Persis 🙏🕊️📚🧶
LightNews LightNews
banner
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Persis 🙏🕊️📚🧶
@thecuriousreader.bsky.social
510 followers 350 following 770 posts
Book lover, tea drinker, question asker
Posts Replies Media Videos
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“All of the empirical (and imperial!) evidence was against him! But Isaiah's prophetic imagination is not constrained by such evidence because Isaiah's God is not limited by any empire…”
Brian J. Walsh
The Advent of Justice, pg. 14.
Swords or ploughshares? Isaiah 2.1-11 Luke 20.20-26 They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2.4 There was absolutely nothing in his present reality to give him any indication that such a peaceful kingdom could ever be a reality. All of the empirical (and imperial!) evidence was against him! But Isaiah's prophetic imagination is not constrained by such evidence because Isaiah's God is not limited by any empire; in fact, this God uses such empires to do his bidding. Now notice the content of the vision. Swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks. Precisely those tools which we use to try to manufacture and protect our own security, peace and prosperity-the tools of war and aggression-are transformed, in this vision, into implements of cultivation. Rather than destroying life in a desperate attempt to secure it, Isaiah's vision calls us to foster life, to open life up to new possibilities, and to be involved in cultivating creation in such a way that a just prosperity will flourish.
December 4, 2025 at 4:11 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“God does not respect whatever petty justifications we give for the narrowness of our hearts.”
The blasphemy of national Christianity, Mac Loftin, The Christian Century, December 2025.
This is the essence of national Christianity. One might expect Christian nationalists to insist that the values of the nation be subordinated to Christian values, but what they really want is for Christian values to be subordinated to the nation. Christians from different national communities are fundamentally unlike each other, the argument goes, so one's values and interests as a Christian must be subordinated to the particular values and interests of the nation. In national Christianity, nationality is like a mold into which Christianity is poured. Being an American Christian means having my Christianness conditioned by a more fundamental Americanness. This is blasphemy and must be torn out root and branch. The categories of nation, race, and gender that we use to dominate and exclude are contingent; these lines have been drawn differently (or not at all) in the past, and they can be drawn differently (or not at all) today. God does not respect whatever petty justifications we give for the narrowness of our hearts. To be baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus is to be liberated from the imprisoning fiction that another person is fundamentally unlike me and hence lies outside my sphere of concern.
December 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
A prayer for the first Sunday in Advent:

“Living God, visit us in this season with your Holy Spirit that we may get carried away to do obedient things we have not yet done, kingdom things we did not think we had in us...”

Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent, Walter Brueggemann, pg. 5.
What we know, that Herod didn't know and never even suspected, is that John's Advent invitation cannot be silenced or arrested. It continues to invite. And sometimes we let it come among us and transform us. Living God, visit us in this season with your Holy Spirit that we may get carried away to do obedient things we have not yet done, kingdom things we did not think we had in us, neighbor things from which we cringe. May you act in us, through us, beyond us, more than we imagine, because newness is on its way among us. Amen. Picture of book: Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent by Walter Brueggemann. Cover is a picture of a little church on the edge of a snowy field surrounded by snow covered conifers with either the sun setting or rising.
November 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Stained glass leaves
The sun shining through a canopy of green and gold crepe myrtle and deep red oak leaves.
November 29, 2025 at 6:18 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
New project: Among the Shadows Cowl with Madeline Tosh Unwind DK in Accra Evening colorway. The yarn is dyed in a tape so you frog and then knit. I don’t think I would use this yarn for anything more complicated than basic stitches because of the crimping.
🧶

