iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 2h

Once in a while I think about Jory Micah's bizarre journey from normie evangelical feminist twitter poster to rabid antisemite and it's incredibly unnerving.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The comment in the article about theological education being in crisis makes me think a lot of different things. Theological education in conservative Baptist (and adjacent) contexts seems to be thriving overall. Theological education linked to progressive activism (as described here) is surviving.

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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This lack of differentiation is not accidental. There is a long history of blurring the lines between "victim groups" intentionally. Ultimately, it allows non-Jewish/Roma/Jehovah's witnesses/etc. Germans to say that during that era, they too were victims on equal footing with Jews and the others.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Seeing people arguing about whether the United Methodist Church or conservatives who left it were "culturally influenced" and despairing. The broad Christian public has not learned the basic lesson of historicism: none of us are outside history or culture. We are always part of and creating them.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Every time this happens it's reported like "unforeseeable phenomenon of 'oversupply' causing market rate rents to fall" when this is an entirely predictable result of doing the thing that very few unaffordable cities bother to do.

Wall Street Journal promoting an article on falling market rate housing costs in Portland, Oregon.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Today, a guy walked by me on the street loudly talking on the phone about how "if you murder people you won't get put in jail but if you say anything bad about the Jews you will." There's a lot of antisemitism that has been boosted by social media, imo.

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Joe Fish @sadbusdriver.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

the thing with luxury condos is that they're mostly a myth. 1. within the same county, condos sell for 35% less than single family homes 2. within the same neighborhood, they sell for 43% less 3. within the same neighborhood and adjusting for some quality characteristics, they sell for 21% less

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One of the many intellectual shortcomings of white racists in the US is the idea that there's a single culture to which people can "assimilate." I have a cousin who would have been at Texas football games a few years ago. Others have found other parts of US culture to assimilate to or not.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

He's not wrong, and I wonder how golf courses as land use/water use would poll if they were the kind of public concern they should be.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

At some point, seminary education should include a substantial reckoning with how the seminarian and much of what they've learned are going to be far removed from the lives and vocabulary of most of their audience, which is something they will have to continually deal with in church leadership.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For a lot of small, struggling mainline churches this is an understandable shortcoming, but the bigger ones who don't adapt are choosing to die. And if churches are worried that contemporary worship music is too formulaic or shallow, they're probably limiting themselves to white church music, imo.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18/09/2026

i am genuinely bewildered by people who say that the rise of white nationalism in the republican party is a response to the "woke left." like, did the woke left cause pat buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign? is the woke left why steve king had a long career in congress?

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Ganz is onto something here. There's a reason that breakthroughs in mathematics have typically been achieved by young people while truly great work in the humanities usually doesn't happen until middle age.

Excerpt from John Ganz substack on AI and Aristotle on techne and phronesis

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Cook County's population is over 5 million (3rd most populous in the US). This level of housing production is abysmal, and yet NIMBYs act as if "developers" are destroying every neighborhood.

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Thomas Bamonte @thomasbamonte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Analysis @rsday.bsky.social: Issuance of new housing permits in 2025: On a per capita basis, Chicago ranks 410 among all 534 jurisdictions with at least 100,000 residents. We’re dead last among the 21 jurisdictions with a population of more than a million. citythatworks.substack.com/p/were-in-a-...

citythatworks.substack.com

A list of places that permitted more housing than Chicago last year

We're in a dead heat with Omaha, Nebraska

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Maybe not the biggest problem in the world, but it's pretty wild how GED exam prep books are written at close to the same level as GRE exam prep books.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Thinking about this again. I'm not a disability theologian, but I think that a theological perspective that draws only or mainly on abled experience of God is like one that draws only or mainly on wealthy experience of God--bound to be desperately off-course.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I can't get over how bizarre it is that someone would write a book called "In Defense of Evangelicalism" at a moment when evangelicalism's victims--in secret police abductions at home and reckless bombings abroad and at sea--are being kidnapped and murdered every day.

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 11/09/2026

AN URGENT EXCLUSIVE: Ahmed Soliman, the 30-year-old gay man ICE expelled in April to Equatorial Guinea, a country he has no ties to, was arrested this morning and cannot be located, his attorneys say. They fear he may be in one of EG's torture prisons. prospect.org/2026/09/11/i...

prospect.org

Immigrant Trump Sent to African Hotel Prison Arrested After Speaking With Media, Lawyers Say - The American Prospect

Ahmed Soliman’s attorneys fear he may have been sent to one of Equatorial Guinea’s notorious torture prisons.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Another thing to say is that @dwcongdon.com was more right about the link between political and theological postliberalisms than I could have imagined. bsky.app/profile/step...

