2023-03-21: Tiny campfire in Glacier National Forest.
2023-03-20: Currently reading: Christianity in a Nutshell by Leonardo Boff 📚 considering this as a possibility …
2023-03-20: Unfortunately our sole houseplant, an orchid, is not doing well after a recent repotting.
2023-03-19: Now watching: Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, 2022) 📽️
2023-03-19: One challenge of an analog note-taking system: no notebook can compare to the searchability and …
2023-03-18: Now watching: Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022) 📽️
2023-03-18: Not quite a portico—more a pronaos? I don’t really know architecture—but …
2023-03-18: Finished reading: Theology for Skeptics by Dorothee Sölle 📚
2023-03-17: I’m late to the early post, but here’s an early sign of spring (from a previous …
2023-03-16: Not quite a road, but a path overlooking the Middle Falls in Letchworth State Park. Shot on (I …
2023-03-15: I love seeing these old library book cards: a record of who was reading what when. (I would have …
2023-03-14: Between gray seas and gray skies, the horizon nearly disappears. Parsons Beach near Kennebunk, …
2023-03-13: On this day ten years ago, Jorge Bergoglio was elected bishop of Rome & took the name Francis. …
2023-03-13: Taking a cue from @mbkriegh today for connection: power lines in San Salvador, shot on Superia X-tra …
2023-03-13: Currently reading: Maurice by E. M. Forster 📚
2023-03-13: Currently reading: Theology for Skeptics by Dorothee Sölle 📚 One day the earth will belong to all …
2023-03-12: Finished reading: Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis 📚
2023-03-12: Good for Ke Huy Quan. He is such a good, sweet man.
2023-03-12: Shiny mirror in the Museum of Pop Culture
2023-03-12: I think Everything Everywhere All At Once will win best picture tonight (though I confess I …
2023-03-11: Not quite a trivial mechanism, but if a gimcrack is a device, a toy, a pretty thing, then I think …
2023-03-10: Currently reading: Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis 📚 Brother Leo, the earth has seven levels, …
2023-03-10: One of my favorite rituals for Lent is the Stations of the Cross. This sign points to a small trail …
2023-03-09: The (relatively recently renovated) chapel at the Abbey of the Genesee, where the Trappists come …
2023-03-08: I shot a roll of Ilford HP5+ the other day on a walk in the woods behind campus. I’m not …
2023-03-08: Noam Chomsky on the inherent limitations of ChatGPT and other forms of artificial …
2023-03-07: Now watching: The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) 📽️
2023-03-07: I love these winter days, when the tree branches are not-quite-wholely covered with snow
2023-03-06: Now watching: Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) 📽️
2023-03-06: Smith Tower, the oldest skyscraper in Seattle and the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast until the …
2023-03-05: Currently reading: Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis 📚 “Love! Love!” he said. …
2023-03-05: Currently watching: The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) 📽️
2023-03-05: Finished reading: The Body in Context: Sex and Catholicism by Gareth Moore 📚
2023-03-05: Tiles of stained glass depicting Alexander of Hales & his summa
2023-03-04: Zip lines near (I think) Ahuachapán in El Salvador. Shot last July with my Pentax K1000 on Superia …
2023-03-03: Solitude at the Abbey of Gethsemani (picture taken summer 2015)
2023-03-02: New music: Vampire Empire (Big Thief) & Not Strong Enough (boygenius) 🎵
2023-03-02: Took a walk in the woods behind campus today to enjoy my favorite weather: overcast & cool.
