Facta
July was a remarkably busy month for me personally and here in the dispatch. I worked the bulk of, and concluded, a summer job, I advanced the general output of APD to three articles a week, I added two new columns (Public Polyglossia, where I’m currently teaching Greek, and Zeitgeist Zephyrs, as a place for occasional pop-culture reviews to live), and I began a new series on Thursdays devoted to appreciations for different World Religions, while continuing the Monday series of detailed entries tracing the essence of Christian theologia and oikonomia.
So, lots to catch up on in A Perennial Digression itself:
“Ethical Cosmopolitanism, Pars Secunda,” tracing the Persian contribution to pluralism
“Ad Dorotheum I,” on the Bible, the Church, and LGBTQ+ Christians
“Announcing Public Polyglossia,” on which see more below
“How to Think About Christ II,” continuing from the first part in June
“Judaism: An Appreciation,” on my second religious home
“How to Think About Christ III,” offering a concluding statement (for now) on Christology
“Islam I: An Appreciation,” so long it couldn’t be done in one article
"How to Think About the Spirit,” on the theologia and oikonomia of the third Trinitarian hypostasis
“Islam II: An Appreciation,” wrapping things up before moving on to the next tradition under review
“How to Think About Sin I,” introducing the way biblical scholars assess sin language in Ancient Judaism and Christianity
As though that weren’t enough, the column Public Polyglossia now features three entries that I recommend catching up on if you’ve ever wanted to learn Greek or just really have a thing for grammar:
Facienda
August will see a continuation of the current series on Christian theology (I have not done the math to discern whether that will conclude next month but it seems a safe bet not) and on “Appreciations” of different World Religions. It will also see the schoolyear resume. At present, my goal is to keep the current level of output up by writing as much as I can in advance; if for any reason an entry is going to be missing some week, I will certainly provide some kind of notation. If time presents itself—and that’s a laughable if, but not an impossible one—I may begin attempting to record various articles so that one can listen to them in my voice rather than the robotic one the Substack app provides. Admittedly, I’m no F. Murray Abraham, but I’ll do my best.
Annuntianda
APD now boasts over 200 paid subscribers and 1,446 subscribers in total. I’m simply in awe of this level of support, I give thanks for it, and I hope to make it worth everyone’s while. If you haven’t yet considered subscribing, think about it (use a free trial for a week and cancel early if it doesn’t seem worth it), and/or please refer others. Varying numbers of referrals result in different benefits/rewards in the form of months comped.
Roberto De La Noval and I will also be turning in our edited collection of essays from various contributors on Anime, Religion, and Theology to the publishers at Lexington Books and Fortress Academic shortly. The essays are solid introductions to the way that a variety of themes from religious studies and theology, across Christian and non-Christian traditions, are popularized today in Japanese animation, which is one of the largest contemporary forms of consumed popular media in the world, and extremely popular among Millennials and Gen Z (and, more importantly, some of them are really fun).