a week in photos
mke -> atl -> princeton -> mke
Being on the road this past week was both wonderful and exhausting. Given that I had as many meetings and conversations in one week as I normally would in an entire month, I’m short on words for this post. However, I thought I’d take this time to recap my time on the road:
Travel began early Monday morning as my flight to Atlanta barely escaped an impending rainstorm that threatened to delay takeoff by several hours.
While the rain followed me to Atlanta, the weather and reception were both incredibly warm. For two days, I had the joy of sitting with a cohort of evangelical leaders to discuss the future of the evangelical tradition in a society that is exponentially becoming more religiously diverse. Conversation was filled with great hope for the evangelical tradition, but also an honest and somber recognition of evangelicals’ complicity and perpetuation of evil systems and actions in our world.
After a day back in Milwaukee, Thursday I flew out to Princeton Seminary for the Koinonia Forum, where I presented a paper titled “Living Neighborly in a World We Can’t Control.” As always, Princeton was beautiful. Spending time with students and faculty reminded me of the great and consistent joy I had in my three years there.
Sunday was finally the day to come home for some much-needed rest. Fortunately, Philadelphia sent me off on a sunny, 50-degree day and a furry traveling companion courtesy of the window seat passenger.
While this was a bit of an abnormal post for me this Tuesday — we will be back to the regular content on Thursday as we kick off a new series for paid subscribers on the images of God in the book of Genesis.
Numerous images and depictions of God fill the Hebrew Bible. In some texts, yhwh, the God of Israel, draws intimately near to God’s creation, in others God’s name is scarcely mentioned. At times God liberates God’s people, at others God calls them back into slavery; God will avenge those who act wrongly against Israel, yet God also will use the nations to enact divine punishment upon Israel in their disobedience. Each of these images and depictions is rooted in the God described by the author(s) of Genesis. Ultimately, God is progressively revealed to be far more complex than the reader of Genesis could ever imagine. In this weekly series for paid subscribers, I will examine what the book of Genesis has to say about the God who shows great mercy, feels divine emotion, and is intimately tied to creation.
Reading:
Karen Swallow Prior, The Evangelical Imagination (Brazos Press, 2023)
Asma Uddin, Religious Liberty Interest Convergence (William and Mary Law Review - Volume 64 (2022-2023) Issue 1)
Eric Gregory, “Politics” in The Oxford Handbook of Evangelical Theology
Watching:
Hasan Minhaj and Ronny Chieng Roast The S**t Out of Each Other | The Daily Show (Youtube)
Katherine Sonderegger, “Natural religion and Divine Providence in the theologies of H. Richard Niebuhr and Hans Frei” presented at Yale University (Youtube)