2023-03-01: Keeping my boots secure with multiple knots (I need new laces)
2023-02-28: Now playing: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles, 1967) 🎵 My favorite Beatles …
2023-02-26: Finished reading: Bare Ruined Choirs: Doubt, Prophecy, and Radical Religion by Garry Wills 📚 So …
2023-02-23: One of my favorite little displays in my office (I know I should have posted this yesterday for Ash …
2023-02-20: Finished reading: Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ by Frederick Christian …
2023-02-17: Finished reading: The Body of the Cross: Holy Victims and the Invention of the Atonement by Travis …
2023-02-16: The Indiana Jones TV spot was great; I like Indy’s “Are you still a Nazi?” line …
2023-02-16: Finished reading: The Love That Is God by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt 📚
2023-02-16: Finished reading (on audiobook via Libby): Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C. S. Lewis 📚
2023-02-15: After putting it off for many months, I finally asked facilities to come mount my chalkboard to my …
2023-02-14: Finished reading: Metamorphoses by Ovid (translated by Stephanie McCarter) 📚
2023-02-14: Now playing: Wet Leg (Wet Leg, 2022) 🎵
2023-02-13: I swear, Paramore does not put out a bad album. I really loved their self-titled album and I thought …
2023-02-06: From the title page of a used copy of Herbert McCabe’s God Still Matters
2023-02-05: Currently reading (on audiobook via Libby): Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis 📚
2023-02-02: Finished reading: The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm with the Proslogion by Anselm of Aosta …
2023-02-01: This is very cool to see: St. Bonaventure receives $147,000 grant for Seneca Nation educational …
2023-01-31: Finished reading: Being Christian by Rowan Williams 📚 I read this for the first time just a couple …
2023-01-28: Sancte Thoma Aquinatis, ora pro nobis.
2023-01-28: Somewhere in Vermont at dusk.
2023-01-25: B.D. McClay on the “phenomenology of guns”: I didn’t buy a tool to defend myself …
2023-01-23: Finished reading: Francis of Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint by André Vauchez 📚
2023-01-23: Saving this for later: The boygenius book club: 48 books the indie rockers think you should read.
2023-01-22: Now seeing: Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron, 2022) 📽️ I never saw the first one (I know, I …
2023-01-22: I just learned that Bishop Matthew Clark, bishop of the diocese of Rochester (my home diocese) …
2023-01-21: I’m usually annoyed at powerlines getting in the way of photographs, but I kind of like the …
2023-01-21: I’ve long wanted to write of mercy and justice in Les Misérables: what distinguishes Valjean …
2023-01-21: Currently reading: Bare Ruined Choirs: Doubt, Prophecy, and Radical Religion by Garry Wills 📚
2023-01-20: Baker, the heart of the band, emotionally bulldozes you with her fierce vocals; Bridgers, the soul, …
2023-01-19: Now playing: the record (boygenius, 2023) 🎵
2023-01-19: Finished reading: Essayism: On Form, Feeling, and Nonfiction by Brian Dillon 📚
2023-01-18: John Donne, “Deaths Duell”: Wee have a winding sheete in our Mothers wombe, which …
2023-01-18: Wow, a great day for new music announcements: in addition to boygenius announcing their record, The …
2023-01-18: Boygenius announce new album The Record.
2023-01-12: Karl Rahner, Encounters with Silence: Is our grief taken from us, simply because You wept too? Is …
2023-01-10: The old card catalog for the Franciscan Institute collection in Friedsam Memorial Library (St. …
2023-01-10: Currently reading: Essayism: On Form, Feeling, and Nonfiction by Brian Dillon 📚
2023-01-07: Finished reading: ‘In the Beginning …’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the …
2023-01-07: Franciscans in the United States today remember Angela of Foligno, medieval mystic and …
2023-01-07: Currently reading: ‘In the Beginning …’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the …
2023-01-07: Finished reading: A Minor Chorus: A Novel by Billy-Ray Belcourt 📚
2023-01-06: Finished reading: Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being by M. Shawn Copeland 📚
2023-01-06: Now playing: TÁR (dir. Todd Field, 2022) 📽️
2023-01-06: This piece on Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy is probably one of the better ones I’ve read; …
2023-01-03: Currently reading: Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being by M. Shawn Copeland 📚
2023-01-03: Jonathan Malesic. “The Key to Success in College Is So Simple, It’s Almost Never …
