2022: the blog

Unless I’m mistaken, this is my 102nd blog post of 2022. That comes to one post every 3-4 days; about twice per week. I’m happy with that pace. Sometimes I’m quoting, sometimes I’m linking, sometimes I’m writing. Here’s a rundown, by general category, of the last group.

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10. On pop culture, I wrote about Spielberg, The Gray Man, and why some movies don’t sell tickets. Also about Kenobi and Andor. I wrote thrice about Better Call Saul: on Kim, on happy endings, and a long reply to Alan Jacobs’ disappointment with the finale. Finally, in what I think is one of the better things I wrote this year, I compared the theological visions of Malick and Scorsese in A Hidden Life and Silence.

9. On various authors, I wrote about C. S. Lewis’s perennial appeal; about some clever ripostes to the claim that we can’t “turn back the clock”; about Robert Jenson, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and the bishop of Rome on Alpha Centauri; and about Oliver Burkeman and atelic self-help advice.

8. On Christian ethics, I wrote some theses as well as a primer, both for my students.

7. On writing, I wrote about sticking with blogging versus moving to Substack; about the way some journalistic and other popular writing feels like it was written by an algorithm; about the annoying tic of the same sort of writers to use “arbitrary” in useless ways; and about how to review and be reviewed.

6. On academia, I wrote a little spoof of deutero-Pauline studies and other claims to pseudonymity in “Pseudo-Scorsese.” I also wrote about the touchiness of major scholars; about the difference between being gotten right versus getting at the truth; and about what expertise is and why academics and other “experts” should be a little warier in their frontal assault on the “war against expertise.”

5. On technology, I wrote about the take temptation; about Twitter and podcasts and a general personal tech use update; and a series of three responses to Andy Crouch, Jeff Bilbro, and Alan Jacobs: tech-wise BenOp; tech for normies; and deflating tech catastrophism.

4. On politics, I wrote about the uses of conservatism; about prudence policing; and about politics cathexis (which has spawned a new series by Richard Beck). I also wrote three reflections prompted by Aaron Renn, James Wood, Tim Keller, and Christians in American politics: Wood v. Keller; so-called negative world; and another word on negative world.

3. On the Bible, I wrote two posts about Acts: one about its Jewish leaders, another about its inegalitarian treatment of leadership and discernment. I also proposed a test for Christian exegesis and tracked Jenson on metaphor, Scripture, and theology; I further noted the complexities of the church’s relation to the canon and popular sophistry about X or Y “not being in the Bible.” I wrote a bunch about biblicism, too: post-biblicist biblicists (and a follow-up); the alternatives to inerrancy and sacred tradition (hint: there aren’t any); and reasons why a Christian should trust the Bible.

2. I wrote the most this year about a convergence of topics, all centered on the church, division and reunion, the rising generation (“Gen Z”), ministry, worship, preaching, teaching, evangelism, and catechesis. In terms of young people and nonbelievers, I wrote about what I want for my students, what Christian parents (should) want for their children, double literacy loss (and follow-up), four loves loss (and follow-up), misdiagnosis of the problem churches are facing, and the post-Christian West. I also wrote about so-called Christian masculinity, “church people,” and church for normies (not for heroes). Finally, I wrote about temptations of the over-educated to making silly assumptions about what “smart” Christians are allowed to believe, and my own inoculation against this temptation.

1. In terms of church practices, pastoring and worship, and ecclesial institutions, I wrote about the prospects of reunion; about church on Christmas; about lifelong ministry; about CCM; about sermon length; about the atheism of the therapeutic church; and about principles for non-therapeutic preaching. Alongside the Crouch-related pieces above, the most read posts on the blog this year belonged to a four-part series about churches of Christ and, in conjunction with it, some further reflections on evangelicalism: CoC as catholic; CoC as evangelical; CoC future; CoC coda; defining evangelicalism; the problem with evangelicalism; and evangelical addenda.

2022: reading

On its own terms, it was a solid year for reading. In terms of my goals, however, not so much. What with health, travel, and professional matters hoovering up all my attention from July to December, my reading plummeted in the second half of 2022. Last year I wrote about how, for years, I’d been stuck in the 90-110 zone for books read annually. Last year I climbed to 120. This year I hoped to reach 150. Alas, by the time Sunday rolls around I’ll have read 122 this year. At least I didn’t regress.

The environmental goals I made, I kept: namely, to cut down TV even more; to stick to audiobooks over podcasts; and to leaven scholarly theology with novels, nonfiction, poetry, and audiobooks. I make these goals, not because I value quantity over quality, nor because I want to read faster or just read a bunch of smaller books. It’s because setting these goals pushes me to set aside much less worthy uses of my time in order to focus on what is better for me and what I genuinely prefer. Both the direct effects (more reading) and the knock-on effects (less TV, less phone and laptop, less wasted time on mindless or mind-sucking activities) are what I’m after. And, as I’ve written before, I didn’t grow up reading novels. Which means I’m always playing catch-up.

My aspirational monthly goal is 2-3 novels, 2-3 volumes of poetry, 2-3 audiobooks, 3-4 nonfiction works, 4-8 works of academic theology. That alone should push me to the 140-160 range. I was on pace heading into August this year, then cratered. As 2023 approaches, I won’t make 150 my “realistic” goal; I’ll set it at 135. But one of my brothers as well as another friend both hit 200 this past year, which puts me to shame. So perhaps a little friendly competition will do the job.

In any case, what follows is a list of my favorite books I read this year. Two new books I was disappointed in: Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and The Ink Black Heart, the sixth entry in J. K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series. I won’t write about the latter, but I might find time for the former. I also read J. G. Ballard’s Crash for the first time, a hateful experience. I “get” it. But getting it doesn’t make the reading pleasant, or even justify the quality of the book. I do plan to write about that one.

Here are the ones I did like, with intermittent commentary.

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Rereads

5. Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time.

4. G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man. Hadn’t picked this one up in 22 years. Magnificent.

3. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. I’m willing to call this a perfect book. I should probably read it every year for the rest of my life. Lewis really is a moral anatomist nonpareil.

2. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. Hadn’t read this one since middle school. Had completely forgotten about the technologies Bradbury conjured up as substitutes for reading—the very technologies (influencers live-streaming the manipulated melodrama of their own lives into ordinary people’s homes via wall-to-wall screens) we have used to the same end.

1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. I could not remember when or whether I’d read this years and years ago, but I listened to Forest Whitaker’s rendition on Spotify and it was excellent. Highly recommended. (The audio recording; I know Douglass himself doesn’t need my stamp of approval.)

Poetry

I won’t pretend to have read as much poetry as I have in previous years. I finishing rereading R. S. Thomas’s poems; I got to a couple more collections by Denise Levertov; and I read Malcolm Guite’s The Singing Bowl, my first of his volumes. I’m hoping to get back into more poetry in the new year.

Fiction

10. William Goldman, The Princess Bride. Never knew Goldman wrote it as a book before it became a screenplay and a film. A delight.

9. John Le Carré, Silverview. A fitting send-off to the master.

8. Ian Fleming, Casino Royale. Brutality with flair. I wasn’t prepared for how good the prose, the plotting, the thematic subtext would all be. I wonder what would happen if, in the next film adaptation, they actually committed to adapting the character rather than a sanitized version of him. I’m not recommending that: Bond is wicked, and the Connery films valorized his wickedness. But the books commit to the bit, and it makes them a startling read some 70 years later.

7. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan. The second entry in the Earthsea saga. I expect to read the rest this year.

6. Walter Mosley, Trouble is What I Do. My second Mosley. Someone adapt this, please! Before picking it up, I had just finished a brand new novel celebrated by the literary establishment, a novel that contains not one interesting idea, much less an interesting sentence. Whereas Mosley is incapable of writing uninteresting sentences. He’s got more style in his pinky finger than most writers have in their whole bodies.

5. Mick Herron, Slow Horses & Dead Lions. I got hooked, before watching the series. Casting Oldman as Jackson Lamb, he who also played Smiley on film, is inspired. I expect to finish the whole series by summer. Herron isn’t as good as Le Carré—who is?—but his ability to write twisty plots in punchy prose that intersects politics without getting preachy: that’s a winning ticket.

4. Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House. My first Jackson. As good as advertised. Read it with some guys in a book club, and one friend had a theory that another friend who’d read the novel a dozen times had never considered. I’m still thinking about it.

3. Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz. Wrote about it here.

2. Brian Moore, The Statement. I’ve never read anything like this novel. It floored me. James and Le Carré are my two genre masters, each of whose corpus I will complete sometime in my life. Moore may now be on the list, not least owing to his genre flexibility. I’ve read Catholics. I just grabbed Black Robe. Thanks to John Wilson for the recommendation.

