iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 03/10/2026

I recently watched a presentation where an expert disagreed with the interpretation of an audience member on a technical reading of some material, and the questioner announced that an AI bot agreed with them & encouraged the expert to have a chat with it. It’s the new “Ackchyually.”

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The Trump administration was too stupid to realize that cutting food safety programs and firing thousands of public servants would have shitty consequences. Watch.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 03/10/2026

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “people have amazing powers of self deception.”

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 03/10/2026

Is it cynical to think the support for the idea of AI consciousness/moral agency is because it will pump stock prices & drive investment, & because the narrative of AI choice-making complicates the clarity of responsibility for the people who set the AI up & on its course?

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

We are ruining our own institutions, which is sad for us and great for our enemies.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 22/09/2026

One of the most annoying things about "both-sidism" is also its most fundamental fallacy: it assumes there are two sides rather than many, and then it automatically puts the two identified "sides" on equal footing. In nearly every case, it's shoddy thinking and a cover for intellectual laziness.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 11/09/2026

A recording of a poem I wrote several years ago. www.thegospelplow.com/p/afternoon-...

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America's Voice @americasvoice.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Birthright citizenship has benefited some of the very people now seeking to undermine it. As Rep. @scanlon.house.gov noted, that includes “senior officials in the Trump administration like Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley, who were born to non-citizens and received their U.S. citizenship at birth.”

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 01/09/2026

My personal reflection from Sunday on one reason that I think so many people identified with Dolly Parton, and how her kindness exemplified Christian charity. To see the context you’ll need to read or watch the rest of the sermon, here: www.thegospelplow.com/p/poor-peter

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 30/08/2026

My sermon this morning at Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville. Grateful for the invitation from Dean Sides. I enjoy the opportunity to visit and preach at many of our congregations in the Diocese of Tennessee, but my family worships at Christ Church, and I always enjoy preaching there.

thegospelplow.com

Poor Peter?

Proper 17, Year A · Romans 12:9–21 & Matthew 16:21–28 · Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville

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The Economist @economist.com · 28/08/2026

Anthony Fauci made mistakes. But his diary reveals a conscientious public servant trying to save as many lives as he could during the pandemic. His recent summons before a Senate committee was surely intended to humiliate him. It should embarrass America

bit.ly

The real covid-19 scandal is still unfolding

The failure to reckon with lives needlessly lost will make the next pandemic deadlier

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James Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

BREAKING: Liam Tadeo was just deported by ICE.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 22/08/2026

Isn't "excessive" inherent in the word "sycophancy?" In other words, it's a negative trait... there's no acceptable or non-excessive amount.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 21/08/2026

I had a former parishioner who’d moved to another state contact me during the pandemic to ask if I would be a reference on their application for a religious exemption from taking the COVID vaccine for their job. I said that if they had a medical reason for requesting an exemption, they should go

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Chauvin was, in fact, the cause of Floyd’s death. He used a technique that MPD and most other agencies have banned, specifically because it causes death. And the crime for which he was convicted is unintentional second-degree murder, which by definition does not require intent to kill.

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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

It probably would have been better if we hadn't decided to go through the list of important things a society does and then stop doing them because we didn't know much about them

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 14/08/2026

"Republicans said moral rot was infectious. They warned that a party led by a scoundrel, and dedicated to defending that scoundrel, would come to resemble him. Under Trump, they’ve proved it." ICYMI @saletan.bsky.social:

lnk.thebulwark.com

How to Survive a Republican Scandal: Imitate Trump

Embattled politicians have learned what to do: Never resign. Deny everything. Accuse the accusers. And invoke Trump.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

So much of American politics is very easily explained by “People either can’t or won’t keep dates & the actual chronology of events straight in their heads”

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Facts Matter @ai7gu-wkh45.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Spouse is a OB/Gyn MD reviewer for COVID vaccines and their outcome on pregnancy, birth defects, reproduction and other outcomes. Miscarriages were not caused by Covid vaccines. medicine.yale.edu/news-article...

medicine.yale.edu

COVID-19 Vaccines Not Linked to Miscarriage

A new study adds to existing evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are safe during pregnancy.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 11/08/2026

Administered at the first sign of an allergy to extremes, or a reaction to enthusiasm laced with tackiness.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 10/08/2026

Capon hitting hard this morning in my Readwise review.