2023-01-03: New toy: Canon Canonet QL17 GIII. I wanted a compact film camera for travel, & it was down to …
2023-01-03: Currently reading: Francis of Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint by André Vauchez 📚
2023-01-03: Finished reading: Why Study the Past? The Quest for the Historical Church by Rowan Williams 📚
2023-01-02: I saw Babylon this afternoon, & I really enjoyed it. I know it hasn’t received a warm …
2023-01-02: Currently reading: A Minor Chorus: A Novel by Billy-Ray Belcourt 📚
2022-12-31: Reading in 2022 This year I read 63 books (actually a couple more, as there were some I didn’t log), and I …
2022-12-31: Finished reading: Atomic Habits by James Clear 📚
2022-12-31: Monique Judge. “Bring back personal blogging.” theverge.com. Buy that domain name. …
2022-12-31: Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth was one of the first serious works of theology I ever …
2022-12-30: Finished reading: At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph 📚
2022-12-30: Currently reading: Why Study the Past? The Quest for the Historical Church by Rowan Williams 📚
2022-12-30: Some Clare of Assisi for the Christmas season: And, after all who ensnare their blind lovers in a …
2022-12-25: Pope Francis’s Christmas message: We are called to be a Church that worships a Jesus who is poor …
2022-12-25: You … you said … what’d you say a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even …
2022-12-24: Phil Christman on It’s a Wonderful Life: And it makes sense that in a film so focused on the …
2022-12-24: Christmas Eve povitica
2022-12-24: I found Glass Onion pretty disappointing, though not unentertaining. It was much more …
2022-12-23: Now playing: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) 📽️
2022-12-23: Currently reading: The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm with the Proslogion by Anselm of …
2022-12-21: Finished reading: Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 📚
2022-12-21: Howard Thurman on forgiveness: It does seem that Jesus dealt with every act of forgiveness as one …
2022-12-21: Currently reading: Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 📚
2022-12-21: Thomas Merton on the goodness of humans & original sin: We hate others because we cannot stand …
2022-12-20: Finished reading: Believing Three Ways in One God: A Reading of the Apostles’ Creed by Nicholas Lash …
2022-12-20: Nicholas Lash: Christianity, I said earlier, is not a ‘world-view’ or system of …
2022-12-20: “Isn’t it wonderful? Mary did it, George, Mary did it.” 📽️
2022-12-18: Currently reading: At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph 📚
2022-12-17: Advent IV
2022-12-17: During the last week of Advent the church sings the O Antiphons; these antiphons, sung with the …
2022-12-16: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie looks incredible. 📽️
2022-12-16: Jean-Luc Marion, in an interview with Kenneth Woodward: A paradox is just the correct formulation …
2022-12-15: Currently reading: Believing Three Ways in One God: A Reading of the Apostles’ Creed by Nicholas …
2022-12-15: This is a lovely reflection on theology and language in Dante’s Divine Comedy from Denys …
2022-12-14: Currently reading (on audiobook via Libby): Atomic Habits by James Clear 📚
2022-12-11: Advent III
2022-12-11: Thomas Merton on Christmas: Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no …
2022-12-09: I love the episode of Mad Men where Pete exchanges a chip ’n’ dip for a BB gun. Pete is so pathetic …
2022-12-09: I’m really digging Spotify’s Noisy playlist. 🎵
2022-12-07: Preparing for my last “Catholic Theology” class of the semester today (on …
2022-12-06: My Bonaventure bookshelf (following on yesterday’s post on the authors taking up the most …
2022-12-05: Fun question from Twitter: what author do you have the most pages of writing by (i.e., takes up the …
2022-12-05: And the last week of classes is underway …
2022-12-04: God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving …
2022-12-04: Finished reading: Being Christian by Rowan Williams 📚
2022-12-03: The last of Anne Carpenter’s seven theses on Catholic theology: There is no either/or: God or …
2022-12-02: I’ve seriously considered making the final assessment in my classes an oral exam, but …
2022-12-01: Currently reading for teaching: Being Christian by Rowan Williams 📚
2022-12-01: I love Indiana Jones—Raiders of the Lost Ark is my absolute favorite movie—but I’m …
2022-12-01: 🎵
2022-11-30: My biggest theological pet peeve is when people attribute ‘penal substitutionary …
2022-11-30: Today the Christian church celebrates the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (known to the Eastern …
