In the end, the ad hominem is a biblical standard… A cadre of very online scholars and publishing organizations across a broad spectrum of political and theological persuasions ply you for cash this time of year. The emails roll in: give to help our publishing endeavors! …

So You’ve Deconstructed …what now? Standing in the dusted remains of a room stripped to the bones you exist in a liminal time and place mentally preparing to cross a threshold of creation without knowing exactly what is being created. A purgatorial unassured location where you still have piles to…

A brief pastoral letter. I do not usually put church-related stuff here, but I received such overwhelmingly positive feedback for this letter to my congregation that I figured it might benefit you, too. Church Family, I have heard from many of you a heightened sense of fear and anxiety as…

An impassable and unnerving contradiction arose last night in the Republican Presidential Debate. When asked if they would support Donald Trump as the candidate for President even if he was convicted for the crimes for which he is currently indicted, all of them said yes except Asa Hutchinson and Chris…

Christine Emba’s article on masculinity making the rounds left and right has been hailed as the most important of 2023. Emba identifies three historical essentials of masculinity that need to be incorporated into any new vision whatever it means to be a man: protector, provider, procreator. Of course many on…

I hate blogs about factual stuff (recipes, allergies, etc) with long personal stories as introductions, so my story will be at the end. Here’s the info first: What Is it? A “devilishly complex” sensitivity to foods made with nightshades that is poorly studied and poorly understood. …

South of Raleigh about 45 minutes is a place of considerable importance almost totally lost to history. The Cumnock / Egypt mine provided coal for the smelters that shaped the bullets of the civil War. It was easily accessible cold that could be used locally or floated down the nearby…

She smoked angrily, like she thought she’d seen too much of the world already at the ripe old age of 19. She wanted me to know she smoked, I guessed, because she could’ve smoked anywhere else, anytime else then as we sat down to talk. And she talked fast, intensely…

The Godwin Temptation is real, and not everything pertains to Nazis. When it comes to the latest iteration of Christian Nationalism, however, the Nazi comparison applies. Why? Not because of the Kinist tendencies of the people floating around the movement. …