Justin Goodson

JUSTIN GOODSON {[email protected]} is a professor at Saint Louis University. His research and teaching focus on supply chain management, business analytics, and applied mathematics. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Iowa and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Missouri. He enjoys photography and musical composition.

Articles

Christmas is Music

Christmas is Jesus. Christmas is music, too. Even during a pandemic, I’ve had live carolers at my door. When in-person performance isn’t possible, we listen to recordings of choirs performing Handel and his classical Messiah. There’s the comfort of the Vince Guaraldi Trio—piano, bass, and drums—in the background of A Charlie Brown Christmas. There’s even that one radio station that plays Christmas music 24/7 all month long. It’s the station that reminds us that not all Christmas music was composed equally! Though the Gospel of Luke makes no mention of music, when we read of angels announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds, we often imagine the heavenly host singing rather than speaking: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). And thus, music is tied to the shepherds, the angels, and the birth of Jesus.

Cowboy Charity

A cowboy from Wyoming taught me everything I know about charity. He taught me that charity is about respecting our shared human experience.

A Missionary Farewell

Listen to the audio version of this piece here. A crowd of several thousand poured into the Provo Tabernacle. They filled the wooden pews, the kind that are never quite comfortable but perfect for keeping…

Judging Israel

Listen to an interview about this piece here. We sat around a long rectangular table in the local church building. It was tapered at one end, almost trapezoidal. Five men lined each of the long…

Gathering and Judging Israel: A Conversation with Justin Goodson and Brian H. Shirts

In this episode of the Dialogue Out Loud podcast, we hear from Justin Goodson and Brian H. Shirts about their personal essays in the spring 2023 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Read more

Dialogue Out Loud presents A Missionary Farewell

So begins Justin Goodson’s “A Missionary Farewell” now in beautiful audio form as our Dialogue Out Loud #51. Listen in. Read more