Introducing: Let's Talk About It

I am fascinated by the things you shouldn’t mention in polite company.

As an undergraduate, I got a BA in International Relations (major), Religious Studies, and Journalism (minors.) I took classes like “Christianity and Politics”, “Judaism, Christianity and Islam”, and “Cultural and Ethnic Conflict” because they sounded like fun.

I then went on to get a Master of Divinity degree from a reformed seminary during some of that denomination’s most contentious debates about LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

My work as a pastor has taken me into many different communities: low-resource urban neighborhoods, wealthy suburbs, the rural Midwest, and busy downtowns.

In my abundant free time, I read books about civil wars, cults, systematic theology, and various extremist religious and political ideologies for fun. (You’ll see some of those resources pop up in the posts to come!)

All of these experiences have combined to create a particular mental tapestry, where things like reformed theology, church history, US politics and policy-making, community organizing, psychology, sociology, and my own personal brand of liberal snark are inextricably woven together.

My hope is that this newsletter will serve as a place to think theologically about politics and politically about theology, that we might resist all forms of oppression, embrace justice and mercy, and know precisely when, where, and how to say “absolutely the f*ck not.”

You’ll find some history, some storytelling, some shouting into the void, some ‘keep an eye out’, some snark, and some practices for thinking, doing, organizing, and keeping ourselves a little sane while we do it.

Welcome to the chaos, y’all. I’m glad we’re here together.