www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...
Picture of the beginnings of a knit cowl resting on printed instructions. The yarn is a coiled tape with bands of deeper blue and cream with pink and gold speckles on the cream sections. At the upper left is a black mug with the words “WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW?” from the NY Public Library.
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Do not let yourself be deceived by those who under the banner of truth tear down reality”
For Such a Time As This: An Emergency Devotional, Hanna Reichel, pg. 24.
You will have to distinguish all the things: God from idols, faith from ideology, violence from true power, the quiet of fear from true peace, noise from threat. The differences are clear for those who keep their eyes on the cross. Do not let yourself be deceived by those who under the banner of truth tear down reality: The fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith-fulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23). Do not let yourself be deceived by lip service to truth, by committees, by statements, by promises. Sometimes they avoid reality, sometimes they try to hide it. Put them to the test.
November 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Vibrant fall colors.
Closeup of a viola with 4 blooms. The top petals are deep burgundy and the bottom petals are orange with burgundy streaks. Closeup of a viola with bright yellow petals with a dark burgundy “eye.”
November 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Empire is fundamentally about the extension of control, whether through direct domination or subtle influence. And in that expansion, something essential is always sacrificed.”
Liturgies for Resisting Empire, Kat Armas, pgs. 16, 18
Empire is fundamentally about the extension of control, whether through direct domination or subtle influence. And in that expansion, something essential is always sacrificed. Throughout history, empire has been skilled at selling us the narratives it wants us to believe — offering a false sense of security or salvation but we are not bound to accept them. We have the power to break free and find new ways of being and belonging. The question we must ask is, how do we untangle ourselves from these narratives? And when we do, what kind of freedom awaits us?
November 3, 2025 at 6:45 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Bright ginkgo in full sun.
Picture looking up toward the middle of a ginkgo tree in full sun. The leaves are bright chartreuse.
November 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Moses spoke more about the most vulnerable of the neighbors who receive attentive consideration and protection by the Lord of the covenant...”
Sabbath as Resistance, Walter Brueggemann, pg. 26.
It was not so in Egypt. There were no neighbors in that system, only threats and competitors. In his continued interpretation of the commands, Moses spoke more about the most vulnerable of the neighbors who receive attentive consideration and protection by the Lord of the covenant: You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans. (22:21-24) If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor's cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor's only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate. (vv. 25-27) You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (23:9) These folk are put at the center of Sinai imagination, even though they are nowhere in the horizon of the Egyptian system. (And written in by hand “or the American system.)
October 28, 2025 at 2:23 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“If there is to be a life beyond totalitarianism, we must cultivate a life outside its grasp, even as we live within it.”
For Such A Time As This: An Emergency Devotional, Hanna Reichel, pg. 13
But Barth understood something that might be worth remembering today: Totalitarianism is about total control. It wants to control not just the public but also the private spaces. Not just politics and economics and education and religion, but also your thoughts and feelings. It does not need your love; your fear is enough. Keeping your focus, feelings, and thoughts your own is hard. But it is itself an act of resistance. Be strategic with your attention. If there is to be a life beyond totalitarianism, we must cultivate a life outside its grasp, even as we live within it.
October 25, 2025 at 3:01 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Resolving all tensions is a hallmark of ideology. Easy answers and clear-cut solutions are what authoritarianism offers. Part of the task upon us today is to resist these lures.”
For Such A Time As This, Hanna Reichel, pg. xiii.
There are no unequivocal beliefs, incontestable conclusions, or cure-all recipes. I am not asking you to agree with what I say and go apply it. I am inviting you to reflect and ponder, put into perspective and complement. Resolving all tensions is a hallmark of ideology. Easy answers and clear-cut solutions are what authoritarianism offers. Part of the task upon us today is to resist these lures. We must build up tolerance for complexity. We must train our capacity to hold things in tension. We must exercise our communal ability for nuance and contestation. Everywhere, discernment will be needed. Only so can we do justice to reality and to one another. Cover of “For Such A Time As This: An Emergency Devotional” by Hanna Reichel
October 24, 2025 at 6:25 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“We will not be saved by our money, our weapons, or our technological virtuosity; we might be rescued by the joyful and unprofitable pursuits of love, beauty, and contemplation.”
The Enchantments of Mammon, Eugene McCarraher, pg. 18.
We will not be saved by our money, our weapons, or our technological virtuosity; we might be rescued by the joyful and unprofitable pursuits of love, beauty, and contemplation. No doubt this will all seem foolish to the shamans and magicians of pecuniary enchantment. But there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley.
October 23, 2025 at 12:46 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“his person is the type of indestructible life that does not require a sacrifice of any sort to obtain access through the veil to the direct presence of God”
Lamb of the Free, @andrewrillera.bsky.social , pg. 233.

