iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

OK so setting the "witch" of Endor (1 Sam 28) as a reading for Birgitta of Sweden, mystic, is really off.

Reposted by Andrew McGowan

mxhrad @mxhrad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“To comply with the president’s latest executive order, Google Maps will now be labeling College Park, Maryland as Atlanta, Georgia.”

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Raven Song Farm @ravensongfarm.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

There is something deeply wrong with trying to kill a person twice, then sending her to a hospital for life saving measures so that they can try to kill her again.

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This Labor Day (and all other days): Thank the workers who serve you. Appreciate the workers who care for you. Respect the workers who pick up your trash. Salute the workers who get you your mail. Honor the workers who teach your children. Pay all workers a living wage.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

My take would be that if your parish claims to be big on "mysticism," then it's not.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

If "justice" is measured as disadvantage to perpetrator, that's retributive.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

No examples because of identification, but when a 3rd party identifies what a perpetrator should undergo (even as restitution) that's broadly retributive rather than restorative (as much in process as outcome) because it's not about the victim or broader resolution.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My suspicion is that there a a lot of people using the language of "restorative justice" to mean exactly what retributive justice is.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"Oh, the ICE agent will wear a mask To hide the shame of his vile task If your skin is darker than light tan He might wrestle you into his van..."

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 29/07/2026

We destroyed Irans military then had to go back to fighting the non existent military but had to stop because we were using too many expensive missiles attacking the not-military because we weren’t flying over the country with no military because their non military was still a threat to our planes.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The point was not folk wisdom, although it is received by the vulnerable and the dispossessed most fully; it was understanding how Jesus would be received, and that he would rise despite the appearance of failure." More at open.substack.com/pub/abmcg/p/...

open.substack.com

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The disciples in the end give their “yes” to Jesus, not because they have achieved an advanced certificate in parabolic interpretation, but because they are saying “yes” to him while others are not. They may still be hungry, but they have learned what they need most.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

On the Gospel for Sunday: "The parables discourse is a sort of micro-Gospel, a condensed version of the whole narrative of Matthew; its overall theme is the promise of God’s reign, in and despite rejection and apparent failure.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

open.substack.com

Parables and Other Treasures

Proper 12 year A, 2026; Matt 13:31-33, 44-52

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The UN: Hamas executed 108 Palestinians in Gaza between August 24 and January 26. Extra judicial killings and torture took place in medical compounds. The report also covers the dramatic increase in settler violence in the West Bank. www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

ohchr.org

Palestinian civilians are victims of all sides, trapped between the mass atrocities of Israeli forces and settlers and the fear-based rule of Hamas

GENEVA – Palestinian civilians are being systematically and deliberately subjected to severe violations of human rights law by all parties to the region’s conflict, trapped between Israeli forces and ...

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

And you didn't think sacrifice was a relevant concept today?

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

This is so silly. There’s nothing wrong with calling some tornadoes “mini” if they’re smaller, and apparently the weather police would even allow “mesocyclones”… so this is about control, not myths.

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

As horrifying as this campaign of premeditated murder is, what might be even more disturbing is the utter indifference of Congress, the public and our allies to such a shocking and unapologetic obliteration of the many laws and norms against targeting civilians. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/w...

nytimes.com

The U.S. Boat Strike Campaign Has Now Killed Over 200 People

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Just came across something relevant: J. Albert Harrill, "The Influence of Roman Contract law on Early Baptismal Formulae (Tertullian, Ad Martyras 3). Studia Patristica 35 (Leuven: Peeters, 2001). Doesn't (as far as I can see) mention adoption per se but the broader contractual "stipulatio."

