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Greetings all! A blessed Pentecost and happy (Texan) summer to everyone. I’m writing from a coffee shop in Vancouver, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. I just wrapped up a week teaching one of Regent College’s famous and beloved summer seminars. My topic was the doctrine of Scripture. It was a wonderful time. Now I know why they are so famous and beloved. I hope to return. Nobody, however, prepared me for the Regent bookstore. One of the happiest places on earth. How am I supposed to lug all these new books back to Abilene without checking a bag? (The one I’m most excited about: Simon Leys’ The Hall of Uselessness.) Apologies for the delay on this month’s newsletter. As you can tell, I’ve been busy. News Besides the week-long seminar, I preached a sermon in Regent’s chapel on Tuesday, June 10, on the eleventh chapter of Ezekiel. Whenever I’m asked to preach, I look at the Old Testament text assigned by the lectionary for the day in question. So it was that I preached on Ezekiel on the Tuesday following the Sunday of the Feast of Pentecost. Besides that, have you heard about Mere Fidelity 2.0? I’ve joined the Mere Fi original hosts Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts as part of a crew of rotating hosts: Andrew Wilson, James Wood, and Joe Minich. Three new episodes have been posted; you can give them a listen here or wherever you prefer your podcasts. The tech manuscript is drafted and revised and now I’m working on version 3.0. Once that’s done I’ll sit on it for a bit before returning in August for one last revision, plus thorny details like bibliography, footnotes, and epigraphs. God willing it’ll be in Lexham’s hands by Labor Day. Oh, and speaking of books: On Amazon, Letters to a Future Saint is $17.88 and The Church is $4.97. That’s two books for less than $23. What are you waiting for? Writing Three new pieces: In addition, the latest issue of the Journal of Theological Interpretation (whose editorial board I recently joined) has a panel review devoted to a 25-year retrospective on Stephen Fowl’s Engaging Scripture, based on a SBL session I participated in last November. My contribution has a simple title: “Stephen Fowl and Theological Interpretation: Retrospect and Prospect.” Steve is a mensch and I was happy to honor his great work. Appearances Four podcasts: In addition to Regent and these pods, I also participated in the Christian Scholars’ Conference that ran June 4-6 on ACU’s campus. I was part of a panel on AI and digital discipleship in addition to serving as the respondent for two paper sessions: one on the future of catechesis in churches of Christ, the other on my book The Church. All were wonderful and the latter two were an honor. It was great catching up with folks I hadn’t seen in years. Blog For the second straight month I mezzo-blogged about quite literally nothing. I did write tens of thousands of words that will be published at some point this year. But this is why I don’t have a Subtack. Every second of spare time I have for writing is devoted to (1) books, (2) essays for magazines and other venues that pay, or (3) public speaking (whether academic papers, talks for lay audiences, or sermons). Had I world enough and time, I suppose I’d also write voluminous daily Substack essays—but then, I don’t. As my grandmother liked to say, you can’t do everything. So no Substack for me. I do micro blog, since that takes mere seconds. All the benefits of Twitter without even one of the downsides. Keep up with that here. Links No time for links this week; I’m already two weeks late on this newsletter as it is. Next time it’ll be overflowing with links. One non-link comment: I haven’t been able to get enough of this year’s NBA playoffs. Against friends who are lifelong Thunder fans, I can’t help but cheer for Haliburton and the unlikely Pacers. That said, and granting basketball supremacy, I’ve been able to see not one but two NHL Finals games while here in Vancouver. Last night I found a downtown bar packed with fans and got to see all of the second and third periods. I couldn’t but cheering for Edmonton. There’s nothing quite like playoff hockey and Canadian hockey fans. Return the Stanley Cup to Canada, people! Surely that’s where it belongs. Forthcoming Expect two, maybe three new columns in CT by the end of July. I also have an essay on aliens in the summer issue of The Hedgehog Review, a review of Phil Christman and Christian leftism in the next issue of First Things, and a review of a recent book on illiberal American Christian political thought in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Later this fall, expect essays and reviews in The Lamp, Commonweal, The Heythrop Journal, Pro Ecclesia, Modern Theology, and Arc. Maybe also The Bulwark and the Chronicle. Maybe even the announcement of a new book contract! Stay tuned. As ever, thanks for reading. Peace, Brad
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