#deconstruction
#rethinkallthethings
This means Jesus isn't so much a high priest and an atoning sacrificial victim so much as that his person is the type of indestructible life that does not require a sacrifice of any sort to obtain access through the veil to the direct presence of God (7:16, 27; 6:19-20; 9:12, 25-26)! Hebrews 10:5-9 seems to intentionally frame Jesus's sacrificial function as not being like a sacrificial victim, but rather just being the sort of human whose perfect obedience makes it so that he just is the kind of life and body that is fit to be in the holy of holies. This is what makes his life-blood more potent than anything else.
October 22, 2025 at 5:46 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Planting violas on a gorgeous autumn day.
Picture looking down in a dark blue flower pot newly planted with 4 viola plants (small pansies) with purple and purple/white flowers.
October 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
The Myth of Good Christian Parenting by @mburtwrites.bsky.social & Kelsey McGinnis

(I finished chapter 1 and have so many thoughts/emotions. This book is long overdue not just for the parenting ideology critiques but the examination of the mindsets that led to this problem.)
Screenshot of Hoopla app showing the audio book - The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How false promises betrayed a generation of Evangelical families by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis
October 17, 2025 at 4:09 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Indeed, it is a tell-tale characteristic of imperial ideology that the imaginations of the population are monopolized by the dominant sociocultural and politico-economic forces. No wonder "every totalitarian regime is afraid of the artist."”
Kicking at the Darkness, Brian J. Walsh, pg. 34.
Walter Brueggemann has said that "the key pathology of our time, which seduces us all, is the reduction of the imagination so that we are too numbed, satiated and co-opted to do serious imaginative work." I come to these works of imagination for the reawakening of the imagination, and such reawakening is so necessary, I suggest, precisely because of the pathology that Brueggemann identifies. Philosopher Paul Ricoeur has argued that people live their lives more by what they can imagine than by the supposed beliefs that they conceptually hold. And the crisis of our time is that we live in a culture of captive imaginations. Indeed, it is a tell-tale characteristic of imperial ideology that the imaginations of the population are monopolized by the dominant so ciocultural and politico-economic forces. No wonder "every totalitarian regime is afraid of the artist." The artist insists on seeing beyond the range of normal sight, not allowing our imaginations to be limited by a sense of the inevitability of the present state of things. Picture of the book “Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination” by Brian J. Walsh, Brazos Press, 2011. Cover has a photo of Cockburn wearing sunglasses standing outside, maybe on a high balcony?, looking to his left with a cityscape behind him
October 16, 2025 at 6:11 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“Indeed, lament arises out of the profound sense of a lack of order, lack of justice and lack of integrity. It legitimately asks God to intervene historically to bring about a renewal of shalom.”
Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be, J. Richard Middleton & Brian J. Walsh, pg. 165.
Only in a relationship of covenantal partnership could people be so bold as to rise above docile submissiveness and raise a voice of protest before the throne of God. Lament gives voice to the pain of a world that does not seem to be very well ordered at all. Lament refuses to acquiesce to the chaos that goes under the name of order. Indeed, lament arises out of the profound sense of a lack of order, lack of justice and lack of integrity. It legitimately asks God to intervene historically to bring about a renewal of shalom. And it can ask for such intervention, often with tears, wailing and a loud voice, because this God is always in the fray, always in the midst of our historical troubles. This God is always with us.
October 15, 2025 at 2:14 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“The centralization of social power for imperial, oppressive uses is the direct opposite of the loving empowerment of others which is the genuine human calling.”
Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be, J. Richard Middleton & Brian J. Walsh, 1995, pg. 127.

