Judson Taylor
@judsontaylor.bsky.social
"Every mystery of life has its origin in the heart." (Hans Urs von Balthasar)
Subscribe to my posts at: https://judsontaylor.substack.com/
Subscribe to my posts at: https://judsontaylor.substack.com/
Belfast’s murals have shifted from violent symbols to cultural expressions, reflecting lingering divisions but also a slow, visual journey toward peace. theconversation.com/what-belfast...
What Belfast’s changing murals can tell us about peace
By systematically tracking changes in murals over time, we have gained profound insights into the dynamics of peace and conflict.
theconversation.com
November 30, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Belfast’s murals have shifted from violent symbols to cultural expressions, reflecting lingering divisions but also a slow, visual journey toward peace. theconversation.com/what-belfast...
Bonhoeffer’s Advent sermon reveals Mary’s Magnificat as a fierce, world-upending announcement that God comes not to the powerful, but to the lowly…and it changes everything.
open.substack.com/pub/cameronc...
open.substack.com/pub/cameronc...
Bonhoeffer on Advent
An Advent sermon on Mary, the manger, and the lowliness of God
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Bonhoeffer’s Advent sermon reveals Mary’s Magnificat as a fierce, world-upending announcement that God comes not to the powerful, but to the lowly…and it changes everything.
open.substack.com/pub/cameronc...
open.substack.com/pub/cameronc...
Tajja Isen argues Big Publishing’s obsession with betting on blockbuster debuts and past “track” data squeezes out midlist and experimental voices—leaving literature poorer and readers with fewer real choices. thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
thewalrus.ca
November 29, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Tajja Isen argues Big Publishing’s obsession with betting on blockbuster debuts and past “track” data squeezes out midlist and experimental voices—leaving literature poorer and readers with fewer real choices. thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
Does America’s beloved comfort food, macaroni and cheese, owe its rise to an 18th-century enslaved Black chef French cooking? www.bbc.com/travel/artic...
The enslaved man who popularised mac and cheese
The baked dish is one of the US's most popular foods, but its rise can likely be traced back to an enslaved Black chef who worked for Thomas Jefferson.
www.bbc.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Does America’s beloved comfort food, macaroni and cheese, owe its rise to an 18th-century enslaved Black chef French cooking? www.bbc.com/travel/artic...
Miles Davis proved that change can be the most recognizable brand of all—today’s piece explains why. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
November 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Miles Davis proved that change can be the most recognizable brand of all—today’s piece explains why. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
As we step into Thanksgiving, may we practice gratitude…not only when it comes easily, but especially when it doesn’t. Gratitude isn’t denial of hardship; it’s the quiet decision to notice grace where we might’ve missed it, to name even the smallest gifts.
November 27, 2025 at 5:53 PM
As we step into Thanksgiving, may we practice gratitude…not only when it comes easily, but especially when it doesn’t. Gratitude isn’t denial of hardship; it’s the quiet decision to notice grace where we might’ve missed it, to name even the smallest gifts.
Marvin Olasky’s sweeping look at how broken promises, political pressure, and racialized policy led to the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears—a stark reminder of the human cost behind it. rlo.acton.org/archives/127...
A Trail of Tears: When Reason Failed
We need to remember the human cost of the involuntary removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands.Read More...
rlo.acton.org
November 27, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Marvin Olasky’s sweeping look at how broken promises, political pressure, and racialized policy led to the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears—a stark reminder of the human cost behind it. rlo.acton.org/archives/127...
Tomorrow’s piece explores how Miles Davis turned unpredictability into one of the strongest brands in modern music. New Substack post coming tomorrow.
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Tomorrow’s piece explores how Miles Davis turned unpredictability into one of the strongest brands in modern music. New Substack post coming tomorrow.
A simple weekly meal becomes a quiet revolution: Sunday Supper shows how opening your door, adding one more chair, and sharing unhurried time can heal loneliness, rebuild trust, and turn ordinary tables into the beginnings of a kinder city.
Sunday Supper
Inviting people to share a meal has more significance than you might think.
www.plough.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:02 PM
A simple weekly meal becomes a quiet revolution: Sunday Supper shows how opening your door, adding one more chair, and sharing unhurried time can heal loneliness, rebuild trust, and turn ordinary tables into the beginnings of a kinder city.
As winter nights close in, emerging “chrononutrition” research suggests nudging dinner earlier—and leaving a few hours before bed—can steady metabolism, mood, and sleep, if we time our meals with intent rather than rigid rules.
theconversation.com/should-we-ea...
theconversation.com/should-we-ea...
Should we eat dinner earlier in winter? Why timing might matter more than you think
Aligning mealtimes with your body’s natural rhythms can help steady energy, mood and sleep through the darker months.
theconversation.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
As winter nights close in, emerging “chrononutrition” research suggests nudging dinner earlier—and leaving a few hours before bed—can steady metabolism, mood, and sleep, if we time our meals with intent rather than rigid rules.
theconversation.com/should-we-ea...
theconversation.com/should-we-ea...
New today: a meditation on the God who exceeds us…and yet still invites us close. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM
New today: a meditation on the God who exceeds us…and yet still invites us close. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
A meditation drops tomorrow on the paradox of a God who reveals himself without becoming simple.
November 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
A meditation drops tomorrow on the paradox of a God who reveals himself without becoming simple.
Malcolm Cowley was the perfect editor for On the Road but the wrong editor for Jack Kerouac.
