If not a talent, everyone at least has a hobby. Mine is drudgery. Busywork. Slogging. Not unlike most former high school debate team dweebs, I’m good at sticking to a topic long after it would become obnoxious to a reasonable person. Now, OT readers, I bring the fruit of my weird habits to you: I’ll be writing here about Christian theology and ethics, the two subjects I pour nearly all of my time into.
Why write? And of Christian theology, specifically political theology and ethics? I recall reading of Christianity in Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You that,
“…instead of the punishment which all the old laws of religions and governments alike laid down for non-fulfillment of their rules, instead of promises of rewards for fulfillment of them, this doctrine called men to it only because it was the truth.”
Profound note on Christianity, if not the most insightful with regard to other ancient faiths. But the note of profundity, that Christianity features for its adherents a unique call to the truth, has remained with me for a long time. It’s invigorating in the sense that it encourages curiosity and intellectual honesty, which is not to say that Christian leadership has always featured the finest track record with regard to encouraging those virtues. In fact, Christianity still carries with it the stain of hundreds of years of intellectual repression and backwardness, especially in the United States. Part of my purposes is to work against the vein of virulent anti-intellectualism in the American Christian right, and to participate in the vibrant culture of thought and argument that’s remained alive (if slightly less well known than vocal ignorant counterparts) within Christianity through the ages.
I also like to vindicate the Christian left, since it gets a short shrift in American policy discourse. And most of all, I like to make hard topics that are important to people and within my scope of understanding available and accessible to people of all different abilities, levels of education, linguistic backgrounds, and walks of life. In the United States, Christianity is heavily political and oft-impactful, and I want all of us to be able to participate wisely in discussions within it and about it.
I’ve written on the thrilling topics of Christian ethics and political thought for Salon and the Atlantic; sometimes the Christianity is foregrounded, and sometimes it’s off-stage. But it is my frame, and I’m usually express about it when I’m adopting another for the sake of argument. I collaborate often with Matt Bruenig, who is well worth following if the nuts and bolts of poverty policy interest you. In my more creative moments I’ve written longer form and slightly more poetical essays on Christianity, poverty, and ethics for the LA Review of Books and The Nervous Breakdown. Last of my many venues is my humble blog, where I muse on the news and the things I happen to be reading at the moment.
Most moments, I’m reading Augustine. It’s a hang-up. An obsession. And there’s so much to read, it never gets old! If it did get old, I could always read people who’ve read about Augustine, for the sheer volume of secondary Augustinian literature could paper the earth six times over with enough left to balance the short leg of my coffee table. Augustine’s gravitas is such that I tend to read contemporary philosophers and theologians who claim him as an influence, which includes just about everyone. Favorites are Rawls, Sen, Nagel, Niebuhr, so on, so forth, the usual. So, expect these fellows to show up with some frequency, especially as I like to put together genealogies of Christian ethical premises in their modern incarnations when I have the time.
My own personal politics are decidedly leftist. I’m not associated with any American political party, which is fortunate for them, as I’d be dead weight here in the United Kingdom. After finishing up at Brandeis University, I made my way to the University of Cambridge, where I now study at aptly named Jesus College.
Outside of my work in Christian ethics and political theology, I do manage to hold down a few regular projects. I’ve worked for years in homeless shelters on about every level: administration, client service, and fundraising, program management, you name it, I’ve done it. It makes good sense, I think, to maintain a close and personal relationship with the human experience of poverty if one intends to write about it, and since poverty is high on the list of my political and ethical priorities, I devote a great deal of my time to working with people who struggle to acquire and/or maintain adequate resources. I also do quite a lot of work tutoring and teaching English language learners, no unique ethical reason, just something I enjoy.
Otherwise I’m a pretty run-of-the-mill person. I grew up in Dallas, Texas, moved to Boston for university, and hope to settle down in the Washington D.C. area sometime soon. I coach debate and work at debate camps, love to spend time in the garden, am totally and unabashedly family-oriented, and have awful taste in music. I’m so excited to be writing for you here, and I look forward to getting to know you in the comments.
My dear Lady welcome to the League (I’m an oldtimer, I get to still call it that)! I’m utterly transported that you’ll be contributing here.Report
Thank you so much! I’m excited to be here as well!Report
Welcome.Report
Awesome. Welcome aboard.Report
Welcome aboard! I spent a very brief part of my college career studying the Christian — particularly Catholic — left and look forward to your offerings on the subject.Report
Hope I can do the topic justice!Report
Having just stumbled upon your blog and seeing your most recent post was a takedown of that Douthat column on the pope, I am pretty confident you will. I generally don’t read much on religion, but that piece found my eye and made me angry. Good luck to you!Report
Welcome! I look forward to posts from a Christian left perspective-though not a member of the tribe, my post-modernist leanings often dovetail with the left.Report
Welcome! glad you are joining usReport
Very excited to have you here, Elizabeth. Welcome!Report
Thanks so much, Tod! Excited to be here.Report
Welcome aboard.
I look forward to another person on the left joining and to debates between the differences on Judaism and Christianity. I’ve never been fond of the right-wing using the phrase Judeo-Christianity because there beliefs are so different than mine.
