My latest essay looks at the ways we are commanded to (re)produce without the possibility of surprise, which traps us in the logics of “no future” - I welcome your comments and thoughts, and please share. Thanks! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/reproduction-without-natality

Great to see a pic of @daultradio.bsky.social there! (Did you know he's our technical producer for @deaconspod.bsky.social?)

A compelling case for the responsibility not to relinquish one's responsibility. How to do it humbly and when is not clear to me. It's hard to love our neighbors, and especially when they act like our enemies. But I like this call to do so and want to think more about it.

A new essay, in which I engage with a key idea from my friend and colleague David Dark. We have a responsibility not to relinquish our responsibility. I’d love to hear what you think, & if you enjoy this, please share. Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/institutional-rationality

I’m working through this line of thought, and I invite you to think with me. I think about monsters that are utterly indifferent to humanity, and monsters that focus on humans a bit too much. I wonder what you think about all this? Thank you. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/monsters-big-and-small

For the past few years I’ve been talking about this idea of “epistemological modesty.” A colleague asked me to explain what it means, and so this is a first attempt. I welcome your feedback to help me think about it.Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/epistemic-humility-and-epistemological

In my latest essay, I look at the way our idea of the “economy” has been transformed from its early meaning as a method of care for families and communities into liturgies of idolatrous efficiency. I welcome your thoughts. Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/an-economy-of-cruelty

Have you watched this homily that Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman FSPA preached as instruction to the Bishops? You should. It’s well worth your time. https://youtu.be/uOV0nQkjuoA?si=nSa6Eozydu7phmk1

I co-host a podcast with my friend Rick Lee James, where we discuss Superman & spirituality. I invite you to listen to our recent episode. If you enjoy it, please share. Thank you! https://open.substack.com/pub/supermanpodcast/p/truth-justice-and-the-way-episode-c98?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

This essay fought me at every step of the journey. I would really welcome your responses to help me see how it could be improved. Thank you as always for engaging with my work. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/nonviolence-is-not-a-tactic

Objects do not obligate us to talk about them in certain ways.

"The being whose analysis our task is, is always we ourselves. The being of this being is always mine. In the being of this being it is related to its being. As the being of this being, it is entrusted to its own being. It is being about which this being is concerned." - Martin Heidegger

Hello. I am a philosopher (or, as Richard Rorty would have it, a literary critic), with training in Christian theology, Judaic studies, and the history of interpretation. The kids are busy with homework and I have a bit of a free evening. Ask me anything.

The essays I post are scaffolding that helps me structure the larger projects I hope to publish in more “formal” venues like books and journals. That’s why I value your engagement so much: You are helping me think. Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/on-strategies-principles-and-tactics

“I wish I better understood what it is inside me that allows me to extend my empathy so easily to a smart device or a piece of fruit but leaves me reluctant to do so when I encounter a homeless person on the street.” – @daultradio.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/features/par...

Hey look, Israel broke the cease-fire, twice, in two different ways, within 24 hours - again.

One of the less understood beauties of a transition to a renewable economy is: you cannot invade a country and steal its sunshine and its wind, and you will not need to. The uneven distribution of fossil fuel, esp. oil, has corroded geopolitics for more than a century....

What is organized abandonment? https://daviddault.substack.com/p/speak-truth-to-violence

Niklas Luhmann said “writing is thinking,” and in this post I invite you to think with me about how we talk about violence, and why that matters. I welcome your responses, and if this moves you in some way, please do share it. Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/speak-truth-to-violence

Thesis: Kant’s “Live your life as though every act were to become a universal law” and Nietzsche’s “eternal reoccurrance of the same” are structurally the same idea, expressed in different styles.

Outstanding analysis from my friend Steven Millies on the new encyclical from Pope Leo XIV https://millies.substack.com/p/first-impressions-of-dilexi-te

This is a post about getting old. This is a post about technology. This is a post about hubris. This is a post about democracy. It’s a weird piece. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please share, and I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/the-dirty-mouse-problem

I am so grateful to the Christian Century that they value my ideas and the odd way in which I write them. I hope you enjoy this and share it with your friends. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

🌟New Release! 🌟 Everything Is a Story: Reclaiming the Power of Stories to Heal and Shape Our Lives by @kaitlincurtice.bsky.social is now available! If you are ready to explore the stories all around you (and within you), pick up your copy today! 🌱 bakerbookhouse.com/products/978...

In my latest essay, I reflect on the current “know-nothing” status of American leadership. It’s horrible, yes, but we should laugh at it anyway. I hope you enjoy these scattered thoughts, and if you do, please share. Thank you! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/authoritarianism-without-authority

Wise and powerful analysis from my friend Steven P. Millies https://millies.substack.com/p/millions-of-abortions-have-continued

I know autism didn’t start with Tylenol because I’ve read Kant.

I was drinking coffee this morning, thinking about how our world becomes a world. If you enjoy this, please share it. Thank you. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/you-are-traffic

fascism is a loser ideology

I have a new essay, in which I finally come to some understanding of what Audre Lorde meant by "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" I welcome your responses and thoughts. If you like this, please share it. Thanks! https://daviddault.substack.com/p/laughter-facts-and-welcome

Last week a couple students pushed back against some assumptions I made in a lecture. That got me thinking. So this is a first step on this new path, following the lead of my wise students. I welcome your thoughts and responses. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/limbic-rationality-and-palliative

Will we ever transcend our animal selves, and eventually become human with each other? I hope so. I would be delighted for you to read this and share it. Thank you. https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddault/p/the-animal-still-wins?r=64ka2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

I am grateful to Burke Gerstenschalger for writing such a careful and comprehensive response to my essay. Take a look at it here: https://www.bleaktheology.com/2025/09/05/when-theres-no-future-how-can-there-be-sin-a-response-to-david-dault-on-nihilisms/

I take some time to think about nihilism, and I would love for you to think with me. I welcome your comments and feedback. Thank you. https://daviddault.substack.com/p/the-post-american-present

Listening. Worth your time. https://youtu.be/6Skdqe5e6Eo?si=a27kWnQS3YkaIU7p

A Japanese horror video connects to some of the ideas in my forthcoming book, The Covert Magisterium. I welcome your thoughts. https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddault/p/camouflage-to-divert-attention-from?r=64ka2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

I wrote some thoughts about my recent trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki https://daviddault.substack.com/p/hiroshima-and-nagasaki?r=64ka2

Back from Japan and reacclimatizing to the time zone. Ask me anything.

I think the second book is done.

The only possible future is communist, which is why, I guess, a bunch of conservatives are working hard to make sure there is no future at all.

Finished the eponymous chapter for The Covert Magisterium today. One more chapter to go, and the book is done.

I've started writing in public again. Here is the new thing. Jump on board. Thank you kindly. open.substack.com/pub/daviddault…

Grateful!

Thank you guys some much for this. I was so moved by the film, so getting to listen to you all unpack it was very cathartic.

If you’re looking for a good way to spend an hour this week, I invite you to spend it with Rick Lee James and myself, discussing #Superman. Thanks! https://supermanpodcast.substack.com/p/episode-one-james-gunns-superman

Building energy to write the crap out of these last two chapters

So currently my whole feed on Threads is wall to wall love for the new #Superman movie and I am so here for it.

I really enjoyed the new Superman film. If you have a chance to see it i. theaters, you absolutely should. Was it perfect? No. Is it the best portrayal of Superman I’ve seen in my lifetime? Oh gosh yes.

It’s Saturday night. We’ve had pizza. Ask me anything.