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

What if the important "trinitarian" teaching in Matthew 28 wasn't (just) a triadic proof text? More at abmcg.substack.com/p/the-trinit...

abmcg.substack.com

Matthew's End: Discipleship, Baptism, and Trinity

Trinity Sunday, Year A, 2026. Matthew 28:16-20.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Today Google’s AI solemnly informed me that a piece of text from Tertullian was actually a quote from Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” We’re doomed if the lack of human intelligence at @google inflicts AI on us all like that.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Being nationalist and racist but not Christian, white Christian nationalism is in fact a different way of keeping faith itself off the map. Full text of Commencement sermon at abmcg.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

abmcg.blogspot.com

The Regions Beyond: Traveling to Solidarity

I know many of you have travel plans now, graduates. Let me however think with you about a different kind of journey. The Berkeley Divinity ...

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

This is not really as religiously ambitious as it claims, posturing aside: that in this project any genuinely transcendent let alone Christian vision has been erased and what we see proclaimed is a religious branding for an agenda quite alien to the Gospel.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

White Christian nationalism may seem to be breaking the mold of secular liberalism's toleration of a constrained religiosity, with its unapologetic attempts to claim a sort of nominally Christian hegemony within the USA at least.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

A bit stunned that the USA is about to abandon Taiwan, although nothing involving a buck should surprise us from Trump. Conservatives? What a joke.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

...we should a) reflect on why we think individual social mobility has any significance for a whole population while inequality widens, and b) what a real kind of transformative opportunity might be, and how it would have to be won. Harder questions, better answers.

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

There will be a lot of Commencement speeches in these days effectively telling people to rejoice that they have a ticket in the social mobility PowerBall and to dream big as a result. If the speakers knew any better, we should just call this lying. Since they don't perhaps...

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Just catching up - but I don't remember this (it doesn't mean there couldn't be a case).

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

To our @Instructure community: Over the past few days many of you have dealt with real disruption. AI generated excuses. Incomplete sentences. Corporate bromides....

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Nick Cave's blessing for today: "You put the halo into omphaloskepsis."

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Hence, for Musk (and Bezos apparently), a world in which billions die so that his weirdly-conceived offspring (except for the trans kid) and some other white people can go to the stars is a more authentic one. It’s “visionary” - if you’re morally blind. (End)

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

But the shocking part is that creating a sustainable society on earth would be much cheaper and simpler. It's just that it doesn't leave room for his own weird idea - implicitly shared by late capitalism - of what humanity and creativity constitute. (More)

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

My sense is that Musk, like Trump, is a deeply damaged individual who has a certain limited and highly honed form of intelligence. Part of what is dangerous about him is that he understands that capitalism is unsustainable, and hence all this talk of terraforming on Mars. (Cont.)

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

The richest Americans saw their net worth soar 120% from 2017 to 2025. The top 1% now control $55.8 trillion in assets — more than the G.D.P. of the United States and China combined. Meanwhile, millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Still wondering if inequality is out of control?

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

ICE has violated almost 100 court orders. Let me say that another way. 100 times ICE was caught brazenly ignoring the law. 100 times a court told them to immediately stop. And 100 times they ignored the order. That's an out-of-control agency that shouldn't get another dime.

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Reposted by Andrew McGowan

Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Can Vance visit Netanyahu next

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

It is not faith as such, but faith in the one whose death had this character, that marks the follower of Jesus. To sanctify violence, and to manipulate truth, is always to take Pilate's side. 5/5 More at open.substack.com/pub/abmcg/p/...

open.substack.com

Thomas and the Body of Jesus

Easter 2 2026; John 20:19-31

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

...Thomas questions not so much the possibility of resurrections but this particular one, and hence the fulfillment of the incarnation. Now when Christianity is being manipulated to endorse aggression and nationalism, the story reminds us that credulousness is not what is being advocated. 4/5

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

This is the story of the kingdom that is “not from this world” (18:36) which has overcome the violent cynical empire whose best effort at answering the deepest questions is “what is truth?” (18:38). By asking to touch the prints of the nails and to put his hand into Jesus’ side... 3/5

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Andrew McGowan @praxeas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

We can assume that the author and first readers of John knew how bloody crucifixion really was. Their counter-narrative to the brutality of judicial murder was to claim that God’s sovereignty was manifested—even, and especially—in Jesus’ being “lifted up” for the salvation of the world. 2/5

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