working at the speed of a glacier to get a PhD in aesthetic studies from the University of Texas at Dallas (Arts and Humanities Department). Last night, along with ten others, I started an advanced novel-writing class.

While I was on my way there, I actually missed my exit because I was so engrossed in a conversation that Ken Myers of Mars Hill was having with Dr. Leon Kass. (I used some Christmas money to buy a stack of Mars Hill audio productions.)

Dr. Kass is a scientist trained as a biochemist, and an M.D. He is the author of the 1984 book Toward a More Natural Science and the more recent The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of Our Nature. He teaches at the University of Chicago, and he’s a Hertog Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The first time I heard about him was when President Bush appointed him as chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics.

One of the things I love about Dr. Kass is that he’s one of those rare souls who's trained in the sciences but who integrates ancient Hebrew texts and art and literature into his thinking, constantly drawing on great works that have influenced him. Last night I listened to him speak of reproductive ethics, during which he weaved in insights from The Iliad and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and the Hebrew Bible. The discussion went on to include an analysis of the movie, Gattica. He said a story like that is better than writing one hundred pages of prose in defense of human dignity.

To my delight tonight, I found twenty more minutes of Dr. Kass online via the Mars Hill web site. He talks about ADHD meds, depression as a disorder, performance-enhancing drugs, athletics, Chariots of Fire… lots of interesting stuff. Today “Tom Sawyer would probably be on medication,” he says.

You can hear Dr. Kass, too, by following this link and scrolling down to volume 66. Have a listen and you’ll see what I mean.

My friend Rhonda, over at www.soulpersuit.blogspot.com has some comments and links on the topic of integrating art and science, as well. Check it out.

In other news: Does it strike anyone else as supremely ironic that Ted Kennedy would write a kids' book from the point of view of a dog named (I kid you not) Splash?