(Babel and Babylon R Us.)
The problem with "Babylonian" civilization, from the perspective of Genesis 11, is precisely the systemic centralization of power that comes with empire building, which results not simply in the impulsive violent outbreaks of Cain or Lamech, but in the organized violence of an oppressive social order legitimated and sustained by a powerful myth of origins. Contrary to the ancient idealization of Babylonian culture as the epitome of human aspiration and achievement, the writer of Genesis 11 declares that this aspiration is exactly what impedes God's purposes in history, in effect bringing the story to a screeching halt. It therefore does not matter that violence is not explicitly mentioned in the story of Babel. The centralization of social power for imperial, oppressive uses is the direct opposite of the loving empowerment of others which is the genuine human calling. Instead of Babel being a normative ordering of the human world, which embodies divine blessing, it reaps the curse of God's judgment, and its ultimate outcome is chaos, the confusion of tongues. Contrary to the intentions of the builders, this chaos is the only name they make for themselves, says the writer of Genesis 11, engaging in an ironic wordplay between Babel and balal (the Hebrew word for "to confuse").
October 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“This is most fundamentally a matter of imaging God; the life of a person or community reflects the sort of god they are committed to. The two main targets of prophetic critique are thus idolatry and injustice, since false worship is inextricably linked to corrupt living.”

(Citation in alt text)
In this, Jesus is exactly right. Just as the Torah affirms that the love of God should lead to a life of obedience, the prophets emphasize that Israel's allegiance or submission to YHWH, the God of the exodus, ought to be manifest in a life that embodies righteousness and justice, since these are central to the interhuman flourishing that God desires. In the prophetic perspective, allegiance to the one true God inevitably flows into a life of obedience characterized especially by justice in human relations; by contrast, idolatry or false allegiance flows into a life of disobedience characterized by injustice. This is most fundamentally a matter of imaging God; the life of a person or community reflects the sort of god they are committed to. The two main targets of prophetic critique are thus idolatry and injustice, since false worship is inextricably linked to corrupt living. A New Heaven and a New Earth, J. Richard Middleton, pg. 103.
September 30, 2025 at 5:59 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Picture of a large grayish brown rabbit with white and the eyes and nose resting his chin on a red rug.
September 28, 2025 at 9:45 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
I’ve been waiting to read Katabasis by R. F. Kuang, and my library hold came in!
Picture of library book: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang. Cover illusion is an old academic building that is hollow with Escher-like stairs descending downward. Book edges are illustrated in color. Top to bottom: a figure in silhouette falling through flames, a circle with a person all in black, and another silhouette figure falling through waves. The circle has the words “Hell is other people” around it.
September 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
Methinks the placement of the drawing prompts is intentional.
Picture of blank page with 2 drawing prompts from “301 Things to Draw.” First prompt is “37. UFO,” and halfway down the page is the second prompt — “38. Cow.”
September 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
I wish it was just amusing history.
Picture of a library book: Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them by Lydia Kangaroo, MD and Nate Pederson.
September 20, 2025 at 12:43 AM
thecuriousreader.bsky.social
“the very complex heterogeneity of the world have been dissolved or repressed into a totalizing vision of the world. Such a vision is inherently violent because it necessarily excludes… any person or group who sees things differently.”
Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be, Middleton&Walsh, pg. 35.
What deconstructionists are saying is that the sort of homogenizing and naturalizing approach to otherness and difference that is illustrated by both racism and U.S. immigration policy has characterized Western thought and culture as a whole and modernity in particular. The difference of women, the otherness of non-Western cultures and the very complex heterogeneity of the world have been dissolved or repressed into a totalizing vision of the world. Such a vision is inherently violent because it necessarily excludes not just elements of reality that don't fit, but any person or group who sees things differently. "When convinced of the truth or right of a given worldview," notes Kenneth Gergen, "a culture has only two significant options: totalitarian control of the opposition or annihilation of it." Whether or not these are the only options, this has in fact been the legacy of the last 500 years of Western history in relation to women, to non-Western, particularly nonwhite peoples, and to the nonhuman creation itself. Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be, J. Richard Middleton & Brian J. Walsh, 1995, pg. 35.
September 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM