Burke Gerstenschlager
@bleaktheology.bsky.social
Finishing a book on Joy Division, lament, & God. Former academic book editor. Religion & culture writer. Kierkegaardian. Anti-fascist. UT-Austin Classics BA. YDS MDiv. Episcolutheran. Your post-punk counterweight to joy in Brooklyn.
Pinned
A Bleak Theology Guide to Resistance
Everything is terrible everywhere all at once. What to do? How to respond? Here is a Guide of ten things to help weather this storm. I hope that you will find this Guide helpful. It is a longer read, but I believe it is worth it. Take your time. Ruminate on it. Share it. Peace be with you. First, for those who don't know, bleak theology is an…
www.bleaktheology.com
A Bleak Theology Guide to Resistance
Everything is terrible everywhere all at once. What to do? How to respond? Here is a Guide of ten things to help weather this storm. I hope that you will find this Guide helpful. It is a longer read, but I believe it is worth it. Take your time. Ruminate on it.…
Everything is terrible everywhere all at once. What to do? How to respond? Here is a Guide of ten things to help weather this storm. I hope that you will find this Guide helpful. It is a longer read, but I believe it is worth it. Take your time. Ruminate on it.…
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
46 years ago today
The Clash released the legendary single “London Calling” from the band’s double album of the same name
The Clash - London Calling Live in Vienna 1981
#punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd
The Clash released the legendary single “London Calling” from the band’s double album of the same name
The Clash - London Calling Live in Vienna 1981
#punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd
December 7, 2025 at 4:52 AM
46 years ago today
The Clash released the legendary single “London Calling” from the band’s double album of the same name
The Clash - London Calling Live in Vienna 1981
#punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd
The Clash released the legendary single “London Calling” from the band’s double album of the same name
The Clash - London Calling Live in Vienna 1981
#punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Last Saturday, 50,000 people attempted to block the founding convention for the new youth organization of the far-right AfD party on Nov. 29 in Germany. Wide-ranging actions-including 19 blockades around the small city-prevented a majority of participants from attending. Police beat the blockaders.
December 7, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Last Saturday, 50,000 people attempted to block the founding convention for the new youth organization of the far-right AfD party on Nov. 29 in Germany. Wide-ranging actions-including 19 blockades around the small city-prevented a majority of participants from attending. Police beat the blockaders.
I believe in the Immaculate Conception
And I believe in the resurrection
And I believe in
I believe in
I believe in the elixir of youth
And I believe in the absolute truth
Yes I believe in
I believe in
youtu.be/3H1DsRshvdM?...
And I believe in the resurrection
And I believe in
I believe in
I believe in the elixir of youth
And I believe in the absolute truth
Yes I believe in
I believe in
youtu.be/3H1DsRshvdM?...
I Believe (2008 Remastered Version)
YouTube video by Buzzcocks - Topic
youtu.be
December 7, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I believe in the Immaculate Conception
And I believe in the resurrection
And I believe in
I believe in
I believe in the elixir of youth
And I believe in the absolute truth
Yes I believe in
I believe in
youtu.be/3H1DsRshvdM?...
And I believe in the resurrection
And I believe in
I believe in
I believe in the elixir of youth
And I believe in the absolute truth
Yes I believe in
I believe in
youtu.be/3H1DsRshvdM?...
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Seen on CMU campus ❤️
December 6, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Seen on CMU campus ❤️
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
I am asking everyone to remind these dipshits that a civil conflict isn’t going to be army groups fighting on fixed lines, but packs of roaming death squads that will be more successful in rural areas than in urban ones, where densely packed communities can quickly mobilize a defence
that's cool, man, but have you tried the taste of a refreshing matcha latte
December 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I am asking everyone to remind these dipshits that a civil conflict isn’t going to be army groups fighting on fixed lines, but packs of roaming death squads that will be more successful in rural areas than in urban ones, where densely packed communities can quickly mobilize a defence
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
wake up, babe, new apocryphal infancy gospel dropped
Folks you may have been baffled by the “Kevin Costner presents the first Christmas” ad you just saw on ABC
And I am here to make it worse by sharing with you the official poster for this blessed event
And I am here to make it worse by sharing with you the official poster for this blessed event
December 6, 2025 at 6:06 PM
wake up, babe, new apocryphal infancy gospel dropped
Found this photo of high school junior me from 34/35 years ago. I was into religion x pop music from the beginning.