1. P. D. James, The Children of Men. I’m an evangelist for this one. Don’t get me started. Just marvel, with me, that a lifelong mystery writer—who didn’t publish her first novel till age 40—found it within herself, in her 70s, to write a hyper-prescient work of dystopian fiction on a par with Huxley, Orwell, Ballard, Bradbury, and Chesterton. I would also add Atwood, since this novel is so clearly a Christian response to The Handmaid’s Tale. As ever, all hail the Queen.

Nonfiction

10. A bunch of books about liberalism, neoliberalism, and the right: Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society; Joel Kotkin, The Coming of Neo-Feudalism; Mark Lilla, The Once and Future Liberal; Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents; Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Elite Capture; Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order; Mark Lilla, The Shipwrecked Mind; Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences; Matthew Continetti, The Right.

9. John Pfaff, Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform. Outstanding. Hat tip to Matthew Lee Anderson for the recommendation.

8. Christopher Hitchens, A Hitch in Time. A pleasure to dip back in to some of Hitch’s best work. But also a reminder, with time and distance, of some of his less pleasant vices.

7. James Mumford, Vexed & Yuval Levin, A Time to Build. Imagining life beyond tribalism, neither pessimistic nor optimistic. Just hopeful.

6. Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks & Phil Christman, How to Be Normal. I wrote about Burkeman here. Christman is a mensch. Read both, ideally together.

5. Wilfred M. McClay, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story & Andrew Delbanco, The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War.

4. Freeman Dyson, The Scientist as Rebel.

3. Louise Perry, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution.

2. Wendell Berry, The Art of Loading Brush. He’s still got it. There are a couple essays here that rank among Berry’s best.

1. Jonathan Lear, Radical Hope. The best book of any kind I read in 2022. One of the best books I’ve ever read. A one of one. On a par with After Virtue, A Secular Age, and other magisterial table-setters. Except this one is half the size and happens to focus on Plenty Coups, the Crow, and the moral and philosophical grounds for continuing to live in the face of reasonable despair. Take and read.

Christian (popular)

8. John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life. Hand on heart, I’d never read a Piper book in my life. I wanted something short and punchy on audio, and this fit the bill. Turns out the man can preach.

7. John Mark Comer, Love-ology & The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry & Live No Lies. Hopped on the JMC train this year, since all of my students and many of my friends love his books. He’s doing good work. Pair him with Sayers, Crouch, Wilson, and Dane Ortlund, plus the younger gents at the intersection of Mere O, Davenent, and Theopolis—Meador, Loftus, Anderson, Roberts, Littlejohn, et al—and if you squint a bit, you can see the emerging writers, leaders, and intellectuals of a sane American evangelicalism, should that strange and unruly beast have a future. And if it doesn’t, they’re the ones who will be there on the other side.

6. Ronald Rolheiser, Domestic Monastery. Simply lovely.

5. Mark Sayers, Disappearing Church. Shrewd, lucid diagnosis. Not so sure about the prescription.

4. Andy Crouch, The Life We’re Looking For. Click on the “Andy Crouch” tag on this blog and you’ll see tens of thousands of words spilled over this book as well as Andy’s larger project. A wonderful man, a great writer, a gift to Christian attempts to think and live wisely today.

3. Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved. I listened to this one on audio. I wept.

2. Andrew Wilson, Spirit and Sacrament. Just what the doctor ordered for my students.

1. Abigail Favale, The Genesis of Gender. The unrivaled summer beach read of 2022. No joke, I was at the beach in July and looked to my right and then to my left and saw more than one person reading it. You heard it here first.

Theology (newer)

15. Some books on Christian ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed (by Victor Lee Austin), A Brief History (by Michael Banner), A Very Short Introduction (by D. Stephen Long).

14. Myles Werntz, A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence & From Isolation to Community. Two accessible entries from a friend on Christian pacifism and Christian community. Nab copies of both today!

13. Charlie Trimm, The Destruction of the Canaanites. See my review in Christianity Today.

12. David Bentley Hart, Tradition and Apocalypse & You Are Gods.

11. Victor Lee Austin, Friendship: The Heart of Being Human. Victor makes a case that friendship is not just the heart of being human, but the heart of the gospel; or rather, the latter because the former; or vice versa.

10. Fred Sanders, Fountain of Salvation. See my forthcoming review in Pro Ecclesia.

9. Edwin Chr. van Driel, Rethinking Paul. See my review in Modern Theology.

8. Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, The Love That is God. This one will be on a syllabus very soon.

7. R. B. Jamieson and Tyler Wittman, Biblical Reasoning. See my forthcoming review in International Journal of Systematic Theology.