2022-11-29: Required texts for my Catholic Theology course next spring: The Love That Is God by Frederick …
2022-11-28: In spite of myself, I’m listening to Christmas music (Spotify’s Indie Christmas). …
2022-11-28: Currently reading: Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated by Stephanie McCarter 📚
2022-11-27: All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome …
2022-11-26: Tonight’s vigil begins my favorite liturgical season: Advent. The rhythms of the academic …
2022-11-25: Finally got around to watching the first few episodes of Andor. I’m not sure yet whether I …
2022-11-24: Thanksgiving bake 🍞
2022-11-23: Sourdough schedule 🍞
2022-11-22: At the Reilly Center for a St. Bonaventure men’s basketball game against the University of …
2022-11-21: Finished reading (on audiobook via Libby): Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion 📚
2022-11-21: Now playing: So Much Wine (Phoebe Bridgers, 2022) 🎵
2022-11-20: Currently reading (on audiobook via Libby): Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion 📚
2022-11-19: Salvadoran Pupusería 📷🎞️
2022-11-19: Last night I saw The Menu (dir. Mark Mylod) and I really enjoyed it. It’s not a subtle film by …
2022-11-18: The Visions of Octavia Butler ❡ Lynell George ❡ nytimes.com
2022-11-17: Now playing: Me & My Dog (boygenius live on WFUV, 2018) 🎵
2022-11-16: The opening to Merriam-Webster’s guide on when to use ‘that’ and when to use …
2022-11-15: Now playing: Carrie & Lowell (Sufjan Stevens, 2015) 🎵 I used to think I was a Sufjan Stevens …
2022-11-14: Afterword to Wading in Wasit-High Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes ❡ Robin Pecknold ❡ …
2022-11-13: (This is not a black and white photo.)
2022-11-13: Snow in upstate NY
2022-11-12: The first loaf of sourdough I’ve baked in almost a year. I’m not entirely satisfied with …
2022-11-12: I can’t get Paramore’s new song out of my head. 🎵
2022-11-11: I know less about Albert Schweitzer than I probably should, but what a way to end a book: He comes …
2022-11-11: Today the Western churches celebrate the feast of St. Martin of Tours. Here is El Greco’s …
2022-11-10: Currently reading: Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis 📚 I’m looking forward to this one …
2022-11-09: Now playing: Paramore (Paramore, 2013) 🎵 I love a good, mid-career self-titled album
2022-11-08: Obligatory “I voted” post
2022-11-08: Finished reading (on audiobook via Libby): Morning Star by Pierce Brown 📚
2022-11-07: Finished reading: Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler 📚
2022-11-07: Breaking the Power of Monuments | Natalie Carnes | stanford.typepress.com
2022-11-07: Now playing: When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin, 1971; originally written and produced by Memphis …
2022-11-04: Now playing: Fine but Dying (Liza Anne, 2018) 🎵 This album was the soundtrack to a (very bad) paper …
2022-11-02: Now playing: The Sunset Tree (The Mountain Goats, 2005) 🎵
2022-11-02: News release from SBU News: Dr. Luke Togni and Dr. Drew Belfield launch a new Franciscan Institute …
2022-10-31: Cyril of Alexandria, in Quod sit unum: It seems to me that they [those who subscribe to a Nestorian …
2022-10-31: A Defense of Devil Costumes | Justin Shaun Coyle | churchlifejournal.nd.edu Donning St. Francis’s …
2022-10-30: Finished reading: God Still Matters by Herbert McCabe 📚 I know grammatical Thomism has its issues, …
2022-10-29: Herbert McCabe on the Trinity (from “A Sermon for Pentecost” in God Still Matters): God …
2022-10-29: The Shadows of Stanley Cavell | John-Baptiste Oduor | thenation.com
2022-10-28: The New World: Envisioning Life after Climate Change | nytimes.com
2022-10-28: The Joan Didion Estate Sale | nytimes.com | I love seeing the material things that constitute a …
2022-10-28: Architect Breaks Down Iconic Baseball Stadiums | youtube.com | A cool history of the architecture of …
2022-10-28: Foggy morning in upstate New York
2022-10-25: Herbert McCabe on original sin: To believe that Jesus is of God is to believe that, in rejecting …
2022-10-25: Jacqueline and I are CSA shareholders at the local Canticle Farm, sponsored by the Franciscan …
2022-10-25: This past weekend I participated in the 47th Annual International Patristics, Medieval, and …
2022-10-24: I’m rereading the conclusion to James Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree and …
2022-10-11: Listening to blink-182’s underappreciated self-titled album in honor of Tom DeLonge’s …
2022-10-06: Finished reading: From Dissertation to Book by William Germano 📚
2022-10-05: SNL’s Nicole Kidman AMC Ad is too good.