December 6, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Found this photo of high school junior me from 34/35 years ago. I was into religion x pop music from the beginning.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
I wish this were an exaggeration of the new US National Security Strategy. It isn’t.
The NSS makes clear: The US sees as its partner not the people who actually govern Europe, but the factions there aligned with the global far-Right.
‘Sovereignty’, excepting the US, is goodspeak for satrapy.
The NSS makes clear: The US sees as its partner not the people who actually govern Europe, but the factions there aligned with the global far-Right.
‘Sovereignty’, excepting the US, is goodspeak for satrapy.
I am ratcheting down my social media, but let me just say that all European leaders except on the far Right should note that the U.S. now seeks regime change in their country; basically seeks to depose them. US strategy is to support the political forces that threaten liberal democracy in Europe.
Trump Administration Says Europe Faces ‘Civilizational Erasure’
www.nytimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:39 AM
I wish this were an exaggeration of the new US National Security Strategy. It isn’t.
The NSS makes clear: The US sees as its partner not the people who actually govern Europe, but the factions there aligned with the global far-Right.
‘Sovereignty’, excepting the US, is goodspeak for satrapy.
The NSS makes clear: The US sees as its partner not the people who actually govern Europe, but the factions there aligned with the global far-Right.
‘Sovereignty’, excepting the US, is goodspeak for satrapy.
A journalist should ask Trump about the anniversary. Just to see what he says and how he says it.
It's the 160th anniversary of the United States' refounding, the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
December 6, 2025 at 3:32 PM
A journalist should ask Trump about the anniversary. Just to see what he says and how he says it.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
everything going according to plan
December 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
everything going according to plan
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Hey, artist! Quote with your red art! 🔺
December 6, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Hey, artist! Quote with your red art! 🔺
"Bring me my chariot of fire."
From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: Noni Madueke is part of a sizeable group of Christian players at Arsenal. Some have become renowned for loudly and proudly speaking about their faith. The "Bible Brothers" are not hiding their belief and love of God. nyti.ms/4rAk5xP
December 6, 2025 at 12:34 PM
"Bring me my chariot of fire."
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
December 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. - Matt. 19.23.
www.christianpost.com/news/stuart-...
www.christianpost.com/news/stuart-...
Barron Trump interested in supernatural dreams, 'very close' to becoming Christian: pastor
Pastor Stuart Knechtle recently claimed that President Donald Trump s 19-year-old son, Barron, is interested in claims of supernatural dreams about Jesus Christ in the Muslim world and is very close
www.christianpost.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. - Matt. 19.23.
www.christianpost.com/news/stuart-...
www.christianpost.com/news/stuart-...
C.S. Lewis's book "'Til We Crave Faces" is a classic.
December 6, 2025 at 1:59 AM
C.S. Lewis's book "'Til We Crave Faces" is a classic.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Jewish problems
![Warning! Results for year 1752 C.E. and earlier may be inaccurate.
Hebcal does not take into account a correction of ten days that was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII known as the Gregorian Reformation. [1]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4eedw4y6ei2dqjgspjeskzlk/bafkreigmpf22pmquqper5g7vivaj55yoiekvodmctlqg3phylh3fl2sp5e@jpeg)
December 5, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Jewish problems
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Note: Fox ran a segment on the Chicago ICE Nativity, which is at the church of a pastor who recently went viral for being arrested while protesting ICE.
That pastor told me the church has since seen an influx of volatile messages.
“There’s been some suggestions that I should kill myself,” he said.
That pastor told me the church has since seen an influx of volatile messages.
“There’s been some suggestions that I should kill myself,” he said.
In Chicago, a Nativity scene features a zip-tied baby Jesus and Roman centurions in "ICE" vests.
Near Boston, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are absent from a Nativity scene, replaced with a sign reading "ICE was here."
It's all part of growing religious blowback to ICE. religionnews.com/2025/12/05/i...
Near Boston, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are absent from a Nativity scene, replaced with a sign reading "ICE was here."
It's all part of growing religious blowback to ICE. religionnews.com/2025/12/05/i...
