Dr. Hauerwas was my ethics teacher at Duke Divinity. On the very first day of class, he began by addressing the crowded room with his signature Texan accent and said, “Let us pray.” We, the students, dutifully bowed our heads in reverence and waited for the prayer to begin. This was the entirety of the prayer: “Frightening Lord, teaching this class scares the shit out of me. But perhaps that is a good thing. For you are God and we are not. Therefore, help me scare the shit out of my students, that they might come to know you are the God of Israel, and that means something. Amen.”

It was one of the best prayers I’ve ever heard. And as soon as he said, “Amen” twenty students walked out of class never to return. It was their loss.