2022-09-26: Currently reading: Christ’s Two Wills in Scholastic Thought: The Christology of Aquinas and …
2022-09-26: Currently reading: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David …
2022-09-25: Currently reading: From Dissertation to Book by William Germano 📚
2022-09-24: Currently reading: Religion and Film: Cinema and the Recreation of the World by S. B. Plate 📚
2022-09-18: Enthusiastic dog owners at Letchworth State Park
2022-09-14: What a sad pairing of lyrics. From Phoebe Bridgers’s “Scott Street”: I asked you, …
2022-09-12: Currently reading: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin 📚
2022-09-10: Currently reading: No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull 📚
2022-09-04: Is this Apostolic Fathers book (a scholarly collection of writings significant to early Christian …
2022-09-01: Michael D.C. Drout, Please Don’t Make a Tolkien Cinematic Universe: Tolkien is utterly …
2022-08-31: Herbert McCabe, on God’s name: ‘God’, ‘Theos’, ‘Deus’ is …
2022-08-31: Currently reading: God Still Matters by Herbert McCabe 📚
2022-08-30: Hawk against the clouds
2022-08-28: Ready (almost) for the new semester
2022-08-25: Currently reading: Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry 📚
2022-08-24: J.R.R. Tolkien, presenting a quotation from Simone de Beauvoir as the “key-spring” of …
2022-08-23: I love this paragraph, from The Married Man by Edmund White (Ajax is Austin and Julien’s …
2022-08-20: Currently watching: Inside the Mind of a Cat 📽️
2022-08-20: The Middle Falls at Letchworth State Park near Castile, New York 📷
2022-08-16: I just watched the finale of Better Call Saul. This is a bit of a spoiler, thematically at least, …
2022-08-16: Currently reading: Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire by William T. Cavanaugh 📚
2022-08-15: Currently reading: Francis & His Brothers: A Popular History of the Franciscan Friars by Dominic …
2022-08-11: Currently reading: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. …
2022-08-11: Today is the feast of Saint Clare of Assisi! I like to imagine this portrait, appearing in one of …
2022-08-11: Currently listening: Inside (Deluxe) by Bo Burnham
2022-08-10: Reviewing my first roll of film photography, and I really like the texture in this one (in both the …
2022-08-10: Currently reading: Discovering the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition: A Life-Giving Vision by John …
2022-08-08: A nice piece by Phil Christman on finding one’s voice. His chief counsel is patience. It takes …
2022-08-08: Currently reading: On Writing by Stephen King 📚
2022-08-07: Currently reading: The Married Man by Edmund White 📚
2022-08-06: Philip Reynolds at the Boston Colloquy for Historical Theology: historical theology is “the …
2022-08-06: Currently reading: Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton 📚
2022-08-03: Currently reading: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben …
2022-08-01: Took my new electric bike for its first ride today
2022-08-01: The dock behind Fontainebleau Inn on Cayuta Lake
2022-07-29: Cayuta Lake near Watkins Glen, New York
2022-07-28: Currently watching: Nope (dir. Jordan Peele, 2022) 📽️
2022-07-21: Had a great time last night seeing Lucy Dacus and The National. It was, start to finish, one of the …
2022-07-20: At Ommegang Brewery near Cooperstown, NY, to see Lucy Dacus and The National
2022-07-20: Some pictures of St. Bonaventure University taken with my Pentax K1000 on (I think) Fujicolor 200. …
2022-07-19: Currently watching: Better Call Saul (2015–2022) 📺 I watched the first two season when they first …
2022-07-19: Nicholas Roerich’s “St. Francis” (1932)
2022-07-17: Currently reading: Deification through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation by …
2022-07-15: Today marks the feast of St. Bonaventure, the patron of my alma mater and the university where I …
2022-07-14: Currently listening: Bastille Day by Rush 🎵
2022-07-13: Currently reading: What Sort of Human Nature?: Medieval Philosophy and the Systematics of …
2022-07-12: Currently reading: A Children’s Bible: A Novel by Lydia Millet 📚
2022-07-10: Currently watching: Everything Everywhere All at Once (dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022) …
2022-07-10: Currently listening: The National 🎵
2022-07-09: A nice paean to Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking, especially as represented in West Side Story.