Scrolling Through - The American Scholar
Jack Kerouac, Malcolm Cowley, and the difficult birth of On the Road
theamericanscholar.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Malcolm Cowley was the perfect editor for On the Road but the wrong editor for Jack Kerouac.
As the US retires the penny, the losers are small Main Street businesses, hit by “rounding taxes” and higher card fees, and cash-reliant people (especially low-income, unbanked, and older adults) who will feel every rounded-up cent with no rewards or cash-back.
Who wins and who loses as the US retires the penny
Ending production of the 1-cent coin will save the government money and could streamline big retailers’ operations. But it could also pinch small businesses and cash-reliant consumers.
theconversation.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
As the US retires the penny, the losers are small Main Street businesses, hit by “rounding taxes” and higher card fees, and cash-reliant people (especially low-income, unbanked, and older adults) who will feel every rounded-up cent with no rewards or cash-back.
Gen Z are, we’re told, the loneliest generation, supposedly the one least able to hold a conversation with a stranger. So it may come as a surprise to learn they, not the extroverted, freewheeling generations before them, are bringing back communal dining. www.independent.co.uk/life-style/g...
Gen Z are meant to be lonely and antisocial. So why do they love communal dining?
Older diners will remember when Wagamama benches were a novelty and the hot chaos of Belgo, so what is making the loneliest generation bringing communal dining back? Hannah Twiggs explores why Gen Z a...
www.independent.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Gen Z are, we’re told, the loneliest generation, supposedly the one least able to hold a conversation with a stranger. So it may come as a surprise to learn they, not the extroverted, freewheeling generations before them, are bringing back communal dining. www.independent.co.uk/life-style/g...
Caravaggio’s paintings contain subtle surreal details—like hidden Christian symbols, self-portraits, and under-painting traces—that deepen their spiritual and personal resonance.
5 Surreal Details in Caravaggio’s Art
The hidden subtleties of the Master of Light...
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Caravaggio’s paintings contain subtle surreal details—like hidden Christian symbols, self-portraits, and under-painting traces—that deepen their spiritual and personal resonance.
New today: the subtle art of shaping your habits by shaping your surroundings. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
The Shape of a Mind
How Environments Mold Our Habits
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:11 PM
New today: the subtle art of shaping your habits by shaping your surroundings. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
If you want new habits, give them a new habitat. A mind can be reshaped by a moved chair, a placed book, a slower voice. Substack post coming tomorrow.
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
If you want new habits, give them a new habitat. A mind can be reshaped by a moved chair, a placed book, a slower voice. Substack post coming tomorrow.
"Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes," wrote George. "What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake."
www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
Catholic scholar quits Heritage over its president's defense of Tucker Carlson interview
Prominent Catholic philosophical and legal scholar Robert George has resigned from the board of the conservative Heritage Foundation, saying he "could not remain" without its president fully retractin...
www.ncronline.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes," wrote George. "What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake."
www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
For decades TV framed Muslim men as terrorists or fanatics, but a new wave of Muslim-led shows like Ramy, Man Like Mobeen, and We Are Lady Parts is reshaping the narrative with humor, faith, and authentic complexity.
Muslim men have often been portrayed as ‘terrorists’ or ‘fanatics’ on TV shows, but Muslim-led storytelling is trying to change that narrative
Post 9/11, brown and sometimes Black Muslim characters were portrayed as ‘good’ only when aligned with US state power. Muslim filmmakers are trying to change that.
theconversation.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:02 PM
For decades TV framed Muslim men as terrorists or fanatics, but a new wave of Muslim-led shows like Ramy, Man Like Mobeen, and We Are Lady Parts is reshaping the narrative with humor, faith, and authentic complexity.
A century on, the BBC’s Shipping Forecast endures as both lifesaving maritime bulletin and national lullaby—its terse, poetic cadence and familiar place-names soothing listeners even as climate-driven seas make its safety role more vital than ever.
theconversation.com/why-the-bbcs...
theconversation.com/why-the-bbcs...
Why the BBC’s Shipping Forecast still entrances people after 100 years
Designed to ensure safe sailing for those on the sea, a dedicated shipping forecast was first broadcast by the BBC in 1925.
theconversation.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:11 AM
A century on, the BBC’s Shipping Forecast endures as both lifesaving maritime bulletin and national lullaby—its terse, poetic cadence and familiar place-names soothing listeners even as climate-driven seas make its safety role more vital than ever.
theconversation.com/why-the-bbcs...
theconversation.com/why-the-bbcs...
A.J. Jacobs’ 48-hour attempt to avoid A.I. shows just how inescapable it’s become—and honestly, it’s a little heartbreaking to see how much of ordinary life we’ve already handed over to the algorithms. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/s...
48 Hours Without A.I.
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:46 AM
A.J. Jacobs’ 48-hour attempt to avoid A.I. shows just how inescapable it’s become—and honestly, it’s a little heartbreaking to see how much of ordinary life we’ve already handed over to the algorithms. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/s...
Live now: a gentle but hopeful vision for a Church that becomes radiant again. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
A Church Made of Presence
This reflection isn’t about institutional critique so much as an invitation for every Christian to recover a way of life—presence, beauty, and mission—that belongs to the whole Church, not just its st...
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Live now: a gentle but hopeful vision for a Church that becomes radiant again. open.substack.com/pub/judsonta...
Tomorrow’s Substack post leans into renewal that begins small, human, and holy.
November 17, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Tomorrow’s Substack post leans into renewal that begins small, human, and holy.