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Omg. The "rabbi" he was talking with was actually the charismatic prophet and messianic Christian conspiracist Jonathan Cahn.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

We could ask when exactly Germany was great, I guess.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

If only the media had as much interest in the world's richest person, the primary funder of the Republican Party, who spoke at Trump's Inauguration and gave a Sieg Heil, once again declaring his belief "white solidarity is the only way to survive" as they do some Twitch streamer.

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Jonathan he/him/his @trellisjumper.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I find this tendency enormously frustrating because Weber himself was fairly careful to point out that he viewed the Protestant work ethic as a kind of unintended consequence of the core theological commitments and as what remained after the bourgeoisie had already abandoned Protestant religion.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Kind of wild how a lot of people know Weber but not Luther, Calvin, or any other Protestant reformer, leading to the widespread belief that Protestantism was fundamentally about "work."

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The key problem with "Christian nationalists" isn't that they're Christians or that they're expressing their religion politically. It's that they have morally and factually erroneous versions of Christianity that would wither in the face of empathy and inquiry, if they were to engage in them.

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herenowandthere.bsky.social @herenowandthere.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Still reading through this this morning (to avoid other things) but something for the discourse gods. Jonathan Tran and Jesse Smith (who I don't know) critique of the anti-Christian nationalism discourse onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

On Christian Nationalism

Click on the article title to read more.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Even 10 years ago, I think most people assumed that non-voters were a latent left-wing majority, but it seems more and more like non-voters in wealthy societies are low- trust, low-information people most susceptible to right-wing propaganda, especially when it appeals to bigotry.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This church is sending out their livestream link like "Zoom to the living water"

Email subject that says "link to the living stream"

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Woke up from a dream that I was in a bookstore and overheard someone telling a guy he "looks like a black Charlie Kirk," and now that's going to haunt me all day.

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Keifer @dannyvegito.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

[guy who can’t fully remember that Gramsci quote] it’s Monster Time

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Coexist... But apparently not with pedestrians using the crosswalk, huh

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

This is what Hegel calls thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

Post by Anthony Bradley on African American writers being free to write about anything, ending with a comment recommending Thomas Sowell.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Yeah, the DSA's international politics isn't great, but at least they're good on local issu--

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

More unsolicited advice: people always talk about explaining this to family and friends, but it's basically pointless. Even if you somehow got them to intellectually comprehend the whole thing, they would not believe it was really like that. Even people involved in that job market don't believe it.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

One thing that's uniquely bad about the humanities academic job market (outside philosophy) is that it's like a sports draft if there were literally no relevant stats, just vibes all the way down, but still picks are happening. Any outsider would be like "that can't be true." And yet.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This is why I find @kellyjbaker.bsky.social's work on the religion of the 2nd Klan so important. There's often not a sharp disjunction between "person would who join in hateful political actions to keep out or kill purported outsiders" and "kind churchgoers who consistently help people in need."

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

""What did he study? “Philosophy and theology. A teacher in high school said, there’s no money in that, and I said: ‘Sir, that’s disrespectful. That’s insulting, because not everybody’s about money.’" he's one of us!

theguardian.com

‘I don’t chase the dollar. I never did’: the astonishing hidden life of Mr T

He grew up in the ghetto, became a global superstar – then gave it all up. Why did he step away from the spotlight?

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Laurie! Live! @laurie-merrell.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

climate change means worse, more frequent extreme heat. transportation emissions are a key contributor to climate change. we need mode shifts to reduce emissions. to change mode choices, it needs to be safe and comfortable to wait for the bus. we need shade, seating, and frequent, reliable service

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Going to do a thread of posts on the young men crisis, because why not.

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Dan Hayward @danielhayward.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Toronto FC played NYCFC on Saturday and some American viewers were shocked by booing of the US national anthem. The stadium is literally beside Lake Ontario, and you're surprised that some Canadians would vent their anger at nearly 20 months of bullying and threats?

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Kind of wild detail here about a councilmember first asking for fewer "affordable" housing units in a building, then more, during the same meeting--presumably to sabotage the entire project. At some point, we just have to be like "we live in a city, not a tiny village or suburb."

Text on how a city councilmember asked for fewer "affordable" units then more at the same meeting.

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

An important point to make when people say “we need to spread population around” or “not everyone needs to live in the same big cities”. People want to live in certain cities for a reason. It shouldn’t be up to you to block housing and tell them they can’t!

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.

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Stephen @stephenwaldron.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Excellent thoughts here on demonization in US politics, Lance Wallnau, the NAR, and Latter Rain. I'm glad that I'm not the only researcher who subscribed to Wallnau's email newsletter. People know him for the Seven Mountains, but his real motto is "always be closing." He's a sales guy at heart.

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