2022-07-09: Currently listening: Guthrie, by Julien Baker (2022) 🎵
2022-07-09: Currently reading: Detransition, Baby: A Novel by Torrey Peters 📚
2022-07-06: Currently reading: The Body in Context by Gareth Moore 📚
2022-07-04: Steam rises from the “ausoles más grande de Centroamérica” near Ahuachapan, El Salvador.
2022-07-03: Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador
2022-07-03: Street art in San Salvador
2022-07-03: The market in San Salvador
2022-06-29: Somewhere between Miami and San Salvador
2022-06-28: Currently reading: Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America …
2022-06-25: Currently reading (on Audible): Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths …
2022-06-24: Phil Christman: Christianity is not about having an exquisite collection of private meanings that …
2022-06-23: Currently watching: The Godfather Part II (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) 📽️
2022-06-23: I’m sorry to say it, but this review more or less captures my feelings on Obi Wan Kenobi. I …
2022-06-23: One of the peculiarities of writing a dissertation during 2020–21 was the lack of library access. I …
2022-06-20: Currently reading: Females by Andrea Long Chu 📚
2022-06-17: Currently reading: Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ (Christian Theology in …
2022-06-16: I like this characterization of prayer, in the fourth book of the Franciscan Summa halensis (q.26, …
2022-06-13: Currently reading: Knowing God by Experience: The Spiritual Senses in the Theology of William of …
2022-06-09: Bethel A.M.E. Church in Jamaica Plain, Mass.
2022-06-09: Spotted yesterday in Cambridge, Mass.
2022-06-07: This, from John Ganz, more or less describes my feelings about Disney Star Wars. (I am less negative …
2022-06-06: Back at Boston College for a few days, visiting with friends and doing some research
2022-06-04: Paul Griffiths, in a parenthetical aside: Augustine on the whole does not like jokes, and thinks …
2022-06-04: Currently reading: Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity by Paul J. Griffiths 📚
2022-06-04: Willie James Jennings, with a really lovely description of theological education at the end of his …
2022-06-04: Willie James Jennings, After Whiteness: Theological education could mark a new path for Western …
2022-06-02: Willie James Jennings, After Whiteness: Theological education is also about resistance. It is the …
2022-05-31: After my first year of full-time teaching, I’m glad to get back to research. Currently …
2022-05-30: Yesterday I saw a tweet floating around asking for your “personal canon,” that is, which …
2022-05-29: Birding at the local cemetery. So far I’ve seen only American Robins and European Starlings; …
2022-05-29: Currently reading (on Audible): Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott 📚
2022-05-28: I watched “part 1” of Obi-Wan Kenobi earlier today. While I’m enjoying this story …
2022-05-28: Currently reading: Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun (The Book of the New …
2022-05-28: From one of Óscar Romero’s homilies: We want peace, but not the peace of violence and of …
2022-05-27: This timeline of the Uvalde shooting—a student calls at 12:03 and, over the next 45 minutes, …
2022-05-26: Elizabeth Bruenig: Violence begets injury begets death, and any culture debased to vacillating …
2022-05-25: Robert Zaretsky, on what a deeper appreciation of the word ‘tragedy’ reveals about tragedies like …
2022-05-25: I’m thinking today of Bob Dylan’s incredible “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only …
2022-05-25: Gary Wills wrote of guns as our Moloch, one day after the Sandy Hook shooting on December 14, 2012. …
2022-05-23: My dissertation director, Boyd Taylor Coolman, hooding me at my graduation.
