Below are some email principles that I have adopted (and re-adopted) over the past fifteen years. Nothing original here; I got all of this from other people. 1. Email is an Electronic Mailbox. Treat it as such. No email on my phone. Only check work email on my work computer at work. Email app or tab only open when I am intentionally reading or writing mail. Ruthless elimination of Junk Mail.
Today I learned that Archbishop Rowan Williams was at Trinity Church, blocks from the Twin Towers, on 9/11. You can watch him speak about that experience here.
My brief remembrance of Wendell Berry is in The Living Church today.
I present Berry as (at least) the unofficial patron saint of going outside, freedom from our political and techno-overlords, those who “can’t shake the feeling of having been led,” and those who seek to form more fully the next generation. All shared through four messages I sent to four groups of friends the night he passed.
Read the essay here Art by Derek Latta
Or—hear me out—you could spend time encountering the biblical texts afresh with your specific congregation on your heart, instead.
Paging the Donatist controversy.
A coat rack to use for stoles and scarves—with a vertical hierarchy of priorities—is now up in the office.
Two stunning features of the Transfiguration as we celebrate that Feast today:
This is a beautifully hand-crafted gift from one of our graduates. Designed to fit the edition of Screwtape Letters I have used in class for years.
Classes I am teaching this year:
Excited to serve this year as Theologian in Residence for the ORIGIN program at Art House Dallas!
Finished reading: Moonbound by Robin Sloan 📚
I can’t recall why I stopped reading this a year or so ago, but I started over this summer and am glad I finished. First of all: it was a fun read. Arthurian legends and the White Stripes were not on my bingo card, but alas, Sloan delivered.
Current print and audio reads:
Next up:
I will revisit the print edition this year, but for now I will enjoy Malcolm’s voice being the first to tell me the story.
Do Spurs have the most interesting midfield in the Premier League? is worth watching if (1) you are a Tottenham supporter and need to recover from last season by indulging in some (false?) hope, or (2) you enjoy a good laugh. If (1) and (2) are both true, then this becomes a must watch. ⚽️
Mortimer Adler on the virtue of Temperance:
If the poets and the historians describe the prevalence and the range of man’s intemperance, the moralists tend to be unanimous in recommending self-control or moderation. There is hardly any variety of moral theory . . . which does not recommend the discipline of desire by reason and which does not condemn sensuality, self- indulgence, unchecked appetites, or passions run wild.
Kept near the keyboard:
We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.
From the Preface to the 1961 edition of Screwtape Letters.
Rhythms of Habit proofs are complete! Pre-orders will ship on September 15.
I kept a few thoughts throughout the tournament scribbled in a notebook. I shared many of those World Cup reflections in today’s edition of my personal newsletter.
I have found myself on a bit of a Michael Crichton bender; I finished Jurassic Park this week, and then started and finished Prey.
Then what happened? A junior in our school came to my office today to talk about his Capstone paper topic for the year: de-extinction and its ethical implications.
Currently reading: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 📚
In prep for an impromptu book club later this month. The movie is one of my all-time favorites; finding it hard to put the book down!
A consolation on the morning after a disheartening performance by an otherwise excellent USMNT:
Great World Cup teams have already been knocked out of this tournament, and for the first time since I’ve started following soccer, the US is one of them.