Jay David Miller

New Directions in Quaker Literary History, a special issue of Early American Literature that I was honored to co-edit, is currently accessible for free!

It actually seems to be expected that a school taking an uncompromising stance on biblical interpretation would also take an uncompromising stance on AI, for two reasons: 1) they are used to uncompromising stances, and 2) there is a certain idealism/purism to both of these positions.

This ‘Screwtape for Our Times’ Will Challenge and Confound You - Christianity Today The Body of This Death is difficult to classify, difficult to read, and absolutely worth your time.

Gratifying to see my colleague Ross McCullough getting such a sterling review for his new book. I was privileged to read some of this in manuscript and I am looking forward to picking up the print version that is sitting on my desk now: www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/scre...

A student from my Quakerism class eagerly asked me where she could attend a conservative Friends meeting in the area. Had to break it to her that conservative Friends are concentrated in only a few geographic regions and none of them are remotely close by. A compelling vision, but hard to find.

I am fortunate to teach in a program where this is exactly what we do!

RIP:

Being limited only to the films showing at the Cameo sounds like a circle in Dante's Inferno.

Drafting a syllabus for an Intro to Quakerism class, and here I am typing up units titled "Beginnings" and "The Second Period." Those blue Braithwaite volumes leave an indelible mark on the soul!

Pairs well with Tanner's "The Annunciation":
www.visitpham.org/objects/104384

Marie Howe's New and Selected Poems was my favorite book I read this year. Posting this poem for the season: onbeing.org/poetry/annun...

I’m a Professor. A.I. Has Changed My Classroom, but Not for the Worse.

Great to see such an in-depth pedagogical piece in NYT Mag: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/m...

👀

Proofs for a special issue on "New Directions in Quaker Literary History," forthcoming in @early-am-lit.bsky.social!

Agreed. And not just the waiting, but the expectation of Christ's second advent. I always think of James Nayler this time of year.

Yesterday was a good mail day. Going to read this new 33 1/3 book by my colleague @jmayward.bsky.social over the weekend!

Can confirm as a professor at a Christian university that this is definitely a dynamic for young men, although they do not usually talk about their conversions in political terms, at least to me.

Young adults turn to Quakers' silent worship to offset — and cope with — a noisy world There’s been an unprecedented surge in the numbers of attendees at Sunday worship at the Quaker Arch Street Meeting House in Old City Philadelphia.

"Attendance at Arch Street was so low . . . that the few people present began to meet in a smaller room. But recent years have produced an unprecedented surge in the number of attendees at Sunday worship — from about 25 before the coronavirus pandemic to up to 100 today."

apnews.com/article/quak...

Another Early Craft Beer Pioneer is Gone as Oregon's Rogue Shutters its Doors You can argue that Rogue struggled to keep up with the craft beer times, but it's still a blow to lose a member of the Class of '88.

Went out and bought what I presume to be my last six-packs of Rogue tonight. RIP, Dead Guy:
www.pastemagazine.com/drink/craft-...

You did great work there.

I've been appreciating this poem in the midst of the autumn rains here in the Pacific Northwest: harpers.org/archive/2025... @harpers.bsky.social

Not all of us have forgotten this century . . .

"the broad-brims"

Had not heard of this new bio:

Thanks, Mitchell. I don't actually talk about Hicks much, except in reference to the agrarian character of many Hicksites in my conclusion. Definitely think he was theologically significant!

Thank you Ben!

I've officially signed a book contract with @psupress.bsky.social for my manuscript, Quaker Jeremiad, a literary history of Quaker agrarian writing in early America.

I'm very grateful to Tristan Bates and the rest of that editorial team for their support. Looking forward to getting this in print!

14 Oct 1644: b. Willian Penn, future founder of #Pennsylvania #otd in #London. When arrested at a #Quaker meeting in #Cork city in 1667, he was heir to an estate of 7,500 #Irish acres in Co. Cork

This is going to land at the exactly the right time for an escapist read in the final third of the semester. Looking forward to it.

"To be human is, it seems to me, to care about the origins and sources of things, but we know very little, it also seems to me, about what most deeply shapes us."

blog.ayjay.org/revival-retr...

Giles Calvert (d. 1663) was a prominent printer in 17th century England known for his association with religious dissenters and radicals. His shop, the Black Spread Eagle, was near near St. Paul's Churchyard in London. His shop was a hotbed of radical and egalitarian thought. (1)