2022-05-22: Currently reading: After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging (Theological Education between the …
2022-05-21: The Boston College contingent at Notre Dame’s recent conference on medieval philosophy & …
2022-05-20: Notre Dame at night
2022-05-20: My first conference with the St. Bonaventure University affiliation.
2022-05-19: Eugene Rogers, Jr, on Augustine: One of the things that makes Augustine so interesting, so long …
2022-05-18: John Donne, on the coincidence of Annunciation and Good Friday in 1608: This doubtful day Of feast …
2022-05-16: Currently reading: A Previous Life by Edmund White 📚
2022-05-15: Currently reading: Elements of Christian Thought by Eugene F. Rogers, Jr. 📚
2022-05-15: Maggie Nelson, on climate change: As a problem gets harder to solve, ignoring it becomes all the …
2022-05-15: My view as Marshall to candidates for a Bachelor of Arts at St. Bonaventure University’s 162nd …
2022-05-12: Maggie Nelson, discussing an interview given by Pema Chödtön: I’m riveted by this …
2022-05-09: Reading this recent piece on Wittgenstein makes me want to see Robert Pattinson star in his biopic.
2022-05-08: Currently reading: On Freedom by Maggie Nelson 📚
2022-05-06: This old church now houses the Cuba Cultural Center.
2022-05-06: Currently reading: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman 📚
2022-05-06: I sent in my first roll of film to the Shot on Film Store last week, and just received digital …
2022-05-04: From Jonathan Malesic’s excellent The End of Burnout, on the attitudes of Benedictine monks …
2022-05-04: My doctoral gown (sans hood and tam)
2022-04-25: Dorothy Day: I loved the Church for Christ made visible. Not for itself, because it was so often a …
2022-04-25: Me, some years ago, at Piseco Lake in the southern Adirondacks.
2022-04-17: From the Easter Exultet, solemnly proclaimed at the Easter Vigil to bless the night and the Easter …
2022-04-16: David Bentley Hart, in Tradition and Apocalypse, on the theological virtues: Faith is the will to …
2022-04-15: One of the things I miss most about Boston is living in the interreligious community that was the …
2022-04-15: David Bentley Hart on tradition: The tradition’s life, it turns out, is an irrepressible …
2022-04-15: A recent eBay acquisition: a Pentax K1000 35mm film camera. I’ve been wanting to get into film …
2022-04-14: John of Salisbury, in the mid-12th century: Our own generation enjoys the legacy bequeathed to it …
2022-04-06: Honestly, this proposal to nationalize baseball sounds incredible.
