iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 09/11/2025

I'm beginning to think that most American Christians are functionally Pelagian when it comes to themselves but regard "the other," however they might define that, as essentially depraved.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 07/10/2025

Can't wait for this conversation on Sunday! Please join us if you're in the area.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/07/2025

Exactly. There is no mistaking whose side she thinks God is on.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/07/2025

That last paragraph feels like a long-form Christianese way of saying, "Bless his heart."

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 05/07/2025

Thank you so much! I hope you will come say hi at the festival.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 25/06/2025

what’s funny is that if pro-cuomo centrist democrats were less myopic they might see that mamdani was running the kind of campaign that could help rebuild the party brand — accessible with an outsider persona and a focus on “kitchen table” issues.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 15/06/2025

A gorgeous sight, especially juxtaposed against the crowds who showed up for protests all across the country.

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Zachary Fryer-Biggs @zachfb.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Really important story - army officials asked soldiers to identify themselves if they don't agree with Trump's politics that way he'd get only supportive soldiers in uniform during his political rally on base. Heavier soldiers were also barred from participating.

military.com

Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance

As Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 04/06/2025

"Together, we’ll pursue a vision of spirituality that speaks meaningfully and courageously to the modern world." Who is "we"? And amidst all the talking, is there any listening to the modern world?

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 03/06/2025

Loved every second talking with @chrisdstedman.bsky.social. Thanks to the team at Magers & Quinn—what a great bookstore!—and to all who showed up amidst the thunderstorms.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 16/05/2025

This country.... We are truly not far from the Hunger Games come to grotesque life.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/05/2025

I think there are empty platitudes across the Christian spectrum.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/05/2025

Yes, but that's the work. It's never a single word or two. Nobody is convinced by a single word or two, so I actually disagree that this is what we need. We want that for ourselves, but it's not particularly convincing for anyone else.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/05/2025

Love this gif. thank you.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/05/2025

What I see a lot of these posts doing is building influencer brands, without any action or solidarity to back it up—which is also not Christlike, just in a different way.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 10/05/2025

I think I always go back to stating what we're for—or, even better and perhaps more importantly, embodying it. It's not easily meme-able, it won't get the likes on social media, and it's a lot slower to make its way out into the world. But ultimately, I have to believe it matters.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 09/05/2025

Unless, of course, the entire point is just to feel better and a little more righteous about oneself.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 09/05/2025

Christianity has been and still is all sorts of things, and the name of Jesus has been invoked for all kinds of purposes, sacred and profane—and we continue to disagree about which is which. There are contending visions of what faithful Christianity should be. Let's be honest and humble about that.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 09/05/2025

I object whenever someone with anti-gay convictions makes the claim that I'm not a Christian. And as much as I might be horrified by the actions and views of others who call themselves Christian, I don't see it as my right to say they're not Christians.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 09/05/2025

Every few days, some ex-evangelical in my feed points fingers and says, "That's not Christianity." It's tiresome and also untrue. Christianity has multiple strands. Owning the harm *we* have done and acknowledging the injustice our family of faith still perpetuates would be more compelling.

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James Martin, SJ @jamesmartinsj.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I know Pope Leo XIV to be a kind, open, humble, modest, decisive, hard-working, straightforward, trustworthy, and down-to-earth man. A brilliant choice. May God bless him.

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Hector Diaz @iamhectordiaz.com · 08/05/2025

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 08/05/2025

"Peace be with you. This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarming and humble and preserving peace. It comes from God. God, who loves all of us, without any limits or conditions.... God loves us, all of us. Evil will not prevail." —Pope Leo XIV www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...

vaticannews.va

Pope Leo XIV: 'Peace be with all of you' - Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful and the world invoking peace and pledging to work for a united Church faithful to Jesus and to the Gospel.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Cassocks are red Conclaves are dope Wake up babe we got a