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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Anti-immigration movements in Europe and the US either don't realize it or don't care, but the day that South-to-North immigration ends is the day Europe and the US have locked in the decline those movements are obsessed with. And not just due to the demographic impact that pro-natalists fixate on.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 05/08/2026

Has anyone written anything about why AI seems to turn aggressive? I know that many of the errors of AI seem to be intensifications of human errors that it picks up through machine learning, but are its (for lack of a better term) maladaptive & aggressive acts intensifications of human vices?

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 21/07/2026

I found this interesting app called Readwise that syncs multiple sources, such as kindle, apple books, medium etc. to import your highlights & notes. You can also snap pictures of physical books (essential). Then it sends a daily review of 10 random highlights for you to read & potentially memorize.

Historically, Israelites may have been for a time serfs and slaves in Babylonia, but theologically, the status accorded to them and any other human being is entirely different. It seems that from the beginning God intended us to be something more like intimate friends, even family—to use a metaphor developed by Exodus (4:22), Hosea (11:1), Isaiah (1:2), and Malachi (1:6), as well as Jesus and Paul. The blessing and sanctification of Sabbath is the first indication of what it means to think of humans as children of God. Like a parent who delights in a child, God chooses our company for no good reason at all.
Opening Israel's Scriptures

Christians killed each other, he argues, because of the kind of Christianity they had embraced
—a message of "obedience, division, and power"-whose dynamics rendered them
"unable or unwilling to restrain genocide."20 To this degree their faith was wholly complicit in murder.

—A Brutal Unity
Ephraim Radner

Forgiveness is best understood as God's willingness to give us a second chance at life on the
same terms we were given the first time. Forgiveness is the sheer grace and patience and hopefulness of God, which allows us to try again at life even when we have ignominiously failed.

—Mending the Heart
John Claypool

This means that the liturgy declaims and proclaims something rather than it analyzes or teaches something.
For this reason one should be serious, affirm forthrightly, avoid looseness and the commonplace, not annoy or polarize the assembly, and act with a gracious simplicity because humbug and
mystification are foreign both to Christianity and its worship.
—Elements of Rite
Aidan Kavanagh

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Grudgie the Wail @grudgie.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The entire ICE operation is built on two unambiguous lies: 1) that immigrants commit lots of crime 2) that they’re targeting those criminals

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Sharon 🪳🌹 @sharonk.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Coming back to this, I think it's basically 70% right in that radical right beliefs + politics were always present in contemporary society, just had heavy norms against expression. Musk made it easier to weaken the norms, but 2016/Brexit shows the underlying belief was always there

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

When did the common law rule of birthright citizenship first reach America's shores? 1584. Elizabeth I issued a charter to Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a settlement. Children born to her subjects would be treated "as if they were borne and personally resident within our saide Realme of England."

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

That’s…not how that happened.This is why I have to patiently explain to my students every year that it’s not weird that medieval Christian art portrays Greek and Roman myth.

From Jill Lepore’s book _These Truths_.
Claudius Ptolemy, an astronomer who lived in the second century, had devised a way to project the surface of the globe onto a flat surface with near-perfect proportions. But medieval Chris-tians, having dismissed the writings of the ancient Greeks as pagan, had iost much of that knowledge.

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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Killed People. That’s the Truth. @nickkristof.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Killed People. That’s the Truth.

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Memento Mori Kira @kmaustinyoung.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I need everyone to know that Rowan Williams reviewed JD Vance’s book, and it is both a generous and savage review. Also some great writing because, of course. ⚓️ www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

theguardian.com

Communion by JD Vance review – a strange, poignant book about faith and the modern world

JD Vance’s Christian vision is thoughtful – but impossible to square with the political company he keeps

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 01/07/2026

Areas where my puritan streak comes out: Legalized gambling is a tax on the poor and anti-usuary laws capping interest rates at ~10-12% should be passed nationwide.

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Josh Grubbs @joshuagrubbsphd.com · 01/07/2026

Folks have heard me complain vociferously about the fact that there is a lack of programmatic federal funding to study this stuff, and even though I’ve had a few grants on the topic scored, I still haven’t had any that have funded But did you know sportsbooks lobby to prevent that funding?

