communicated.

a brief Introduction

In a brilliant discourse on communicating the good, Oliver O’Donovan writes:

[T]reated as of great moral significance is a relation in which a common interest generates in those who share it a further reflective interest in one another. We have an abstract noun reserved for this special form of common relation: community…In speaking of a community…we imply, not only a relation common to the participants, but a relation among them.

This is where our common life begins: with the recognition of our interconnectedness, our commonality, our community. Our common life is that space where private interests are communicated and, in return, we begin to question and discern the existence of a “common good.”

That is what this newsletter seeks to do—to question and discern the existence of a “common good” in our life together.

Each week (by God’s grace) I hope to share a few words—musings, if you will—on our world, the Christian faith, and the common good. Additionally, I will share with you all what I have been reading, watching, and listening to. You will soon find that I am eager to read everything, skeptical to watch anything, and always listening to something. Finally, this newsletter will be a space to share updates on my writing—from my column with Sojourners to my current book project with Eerdmans Publishing.

Thank you all for taking the time to read.

adp.

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Reading:

• Friedrich Schleiermacher, Glaubenslehre (The Christian Faith)

• Bruce L. McCormack, The Humility of the Eternal Son: Reformed Kenoticism and the Repair of Chalcedon

• Leilah Danielson, American Ghandi: A. J. Muste and the History of Radicalism in the Twentieth Century

Watching:

• Righteous Gemstones (HBO Max)

• The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

Listening:

• “I’m Sorry, Tokyo” by Brooke Alexx

• “I Don’t Feel the Same” by Ephraim McFarland

• “I’m Tired” by Labrinth & Zendaya

• “SCOTUS cringe and ‘Turning Red’” Time to Say Goodbye [Podcast] - Jay Caspian Kang, Tammy Kim, and Amy Liu