June 27, 2026
Operation Reconquista and the Unconscious of Inclusion
Why are people leaving mainline churches? Operation Reconquista has an answer. So does Brandan Robertson. Both, I argue, hide the same thing: self-obsession.
Articles for tag: Church, Martha Nussbaum, psychoanalysis, queer theology, theology
Are you an APOCALOPTIMIST? I am.
Tristan Harris's "apocaloptimism" — political activism for a pro-human AI future — may be missing something crucial: *the anti-human present is already here.* Drawing on queer theory, Pauline theology, and a revealing visit to Judson Memorial Church, this post argues that the proliferation of AIs reflects our collective exhaustion with the tedium of modern life and its normative authorities. Where the church offers the tired prescription of more God-talk, AIs may be better positioned to help people pursue the intimate lives they actually want. Against the mainline Protestant culture of self-care as mourning past intimate lives, the Pauline command to simply "love one another" points toward something both livelier and queerer. With Harris, and against him, the author lands as an apocaloptimist — betting that honest reckoning with the revelation of our anti-human present can still open toward a more human future.
February 19, 2026
Placental Relations: Theology, Viability, and Roe v. Wade
What if Roe v. Wade was wiser than either its defenders or its critics realized? In this post, I take an unconventional path through medieval theology, Peter Sloterdijk's philosophy of the placenta, and Hildegard of Bingen's vision of ensoulment to argue that the Roe Court's viability standard wasn't arbitrary legal improvisation — it was judicial wisdom rooted in a remarkably consistent convergence of theological tradition and modern medicine. Along the way, I make the case that consistent originalism actually leads to a more radical pro-choice conclusion than Roe ever did, and that Dobbs, for all its claims of constitutional fidelity, is just as extra-legal as the decision it overturned — only less honest about it.
July 31, 2025
God’s Semen and Alien Mushrooms: The Christology of Joe Rogan?
Does Joe Rogan believe Jesus Christ is an alien mushroom born of God’s semen? It seems so. And that's interesting, right?!
The Digital Cleric: AI, Theology, and the End of Textual Authority
AI represents the *ongoing* clerical tradition of the death of God. It merely reinforces the displacement of theology by hermeneutics/method.
July 6, 2025
Against (Virtually) Normal: Law, Politics, and the Trans/Queer Body
Andrew Sullivan follows the SCOTUS majority, naturalizing a conservative theology of sex while masquerading it as liberal neutrality.
March 5, 2025
Ash Wednesday & the Animal Body
This reflection on Ash Wednesday juxtaposes the solemnity of receiving ashes with the harsh realities of animal death and decay, evoked by images of animal bodies. It challenges the readers to confront their animal vulnerability. It concludes with a recommended practice that contemplates Carolee Schneemann's Meat Joy.
March 4, 2025
AI and Miracles: On Protestant & Catholic Turtles
Jessica Riskin's essay, "Turtles All the Way Up," examines free will versus determinism in and through a critical review of Robert Sapolsky's book, *Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will* (2023). She links determinism to Christian theology. The 2024 film *Conclave* parallels this discourse through characters and symbolism, particularly using turtles to represent agency, transformation, and the potential for surprise within material reality.
October 23, 2024
It’s a Fem: Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
In this essay, I argue that Mary is a figure of the Spirit of God. Matthew defines the Spirit in and through Mary, described in and through a tradition of maternal rebellion and survival. Matthew's Jesus, who is of Mary, of the Spirit, incarnates a non-standard, "feminine" messianism. And we will, too—if we are of Jesus.
October 8, 2024
What is Traditional Gay Male Theology(, Now)?
Traditional gay male Christian theology is a post-Stonewall (1969) theological movement that unapologetically embraces gay male difference from straightness as a legitimate starting point for Christian theological reflection. Gay theologians define gay male difference in and through theories of androgyny. Androgyny is a flawed theory of gayness. The future of gay theology depends on reinterpreting gay male difference as identification with devalued femininity.