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Among other things, a 5-4 ruling on birthright citizenship is an invitation to try again.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 30/06/2026

really cannot be emphasized enough that the drafters of the birthright clause very much considered cases analogous to undocumented immigrants and *included them too*

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 01/07/2026

Vance is like if someone decided to embody cringe as performance art.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 27/06/2026

He’s not wrong, but just like Trump’s Birtherism, the election fraud canard isn’t about logic or truth, it’s about who’s considered a legitimate American. The “fraud” is really shorthand for “voting against us can’t be legitimate because no legitimate American would vote against us!”

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 21/06/2026

I preached and celebrated this morning at Holy Trinity, Nashville. It was good to be with them: www.thegospelplow.com/p/a-differen...

thegospelplow.com

A Different Body, a Different Way

How the cross ends the body of sin and frees us to follow Jesus

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 21/06/2026

This hymn and a bit about William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) the author, will make a brief appearance in my sermon this morning at Holy Trinity. It’s probably not heard often in the Episcopal Church, but it is in Lift Every Voice and Sing II as hymn #39.

Screenshot of a hymn lyric display with a gray-blue background. At the top, the song is identified as “There Is a Fountain” by Capitol Hill Baptist Church, with album art from The Dead’s Alive. Large white text shows the lyrics: “There is a fountain filled with blood / Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins / And sinners plunged beneath that flood / Lose all their guilty stains.”

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 15/06/2026

This morning’s sermon. I got one of the most memorable compliments I've ever received about a sermon when the intercessor told me at the peace that her 11 year old had leaned over to her when I finished & said “that was a tuff freestyle.” 😂

substack.com

The God Who Laughs

3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6 · Genesis 18 · Matthew 9:35-10:8 · St. Ann’s, Nashville

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 08/06/2026

So, an opinion I've had since becoming Episcopalian, shaped in part by Peter Berger's observations about how Mainline Protestantism "won" the culture war but lost societal adherence (first, by supporting Civil Rights, and then by forgetting why Jesus was important-my summary), is that Evangelicalism

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 04/06/2026

I've been ordained for nearly twenty years, & I just noticed the 1979 Book of Common Prayer uses the British spelling of "Tranquillity" rather than the preferred American spelling of "Tranquility". I prefer the double IIs, but it was interesting to see spell check underline it. I'd never noticed.

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 03/06/2026

“Of all the developed economies in the world, the U.S. is the most successful at integrating immigrants, and you might wonder why,”… “Maybe that access to citizenship from very early on is important.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/b...

nytimes.com

What Ireland and Germany Can Teach Us About Birthright Citizenship

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 26/05/2026

My sermon from yesterday at Church of the Resurrection, Franklin, TN. www.thegospelplow.com/p/pentecost-...

A sermon promotional image with the title 'Pentecost and the Reversal of Babel' in large white serif text on an olive green background, with the website WWW.THEGOSPELPLOW.COM and the tagline 'The Gospel Plow: Tilling the Soil of the Kingdom' in italics. The lower half features a reproduction of a medieval woodcut print depicting a densely packed group of bearded figures in colorful robes — reds, greens, and earth tones — gathered around a central figure wearing a white head covering and a golden halo, likely representing the Virgin Mary. A building and landscape are visible in the background.

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Begging anyone at all to take a Religious Studies course or speak to a Religious Studies scholar or maybe even just touch grass before publishing this stuff

The Machines are Praying, and Nobody Wants to Talk About It.

Image is a short haired robot woman in some kind of weird sexy sci fi bra top thing for some reason

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 19/05/2026

A paper I wrote examining three sermons by Fleming Rutledge for a DMin preaching class in November 2025. www.thegospelplow.com/p/examining-...

Graphic with the title of a post, "Examining Three Sermons by Fleming Rutledge," that lists the website www.thegospelplow.com and then includes an image from Altarpiece Showing Repentance: “The left wing of the altarpiece in Jukkasjärvi church, made by Bror Hjorth, shows preacher Lars Levi Læstadius talking to the people. One repenting sinner is breaking a barrel of vodka, while another is giving back a stolen reindeer.”

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Jody Howard @thegospelplow.com · 09/05/2026

When my blog died, it meant I had to move posts over from the Internet Archive version (sadly, I lost a good bit of writing). I just posted a sermon I preached at Christ Church Cathedral on Trinity Sunday in 2019, and I thought I’d share this clip: www.thegospelplow.com/p/the-unity-...

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