unethicist

The sun is out and the air is pleasant outside. Relatedly, life is worth living again.

It's always the days when you're all set to get shit done for real that something life-altering happens.

*Enemies of the Future: As part of the 2026 AAR theme of Future/s, explorations of Luddism, anti-tech, anti-AI, intentionally low-tech, and anti-modern religion (e.g., Anabaptism). *Techno-futures: As part of the AAR 2026 presidential theme of Future/s, considerations of the transformative role of technology in creating new material forms, new scientific horizons, and new religious iterations. Does the science/religion dynamic change as technology changes? *Funding Structures, Funding Collapse: Studies of the transformed landscape of funding for science in the second Trump presidency and its implications for religion as well as how science and religion funding have built the field. *Prediction and Uncertainty: Considerations of science and prediction, of unpredictability, divination, prophecy, the affects of certainty/uncertainty, despair and hope, optimism/pessimism, and speculation. *Revisiting When Prophecy Fails and Cognitive Dissonance: Considerations of new research emerging in the past decade challenging or reframing Festinger et al.’s influential 1956 book *When Prophecy Fails* and Festinger’s follow-up volume *Cognitive Dissonance.* *Genealogies of Science and Religion (for a possible cosponsored session between the Science, Technology, and Religion and Cultural History of the Study of Religion units): Where does science and religion—as a subfield—come from? What are the origin points, lineages, inflections, institutional politics, and material conditions of knowledge production that have led to the current field? Proposals may consider the Pitts Digital Collection repository of “American Academy of Religion Program Books” and/or explore the history of the STR unit (founded as “Theology and Science” in 1987) and related subdivisions of AAR/SBL. We welcome proposals from all scholarly ranks including graduate, contingent, and early-career scholars. AI-generated proposals will not be considered.

AAR/SBL folks: We're very excited about our CFP for the Science, Technology, and Religion unit this year! Have a look and consider submitting something by the March 6 deadline!

@aarweb.bsky.social @sblsite.bsky.social

This is basically what they said to me after a piece of my jawbone broke off

Idk man I think this whole dissertating thing is gonna be cool and fun, like, actually

They are trying to confuse me by throwing in Arabic folk every few songs.

some of you are looksmaxxing when you need to be booksmaxxing

Slavic heavy metal exists. Did you know that? Whoever is in charge of the aux at this dive bar does.

Close up of a single red rose against a white windowsill

Front cover of Eugene Rogers' "Blood Theology" sitting on a blue couch

Reminding myself once again that being annoying and being an op are not the same thing.

They are places I haven't been, languages I don't speak, foods I haven't tried, books I haven't read, and people I haven't met. I wake up every day excited to learn about the world and the things in it. What separates me (and us!) from the gutter racists is that we see existence as joyful.

Steeple
Syre, MN

excellent costumes tho

Wuthering Heights is one of those movies that makes me go, huh, maybe I am aromantic after all.

You're right I should show up to teach undergrads wearing ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛.

I have the soul of a thematic dresser and a field of study that is absolutely not conducive to thematic outfits.

Closeup of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman open face down next to a pint of beer

Yemeni coffee is so so good my god

This was recommended to me recently in response to my feeling that the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was a little disappointing (and not very Mormon).

People have worn out "performative." We often perform things that are real, you know. Posting is a kind of performance of one's politics. Performative doesn't actually mean "fake" or "empty," it just gets deployed that way. We actually need performance. Case in point: last night's performance.

Sometimes people ask for coffee shop recs and all the good will I have for my fellow humans leaves me, replaced by the resource-guarding behavior of an ill-trained German Shepherd.

Top down view of a wooden table featuring a latte in a grey mug, a navy blue 2026 planner, and "The Queer Arab Glossary" edited by Marwan Kaabour

Been getting hype for guerrilla archives and other projects in that independent vein lately.

Tragic: local woman's preferred semi-secret coffee spot blown up. Site previously conducive to productivity now the domain of undergrads.

I like to think they all have their own RaggedMountainMan too, posting incessantly for the love of the game.

But having a bunch of fun and making important memories.

College is such a magical time for human development (young people learning how to be independent, with new peers from all over!), I want nothing more than to get a permanent job to keep teaching students at this life stage forever!

I've not read a lot of early eugenicists but I have to assume they got the seeds of their ideas from the Republic.

Weirdly kind of progressive on women's humanity but just a total misunderstanding of how human bonds work. Creepy creepy creepy on the sex stuff.

Reading Plato's Republic today and man I really don't think we take seriously enough how fucked his view of human sexuality and family were.

Per this article there were boos in the crowd and spiritually I am one of them.