6. William G. Witt, Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination. So far as I can see, immediately the standard work on the question. I’d love to see some good-faith engagements from the other side, both Protestant and Catholic.

5. John M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift & Paul and the Power of Grace.

4. Christopher Bryan, The Resurrection of the Messiah. Historical, textual, linguistic, literary, and theological scholarship at its finest.

3. Mark Kinzer, Searching Her Own Mystery. I learned a lot from this book. I try to read everything Kinzer writes on the topic of Israel, church, and messianic Judaism. Even better something focused on a particular text, in this case Nostra Aetate.

2. Adam Neder, Theology as a Way of Life. Pellucid and compelling. A beautiful vision that captures heart and mind both. Here’s a taste.

1. Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament. What can I say? I have a thing for contrarian dating of the NT. I’m not at all persuaded by the consensus dating of most first-century Christian writings. Bernier updates John A. T. Robinson’s classic Redating the New Testament, with a clearly enunciated methodology deployed in calm, measured arguments that avoid even a hint of polemic. For that very reason, an invigorating read.

Theology (older)

6. A Reformation Debate: The Letters of Bishop Sadoleto and John Calvin. (Whispers: Calvin doesn’t win this round.)

5. Papal social encyclicals: Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, Humanae Vitae, & Lumen Gentium. Always worth a re-read.

4. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God & Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Beautiful, devotional, exemplary models of spiritual theology.

3. St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Church: Select Treatises & On the Church: Select Letters.

2. St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice. Blows your hair back then lights it on fire.

1. Michael Ramsey, The Gospel and the Catholic Church. Is Ramsey the most underrated Anglophone theologian of the twentieth century? The man had exquisite theological sense; he wrote with style and passion; he cared about the unity of the church; he was a bona fide scholar; he wrote about everything; he became Archbishop of Canterbury; what’s not to love? Both this work and his little volume on the resurrection are classics.

2022: a year in two parts

My year could be divided roughly in two parts. Between January and early August, I had at least ten essays published in various venues, plus a book, a few podcasts, and reviews in academics journals. During that time I gave a number of presentations and also wrote a peer-reviewed journal article that was published later in the fall. But since the start of the fall semester, it’s been pretty quiet.

The reasons why are many. Two are professional; the others are related to family, health, and travel. First, I submitted my application for tenure and promotion in late September, so I spent August and September on that. Second, I completed the revisions and endnotes for a new book manuscript, which I submitted in early December. On the personal side, our house got hit with Covid a third time in ten months in late summer, followed by some other health issues with our kids. Thankfully, all of that is behind us now. But it meant that every waking second not sleeping, teaching, revising the manuscript, or applying for T&P was spent caring for the family. Oh, and did I mention we’re in the middle of a move? I’m told those are stressful, too.

It was a good year, though. I found out last week that I have officially received both tenure and promotion, which is a relief. The book is in the hands of the publisher. I’ve recorded two podcasts due out in the next couple months. I’m working on not one but two books due in the next thirty months. And I’ve got a bunch of smaller pieces in process of being published or set to be written this winter and spring. More on that in a coming post.

For now, here’s a list of publications, presentations, and interviews from my year.

Podcasts

The Liberating Arts (Liberal Learning for Life, 25 April 2022). A short interview on the liberal arts and education I recorded way back in May 2021.

The Doctrine of Scripture (Mere Fidelity, 26 April 2022). My first bona fide theology podcast, with the lovely guys at Mere Fi, covering my first book.

Faith, Politics, Ecology, and Despair (The Arts of Travel Podcast, 19 June 2022). A somewhat random, challenging, but invigorating conversation about Wendell Berry, ecology, left politics, and Christian faith.

The Bible as the Church’s Book (Crackers and Grape Juice, 8 July 2022). A conversation about my second book with another OG faith-and-theology pod.

Essays

Grace upon Grace (Comment, 13 January 2022). The first of two pieces this year on gratitude to God. This is the synthetic one, locating gratitude in Christian theological grammar.

Jewish Jesus, Black Christ (The Christian Century, 25 January 2022). A long-simmering essay—the magazine’s cover story!—first drafted in August 2020.

Marked by Death (First Things, 2 March 2022). A short liturgical reflection for Ash Wednesday.

The Question of the Conquest (Christianity Today, 21 March 2022). A review of Charlie Trimm’s book about the conquest of Canaan. My favorite opening to something I wrote this year. And apparently the ninth most-read book review on CT’s website this year!