2022-03-28: Two of Maggie Nelson’s Bluets: No. 123. Whenever I speak of faith, I am not speaking of faith …
2022-03-27: bell hooks: Hearing each other’s voices, individual thoughts, and sometimes associating …
2022-03-27: Bart Giammati, the late, former commissioner of major leauge baseball, as quoted in Greg …
2022-03-26: At the distressingly young age of 50, Taylor Hawkins has died. I haven’t kept up with Foo …
2022-03-26: Ron Scapp, in dialogue about critical pedagogy, with bell hooks: Sometimes it’s important to …
2022-03-14: A good mail day
2022-03-06: I could share every homily preached by my mentor Fritz Bauerschmidt, and be justified doing …
2022-03-03: Daniel Walden, in a review of a very bad recent book: Many of us [on the political left] came to …
2022-02-26: At Playwrights Horizons for Tambo & Bones
2022-02-21: Whatever the case, he listened, he listened to me. I missed his listening. Listening, Sister Ann …
2022-02-14: Over the weekend I picked this chalkboard up from an antique store, so I can write out the …
2022-02-05: Paul Griffiths, on the LORD as theology’s topic: When Christians prepare to approach the LORD …
2022-02-04: Abraham Heschel: To us a single act of injustice—cheating in business, exploitation of the …
2022-02-04: I’m not sure what to make about this essay, but there’s some truth to this point, at …
2022-02-01: From yesterday’s mail. I defended in October so this isn’t exactly news, but it feels …
2022-01-23: From David Graeber & David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything: American citizens have the …
2022-01-18: Dispatches from the southern tier of New York, taken around 6:45 this morning
2022-01-14: My actual favorite band from these is The National, but Death Cab for Cutie could be me in a few …
2022-01-13: Julia Claire, “In Defense of Shame”
2022-01-08: David Bentley Hart, on one’s just deserts before God: I remain convinced that no one, …
2022-01-08: Fantasies of theology’s haloed past too easily become policies for church police in the …
2022-01-05: “Look – the fact that something is real in your mind does not mean that it’s real …
2022-01-04: Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti on forgiveness and accountability: Nor does this mean calling for …
2022-01-03: Today’s mail: the first issue of a gift subscription to Geez Magazine, gifted to me to mark …
2022-01-01: Jonathan Lear: Freud said that mourning is a “great riddle,” and its greatness …
2022-01-01: B. D. McClay, contrasting Simone Weil and Simone de Beauvoir against Jordan Peterson and Todd May as …
2021-12-30: Phil Christman, “Misfortune Is Not a Communicable Disease”: No, what mystifies me is …
2021-12-30: Agnes Callard, on Simone Weil’s useful distinction between suffering and affliction: Many of …
2021-12-29: Something that’s long irritiated me is when people excuse their own rudeness or cruelty by …
2021-12-29: Frodo, of Gollum: It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance. Gandalf: …
2021-12-29: Phil Christman: I don’t know whether my species will survive climate change, or whether, if it does …
2021-12-28: At the George Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre in Rochester, N.Y., for a showing of The …
2021-12-28: Phil Christman, on why cops are cops: Not every cop is Eric Adams, still less Darren Wilson or …
2021-12-27: A quotation commonly attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu (r.i.p.): If you are neutral in …
2021-12-25: Gerard Manley Hopkins, in his notebook on Christmas Day (1865): Moonless darkness stands between …
2021-12-25: Johann Baptist Metz: Toward the end of the Second World War, when I was sixteen years old, I was …
2021-12-24: Sourdough cinnamon rolls, baked and iced
2021-12-23: Roosevelt Montás, on what students should learn in college: A liberal education is a structured …
2021-12-23: Sourdough cinnamon rolls for Christmas Eve brunch tomorrow morning
2021-12-23: Martin Luther King, Jr., in “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”: Any religion that professes to …
2021-12-23: Skimming through some of the passages I highlighted in my kindle edition of Slouching towards …
2021-12-23: Thomas Merton (in Raids on the Unspeakable) on the nativity: Into this world, this demented inn, in …
2021-12-23: It took me a semester, but I finally got some art on my office door. This means—I believe—I’m …
2021-12-23: From Alberto Manguel’s A History of Reading: To keep down the production costs he [Aldus …
2021-12-22: Matt Mitchell’s description of Fleet Foxes' music is right on: Pecknold’s early compositions …
2021-12-22: Thomas of Celano’s description of the youthful Francis is so good: “That man was still boiling …
2021-12-22: I tried a different scoring pattern on today’s loaf, to somewhat disappointing results. Rather than …
2021-03-29: El víacrucis Holy Week of any year—that week of prayer and fasting ordered to the cross and, eventually, …
2020-11-29: A Christmas tree blessing Good and gracious God, you who are power and wisdom and goodness— Bless this tree, a sign of life …
2020-09-22: Of baptism Dear C—,1 This past Sunday, on a cool and bright New York day with the edges of autumn just …
2019-05-18: That attention is love In the very year of our engagement, Lady Bird was released. Toward the end of this magnanimous film …