Even though Brandeis is officially non-denominational, I think most American Jews (and maybe the broader university community) see it as a Secular Jewish undergrad campus. I think most of the students are Jewish (though when I toured there was a large Asian population as well). I’m curious about how you ended up at Brandeis and whether you felt it was a strongly Jewish campus or not.Report
Brandeis is completely secular in the sense that no student is ever compelled to any kind of religious participation, but it’s true that roughly half of the students are Jewish, and that special work is done to make space for observance of Jewish holidays. The Jewish influence is pretty palpable, which I rather liked — it makes for a very vibrant, lively community.
I went to Brandeis because I toured and liked it — the culture, the atmosphere, everything was right for me. I also minored in Jewish studies there, in preparation for further study of Christianity. So I’d definitely agree the Jewish aspect of Brandeis’ identity is important, but also that it lends itself to a lot of different experiences.Report
You sound very interesting. I look forward to your substantive posts.Report
Very kind of you, Caleb! I’m excited to get writing.Report
Welcome aboard. I may not comment on your posts much, since my own lack of religion would probably lead any contributions to threads to turn to pixel dust, but i’ll be reading.Report
Hopefully there will be some substance there of interest regardless of religious engagement — the lefty stuff, namely! But thanks so much for the commitment to read.Report
Hello and welcome.Report
Hello, and thank you!Report
Welcome Elizabeth and let me post your first challenge.
Leo Tolstoy’s interpretation of Christianity is more than a little off in my opinion. Christianity offered a reward for following Christ since it’s earliest days, salvation and it offered a punishment, damnation. It’s not as explicitly law based as other religions, especially the two other Monotheistic ones, but in traditional Christianity there was a reward and punishment based on belief in Christ.
Judaism in contrast does not have any explicit reward for obeying Halacha. Jews are supposed to observe the Mitzvah just because. In the Torah, God does not mention any reward for following the mitzvah for the most part.Report
Tolstoy’s interpretation of Christianity is mediated through the theological sources available to him, among which Augustine was chief. Augustine, like most early church fathers, had an unhealthy disdain for Judaism, which was oft-maligned as overly ‘legalistic’ and ‘loophole-oriented.’ Augustine read no Hebrew and had much less of an understanding of Judaism than, say, Jerome, but nonetheless his reading of Judaism was popular and impactful. I submit in my post that Tolstoy’s reading is not insightful on that count.
Now, whether or not Christian salvation is a prudential reward or a natural outcome of loving God is something to be argued between faithful folks and cynics. Certainly critics of Christian faith will identify salvation/damnation as a stick-and-carrot setup, but faithful Christians would counter that while salvation and damnation are facets of God’s mercy and justice respectively, one obeys God out of love, and comes into apprehension of worship of Him out of the same. Whether or not you want to imagine your average Christian to be motivated purely by love or by something more is up to you, of course!Report
I am absolutely delighted to have you on board and I look forward to many interesting and challenging posts!Report
Welcome, Elizabeth! Wonderful to have you writing here!Report
Boy, it’s just hitting me. With Kyle’s book done & him posting again and Elizabeth now on board, we godless hedonists are going to have to pick up the pace or this place might start looking semi-respectable.Report
Well, you could try to convert us. As a half-godly hedonist with a +7 on Doubt, I’m on the road already.Report
Hey, who are you calling a hedonist, @tod-kelly ?Report
Perish the thought my Tod! We need to get some Bacchanalia goin around here.Report
@burt-likko Well, certainly me.Report
Io Saturnalia!
… speaking of which, is it opposite day yet?Report
Saturnalia will be December 30 this year, inconveniently on a Monday. (It is December 17 on the Julian Calendar, and you can convert to Gregorian using this handy tool.)
As for the other thing… stay tuned.Report
@kim If it was, we couldn’t tell you.Report
What about those of us that want to be hedonists but just can’t find the time?Report
Do you fight and/or write about vampires?Report
I’m not at liberty to say.
(Yes)Report
Welcome! Truly wonderful to have you.
My only qualm is that I am slightly dismayed to have yet another contributor at OT who is so very much smarter than I am.Report
Russell, you charmer! So happy to be here, and among such distinguished company. 🙂Report
Well? You can’t just provoke us like that without any follow-up. Just how awful is your taste in music?
Eh, I’m sure you’ll have opportunities to demonstrate it. Welcome aboard.Report
I’ll make it my mission to slowly reveal over time how horrible my taste in music really is.
And thanks for the welcome!Report
Welcome to the site. I’d offer you a beer, but virtual beers aren’t terribly inviting 🙂Report
But it’s the thought that counts! Excited to be here. 🙂Report
Welcome.Report
Welcome to the Times, Elizabeth.Report
Thanks so much, James.Report
Greetings, tentatively.
I feel inclined to remain somewhat skeptical of such matters at present.Report
Welcome aboard Elizabeth!
As part of the Christian Left, where do you stand on the whole public reason issue?Report
Elizabeth-
Please do not mistake my tardy welcome for bad manners- I have many other ways of displaying them.
Instead I have simply been consumed with my daily task of being a job creator and agitator of the proletariat.
I look forward to your writings.Report
Welcome! We’re stoked to have you!Report
Welcome!!! 🙂Report
My apologies for this belated welcome, Elizabeth.
My “grad school” for filmmaking was producing promotional documentaries for the National Council of Churchs, Church World Service, the General Board of Global Ministeries of the United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, all of which could be fairly described as moderately left of center organizations. I learned a lot, produced some worthwhile films, had a lot of fun (and some frustration too.)
Welcome to the League. I look forward to reading your posts!Report