Unlearning Machines (Comment, 24 March 2022). A long review essay of Audrey Watters’ latest book, reflecting on Ed Tech and digital’s long mission to colonize education of every kind. This or the next essay were, I think, the best things I wrote this year, though it felt like no one happened upon this one. So be it.

Can We Be Human in Meatspace? (The New Atlantis, 2 May 2022). An even longer review essay, this time of Andy Crouch’s latest book. It sparked a whole series of exchanges, on Twitter, on blogs, and on email, with Alan Jacobs, with Jeff Bilbro, with Andy himself. All were gracious and kind. A blast to participate, and a fun and worthwhile book to kick it all off.

Another Option for Christian Politics (Front Porch Republic, 4 July 2022). A short piece proposing, somewhat tongue in cheek, one more saint as a substitute for the Benedict Option. My first for FPR.

The Ruins of Christendom (Los Angeles Review of Books, 10 July 2022). A review essay of Stanley Hauerwas’s latest book on Hauerwas and politics. I promised to come under 2,000 words, and I kept my word. This one pairs well with the next piece.

The Church in the Immanent Frame (First Things, 14 July 2022). A shorter review of Andrew Root’s book on the crisis of church decline in the West. So much of Root’s diagnosis is apt, but I took modest issue with what I perceived to be a kind of resignation to social and cultural norms and presuppositions the church not only need not accept, but will assuredly outlast.

Response to Alastair Roberts (Theopolis, 11 August 2022). A long response to Alastair’s own long engagement with my second book. He then replied to my reply. Just wonderful.

Academic

Review of Edwin Chr. van Driel, Rethinking Paul: Protestant Theology and Pauline Exegesis (Modern Theology, online 2022). This one was published early-access online in February, though only now is it in print, in the January 2023 issue of the journal. It’s a superb and thought-provoking book, so I’m glad the editors gave me some real space to engage it in the review.

The Church’s Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, May 2022). The book! My second. My second overall, that is, and my second on the Bible. But my first written, in a sense, since it’s a major revision of my dissertation, initially completed in May 2017. So happy to see this out in the world. Originally $50, then $25. Now down to $20 on the Bezos site. Go buy it today!

Is Scripture a Gift? Reflections on the Divine-Ecclesial Provision of the Canon (Religions, Fall 2022). This one was a labor of love, though emphasis on labor. My second piece related to gratitude to God, albeit focused on the canon, in a sort of experimental key. Not sure the whole thing holds together, but I’m confident the pieces work. And it was a pleasure canvassing the literature on the gift.

Talks, Lectures, Presentations

“The Word of the Lord: Reading Scripture in and for Christ’s Body,” CSART Public Lecture, Abilene, TX, February 15, 2022. Link to video here.

“Hearing the Word of the Lord,” Intersection Webinar: Siburt Institute for Church Ministry, April 12, 2022. Link to video here.

“Response to Reviews of The Doctrine of Scripture,” Christian Scholars’ Conference, Nashville, TN, June 8, 2022. The CSC devoted a session to my first book. They met in person, but alas, I wasn’t able to be there. So I Zoomed into the session, listened to the papers, then gave my response via Zoom. They could actually see and hear me! No tech snafus! An academia miracle.

“Tradition and Liturgy for Churches of Christ,” University Church of Christ, August 24, 2022. A two-part presentation on sacred tradition, liturgy, and the role of Christian doctrine in hearing and reading Scripture. There’s nothing quite like committed CoC laypeople in a Wednesday night class. You rise to their level, not the other way around.

“Reading Scripture with the Church,” University Church of Christ, August 31, 2022. The aforementioned part two.

“Preaching for Martyrs in Training,” Summit Lectureship, Abilene, TX, October 14, 2022. A chat with some CoC preachers about the state of the church, Gen Z, and the power of preaching for the spiritual formation of an illiterate and uncatechized generation.

“The Word of the Lord,” Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, Abilene, TX, October 19, 2022. A happy visit to the local Episcopal parish—they’re like CoC-ers, only their potlocks include wine and Compline. I talked about the Bible. They were a rapt audience. It was lovely.

“Knowing Christ,” ACU Commencement Address, Abilene, TX, December 16, 2022. This one was a surprise. Last May, at commencement ceremonies, I was shocked and overwhelmed to receive the award—voted on by the students!—of Teacher of the Year. (Here’s the write-up by the student newspaper and ACU’s magazine, respectively.) One of the honors of the award is that the TOTY give the December commencement address later the same year. So here I am, in all my glory, giving a charge to the December 2022 graduating class of ACU; I’m introduced around 1:02:00 and I finish the speech around 1:14:00. Enjoy: