iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The problem with liturgical studies is that you read so many beautiful things that make you cry.

Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

If I never hear how the Trinity is an eternal dance ever again that'd be great ... Also, the imago Dei without reference to the imago Christi is getting tiring. #GrumpyTheologyThings

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The task is not to gather in so many byte sized pieces mere facts The task is to echo the world in ourselves, to capture the mystery in the minds and bonds that make us And to unfold ourselves into the very world itself.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

They actually have those ... In most towns, yeah. The big one on the main street.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

It's funny how tech bros keep inventing buses. I feel the same way about exvangelicals reinventing mainline Protestantism: "I'm looking for a church which is open to questions, cares about social justice, and tries to learn from the wisdom of the tradition adapted to the contemporary context."

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Poached chicken?! I thought they got them from farms.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

When I was a kid I was the goalkeeper in a soccer team that included a current Socceroo. Needless to say there wasn't a lot of need for me to get good at being a goalkeeper, and my own Socceroo ambitions were scrapped. 😂😅

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

We're going to need to take the tradition a lot less seriously if we're ever going to be able to take liturgy a lot more seriously.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

So good catching up with two liturgy collaborators today. Oh how we laughed about putting a 'k' at the end of "publick." Rejuvenating and fun!

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I mean, because taxation is one of the ways of pulling money out of the economy, the non-indexation of tax brackets provides a passive corrective for inflation. It never guarantees responsible government response in inflationary environments, but it's an argument I suppose. #auspol

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Power is about meaning, which is not infinitely translatable. And is incommensurate across translations.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

People still out here spruiking Bourdieu like power is a uniform commodity and not a function of multi-dimensional schemas of meaning. We treat power like money — "more" "less" "flow" — as if different expressions of power are ultimately commensurate.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Happy anniversary I suppose 🎉

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I have annoyingly nuanced thoughts about making lay people in ministry as ministers, while also keeping transparent the important distinction between lay and ordained (viz. Different kinds of responsibility and power). Also I am not in any designated ministry in the Uniting Church — just a dude...

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I also had a couple of awkward conversations recently, with two people telling me to go back ( ... no). And someone who seemed to think I did get ordained — an ordained minister asking me "how long it's been" since I became a minister. Odd.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I suppose it just sucks because it actually hurt being in a bad system with low trust, and inadequate support. And no one takes responsibility for that. You just kind of have to move on or whatever. And I can be circumspect about it, but it also just hurt and I often regret even going into that.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I wonder how much has been lost by the church because of failures to provide good pathways into leadership and other forms of participation. Which is not fully my story because I've found other avenues into opportunities.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Part of the challenge is that I'm sure my experience has fed back into changes in the process. But I still see a lot of those failures continuing, albeit from the outside which might not be fully accurate. And there's not a lot of admitting fault, it all just trundles along and makes changes.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I think my experience of the failure of the ministry formation process has been to trust the church a lot less; as I get out and about to different parts of the church I love it more — I love the people more, I love the church at its best more.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

My relationship with the church is very odd. I'm very grateful for the places I get to spend my energy in the church — and very conscious that I don't face many of the barriers to opportunities that others do.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Been in a funk the last couple of weeks... Just realised I just passed the anniversary of quitting the whole ordination thing. The long tail of grief (even over right decisions) is probably part of the story.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Literally Macron. In one election cycle swept the Presidency and the parliament with a new political party. Completely reshaped the French political landscape. In the end turned out to be kind of disappointing.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

When I'm in spaces like this I sometimes think wistfully about academia ... And then I remember how bad a student and academic I am, and how the theological academy is currently crumbling (and the secular academy isn't far behind). And, oh yeah, that's right. Going into academia ... Not the move.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I've been doing a short course on critical theory this week for fun — focusing on Axel Honneth's theory of recognition. Great group for the class, really deep discussions, everyone's bringing something different.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Do Trad Caths look at breakfast menus and just say, "ah, the Benedict option."

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Think I'm just going to put this essay on my blog.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

I'm re-reading an essay I wrote a year and a half ago to stimulate some work I'm doing in my day job. Sometimes (just sometimes) I cook — with massive thanks to Amy Plantinga-Pauw:

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

In terms of church growth there are two choices: Counting butts on seats or weighing souls. It's a lot easier to count butts.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

The liturgy should be like Barth's description of doctrine: like a cathedral. It's an open space to explore, not a linear message to receive and digest.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

I've spent the last 2 years or so not writing new prayers for worship. Relying almost entirely on authorised resources, and some fan favourites (Gail Ramshaw, Jan Richardson, etc.). It's immensely freeing. And gives back some of the agency to the people to find their own meaning.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

In my tradition (Uniting Church in Australia) the homespinning of new prayers each week is connected to the disappearance of ex tempore prayer (despite our Methodist roots), and the move towards didactic worship. The liturgy is used to reinforce the singular theme of the preacher.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

At the same time, the assumptions need disrupting. "I support church engagement and pastoral care." "Oh, so you're a minister." "No, I'm not ordained. I've done a few things in the church, and try to bring that to our work." *them confused* "So what actually is pastoral care?" *me confused*

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

There are lots of times when being a rev would make my life easier. People assume I'm a rev, ask if I'm a rev or pastor. Saying, "yeah." Would be a lot easier than navigating the ambiguity. Navigating the ambiguity is necessary and important work. It's challenging to disrupt people's assumptions.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

The blessing of God whose mercies are as manna new each morning food for the journey.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Broke: worshipping the economy Woke: worshipping God Bespoke: worshipping the economic Trinity

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Opposing a 3 year transition to compliance for native logging to delay any changes to environmental laws is counter-productive. It will mean more logging for even more time. #auspol #insiders

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

The simple binary between project approvals and environmental protection is a very unhelpful contribution to the current policy discussion. +

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Sarah Hanson-Young on the new environmental laws, about coal and gas projects: "they'll be getting fast yeses, unless we put them in the slow lane." Is she suggesting bureaucratic inefficiency is a deliberate policy of the Greens? +

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Writing my newsletter for work, and honestly I think I've gotten the Hebrew and Greek to an acceptable amount.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

The Liberal party's commitment to extinction at least comes with some integrity, with their clear offer to go first. #auspol

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

We don't explain away the Trinity within broader doctrinal apparatus. The cross is factum. Mere fact. It simply is. It may be the only thing that is: the dehumanisation of God that is our salvation. The dehumanisation of God is empirical, that this might be turned to our salvation is the miracle.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

In truth the crucifixion is the whole of the Trinity acting in concert. "The judge judged in our place." The Father is the Son, the Spirit is the power of the Father in the Son. The cross is the cypher for the Trinity, not the other way around.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

This is part of the other legitimate critique that social trinitarianism lapses easily into tri-theism. On this account the cross is a three actor drama: the father doing to the son by the Spirit.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

It then makes the cross subservient to our speculative account of God. And so interprets the cross as mere sign of the deeper truth of the Trinity. The opposite must be true! The Trinity is the sign of the deeper truth of the Cross!

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Because axiomatic to the doctrine of the Trinity is: "what we must say about God if Jesus of Nazareth is Christ the Word." Social trinitarianism anchors our understanding of God in a speculative community, and not in the cross.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Setting aside the fact that the economic / immanent distinction isn't ultimately helpful in the first place. The Trinity ought to be anchored in the saving work of Christ: if the crucifixion is a "problem" in light of our doctrine of the Trinity, then our doctrine is wrong.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Because the crucifixion is a rupture of the perfect community — the Father enacts cosmic child abuse. This becomes an essentially necessary interpretation if we accept social trinitarianism.

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Matt @mattjulius.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Also struck by yet more reasons social trinitarianism is not just wrong, but also bad. In setting up the immanent Trinity as a perfect community (and let's not kid ourselves the immanent Trinity is the "real" Trinity — just as the Father is "God God"), the crucifixion becomes impossible.

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