bleak theology

Things are bleak. It's only going to get worse. We are starkly faced with the existential choice of how we are going to act for our neighbor, for our nation, for ourselves. Fascism is here. Cruelty is here. It is in the bones and muscles and veins and nerves of our nation. We are not

Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, passed away by his own hand thirty-three years ago, today. There was a time when that anniversary was not as important in the popular culture as it is now. Now, in the hands of two aging generations, Joy Division flourishes. Joy Division street art abounds around the world. The

The marathon begins in violence, death, and tragedy. Most people do not know that Pheipippides, who ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persian threat in 490 BCE, died with the words, "Rejoice, we win!" on his lips. We, as civilizations, have worked hard, through the institution

It can be easier to learn, to retain information in cadence. Rhythms offer repetition. A kind of re-membering, reattaching significance to each other and to ourselves. Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey, Job, Aeneid, Metamorphoses. These are all poems, all ancient stories. These are also all religious poems. Gods are everywhere. And they interact with humans. There is

This blog comes out of numerous conversations I've had with my fellow biblical critics and theologians of a certain age and cultural context. Many of us have been trained in all sorts of history, language, culture, theory, methodology, philosophy, doctrine, what have you. Many of us remember our youth during the cultural anxiety and fallout of