ICE Nativity scenes: Churches reimagine Christmas story amid deportations
(RNS) — 'We know that Jesus was born into a Roman imperial occupation, and pretty much immediately becomes a refugee in Egypt, has to flee and faces political violence,' the Rev. Michael Woolf said.
religionnews.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Note: Fox ran a segment on the Chicago ICE Nativity, which is at the church of a pastor who recently went viral for being arrested while protesting ICE.
That pastor told me the church has since seen an influx of volatile messages.
“There’s been some suggestions that I should kill myself,” he said.
That pastor told me the church has since seen an influx of volatile messages.
“There’s been some suggestions that I should kill myself,” he said.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
The headline, the main takeaway from a European viewpoint is this:
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
The headline, the main takeaway from a European viewpoint is this:
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a sppech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
after nearly a year of covering mostly what gets labeled a Trump administration “distraction”—threatening immigrants and trans people; empowering white nationalists —you know what if (what if), that being what Trump ran on and what Trump is doing, this is the actual substance of the Trump presidency
December 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
after nearly a year of covering mostly what gets labeled a Trump administration “distraction”—threatening immigrants and trans people; empowering white nationalists —you know what if (what if), that being what Trump ran on and what Trump is doing, this is the actual substance of the Trump presidency
It's the personal, petty racism that really sends me even further than I thought I could go.
"The Donald Trump administration has changed which holidays qualify for free entrance to national parks, removing two holidays celebrating Black people and adding the president’s birthday."
National parks change prioritizes Trump birthday over days honoring Black people
Free entrance days at national parks no longer include MLK Day and Juneteenth.
www.sfgate.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
It's the personal, petty racism that really sends me even further than I thought I could go.
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
Interested in scholarly publishing , humanities, social science, & equitable access to research?
MUSE hosts over 800 academic journals & over 100,000 #peer-reviewed books & articles.
Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest updates: bit.ly/MUSEnewsSignUP
#TeamUP with MUSE!
MUSE hosts over 800 academic journals & over 100,000 #peer-reviewed books & articles.
Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest updates: bit.ly/MUSEnewsSignUP
#TeamUP with MUSE!
December 4, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Interested in scholarly publishing , humanities, social science, & equitable access to research?
MUSE hosts over 800 academic journals & over 100,000 #peer-reviewed books & articles.
Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest updates: bit.ly/MUSEnewsSignUP
#TeamUP with MUSE!
MUSE hosts over 800 academic journals & over 100,000 #peer-reviewed books & articles.
Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest updates: bit.ly/MUSEnewsSignUP
#TeamUP with MUSE!
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
It also makes a great holiday gift for the person in your life who thinks "what if this entire forsaken world was totally different, and also yet somehow simply an increased space for the blessed life that already exists, only freer and less condemned to the hell of self-regard"
Hi, new followers! I wrote a book back in 2018 about Jewish anarcho-theocracy. You might like it if you are interested in the idea of God’s direct rule without a human intermediary, as devised in Weimar Germany and with application to colonial Palestine. Also if you only know Buber from “I and Thou”
December 4, 2025 at 1:43 PM
It also makes a great holiday gift for the person in your life who thinks "what if this entire forsaken world was totally different, and also yet somehow simply an increased space for the blessed life that already exists, only freer and less condemned to the hell of self-regard"
Reposted by Burke Gerstenschlager
1/ Trump’s claim that “they’re guilty” is irrelevant to legality. War-crimes standards depend entirely on a person’s status at the moment force was used — not moral guilt, not political narratives, not the drug epidemic.
youtu.be/hY_MWtCF35k?...
youtu.be/hY_MWtCF35k?...
President Trump: "I think you're going to find that this is war..."
YouTube video by C-SPAN
youtu.be
December 4, 2025 at 1:43 PM
1/ Trump’s claim that “they’re guilty” is irrelevant to legality. War-crimes standards depend entirely on a person’s status at the moment force was used — not moral guilt, not political narratives, not the drug epidemic.
youtu.be/hY_MWtCF35k?...
youtu.be/hY_MWtCF35k?...
Here's the thing. Trump built his career on putting his name on things. The great thing is that with a little effort, you can take his name off the things.
www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...
www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...
December 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Here's the thing. Trump built his career on putting his name on things. The great thing is that with a little effort, you can take his name off the things.
www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...
www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...