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 17/04/2025

Thank you so much! 💛

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 12/04/2025

My deep gratitude to @kcrwevan.bsky.social for having me on @kcrw.com's "Good Food" to talk about "Good Soil." It was a delight to talk about regenerating the land, how my father's people cook chicken, and, of course, my late grandmother's fried rice.

kcrw.com

Jeff Chu mediates on life's biggest questions while working the soil

Jeff Chu abandoned his career as a journalist to work the land and attend seminary, tilling up life lessons as well as a sense of calm.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 01/04/2025

Grateful to be on my friend Kate Bowler's podcast today, talking about compost, cooking, being small, and why Mary Oliver sometimes is super-annoying. katebowler.com/podcasts/goo...

katebowler.com

Jeff Chu: Good Soil

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 27/03/2025

Yay! Hello, book neighbor!

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 27/03/2025

Congratulations! Amazing!

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 26/03/2025

I thought of you so fondly as I signed it! Thanks for your support and encouragement.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 26/03/2025

Not knowing exactly what you did put in, things that might help deepen the flavor: a few dried scallops and/or dried shrimp, dried shiitake mushrooms, a nice hunk of ginger... Sometimes I also add a little soy sauce at the very end as well as a bit of sesame oil.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 26/03/2025

Nicola! We need to discuss this. How did you make the Extremely Virtuous congee? What can we do to add Delightful Flavor to Extreme Virtue?

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Margaret Renkl @margaretrenkl.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

A few words about the moon, the flowers, and the people who help me remember not to give up all hope. (Gift link via @nytopinion.nytimes.com.) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Blood Worm Moon and the Mustard Seed (Gift Article)

Despite our worst actions, nature still delivers us miracles, above and below.

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Chanequa Walker-Barnes @drchanequa.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Stand up for Mahmoud Khalil like you hope a stranger would stand up for you. Because the way this administration is going, you may one day need it. Call your reps now, no matter what their political affiliation is.

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Blue Willow Bookshop @bluewillowbooks.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

We can't wait to welcome award-winning journalist @byjeffchu.com to Houston to celebrate his new book, GOOD SOIL! Jeff Chu will be in conversation with @sarahbessey.bsky.social. We highly recommend this book and hope you'll join us! Get your tickets now: buff.ly/43g1EVl

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 05/03/2025

I am so grieved by this speech, full of false witness and loathsome rhetoric, arrogance and attacks on the marginalized. It seems right and good that a penitential season should begin tomorrow.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 04/03/2025

"Train up the children in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it."

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 02/03/2025

So we finally watched "Conclave." Beautifully shot. Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini were great; Stanley Tucci too. But that conclusion? Come on. Habemus a ridiculous ending.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 01/03/2025

A+ to these protest signs.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 01/03/2025

Houston: Please come and hang out with @sarahbessey.bsky.social and me!

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 01/03/2025

"Greatness" does not shame or bully, lie or demand gratitude.

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Ruth Graham @ruthgraham.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

"To feel the bedrock of your theology shifting might sound abstract, but it’s almost impossible to underestimate the terror it brings for someone who has made this their whole life." Remarkable and unusual essay: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

Opinion | How My Dad Reconciled His God and His Gay Son

How did my dad go from hating homosexuality to imploding his church by embracing me? His journal entries show how he changed his mind.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 06/02/2025

"Good Soil" Book Tour, Part I! Would love to see you at one of these stops. Details at byjeffchu.com/tour.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 03/02/2025

I encourage all who are likewise grieved, especially, I guess, competent white men, to raise their voices, leverage whatever power they have to push back against this kind of backward bullshit, and use their words to create better, more life-giving worlds

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 03/02/2025

It grieves me that this is the story that the United States is telling the world in 2025.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 03/02/2025

If it is true, and I believe it is, that "words create worlds," as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, then we are creating a world that is not just unsafe for but also openly hostile to people like me and so many others.

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Jeff Chu @byjeffchu.com · 03/02/2025

Look, obviously I am not a trustworthy source, given that I'm a coddled minority on multiple counts. But I've also spent my career as a storyteller.

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