Join Us for a Groundbreaking Conference on Coptic Christianity! May 19-21, 2025 Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus The Orthodox Christian Studies Center is proud to present its inaugural Coptic Christianity Conference:

Just finished the first rough draft of dissertation chapter one. Feeling rather pumped (and very sleepy!)

This year I'm on the #aar steering committees of the Middle Eastern Christianity Unit & Religion and Memory Unit. Check out our CfP(s) & consider submitting a proposal! MECU June: papers.aarweb.org/group/14948 MECU Nov.: papers.aarweb.org/group/14947 R&M Nov.: papers.aarweb.org/group/14993

It's a slow but satisfying day of dissertating at home. Almost 900 words in today.

Is it just me who can't find the #aar #sbl call for papers, or are they really hidden in some obscure nook of the website?

“But when it comes to making judgments about the characteristics of past societies, especially those located outside North America and Western Europe, their ability to do so is much more limited.”

The intellectual always has a choice either to side with the weaker, the less well represented, the forgotten or ignored, or to side with the more powerful. —Edward Said

Writing at USC's philosophy library is always a lovely experience.

Gen Z leading the way. religionnews.com/2025/01/16/m...

LA fires are a good reminder that the only difference between me and any refugee is luck.

Thread for if you have to evacuate 👇🏼

The LA Times has a good list of places offering discounted or free food and coffee to displaced families and/or first responders. Check it out and double check to be sure what deals are where. (added this to my running resources list) www.latimes.com/food/list/lo...

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 15

Stay safe, LA people.

Never done a reading challenge before; I buy & read bks all the time for work & fun. But this year will be read-from-my-bookshelf & read-for-my-dissertation year. It's Jan 7 & I'm already restless - stopped reading 2 books midway & picked up a 3rd. BUT all from my bookshelf. Maybe I'll make it?

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 14

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 13

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 12

South African poet Don Mattera wrote a searching poem called "To God". It sounds like Job! I found it in a paper by Prof. Maluleke.

In memory of Richard Hays. RIP Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 11

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 10

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 9

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 8

Happy new year. May 2025 bring a kinder, more just, & more humane world.

Did you use the Internet Archive this year to research, read, explore web archives with the Wayback Machine, or discover something new? Your support makes it possible! 👉 Like & share to spread the word. 💙 Consider donating to keep Internet Archive growing: archive.org/donate/?orig...

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 7

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 6

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 5

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 4

Shameless marketing plug for some of my favorite books (and bookshelf)! Thanks @phildorroll.bsky.social

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 3

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. one book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. no explanations, no reviews, just covers. 💙📚 day 1

Interested in why the poinsettia is a symbol of Christmas and so widely available this time of year? Check out this article by my father, Norman Ellstrand, and I in Time Magazine's "Made by History" column. time.com/7202847/poin...

“Between you and God, stands the poor person. His hand is stretched out in the middle, through it you give and receive. Through it you can buy, the kingdom that is greater than all…. To the poor he has entrusted his wealth, the treasury of divinity.” Isaac of Antioch, On Almsgiving

I made a starter pack for specialists in Eastern Christian Studies- check it out, share with others, and let me know who else to add! go.bsky.app/8a9jSuF

Loving this

“The goal is to haunt—to have them think about your words before bed, see them manifest in their dreams, tell their partner about them the next morning, to have them grab random people on the street, shake them and say, ‘Have you read this yet?’”

Check.it.out #digitalhumanities #coptic

One last reminder to #SBLAAR24 presenters: why not turn that paper into an article for our journal, _Religious Studies & Theology_? We're a venue with a long track-record & a quick turnaround time. Here's how to submit: journal.equinoxpub.com/RST/about/su...

I recently noticed that both of my articles on the first Christian theologians to write in Arabic are currently available for free: www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.... muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Was it all a dream? #sblaar24

I put together the #SBLAAR24 discount codes for American religion: usreligion.substack.com/p/sblaar24-p...

This year's #aarsbl24 was great - complete with wonderful sessions, conversations, meeting friends old and new, getting pep talks & constructive feedback, & regaining a little hope in humanity. And of course, a lovely city & amazing food.

New to these blue skies. I'm a PhD candidate at USC working on medieval Copto-Arabic literature, the medieval Islamicate world & other fun stuff like moving mountains and stabbing icons. Books and tea are my favorite things. Nice to "meet" you!

#aarsbl24 by the sea. Love it

Come visit our Middle Eastern Christianity panels on Sunday at #aarsbl24 #sblaar24! Fantastic lineup of sessions and panelists. Also, if you fancy moving mountains, you might want to pass by the Religion & Memory unit on Sunday!

Happy #sblaar / #aarsbl season to all of you who celebrate! May the odds of your papers being accepted for publication be ever in your favor!

Cool guide to conferences #aarsbl24 #sblaar24

I’m not going to #aarsbl24 (because #toopoorforaar) but one thing to keep in mind: young scholars, especially if it’s their first time, need you to be kind to them. Encourage them, but also just look them in the eyes. Not at their badge. Not everyone you inters with there is for your benefit.

Still getting used to this sky app but I'm liking it so far. Feels like a nostalgic throwback to a bygone age (& app)