Maybe hot take: the words “individualism” and “collectivism” don’t really mean anything They’ve so vague/broad/speaker-dependent that it’s impossible to give them a meaning that isn’t basically rhetorical

my book, _Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia_, will be published by @undpress.bsky.social in June 2026 i'm going through the proofs, and don't see any typos in the epilogue, so sharing this 3-page essay here undpress.nd.edu/978026821090...

Incidentally today’s the feast day of St. Basil the Great, who preached about these issues (Original Greek and translation of this passage here: bekkos.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/s...) (Icon from: russianorthodoxchurchcardiff.com/the-canon-to...)

The news coverage of Mamdani's oath of office reminded me of this: in Minnesota, there is a gorgeous Qu'ran that is used by Minnesotan Muslims to swear into office. They then sign it. sahanjournal.com/democracy-po...

I would bet this is very common around the world, probably bc its one of the key tropes of modern nationalism (taken over from 19th century European Romanticism)- the assumption that in the corrupt industrial world, the countryside is the home of the ancient and pristine characteristics of a nation

St. Marina ftw

The highlight of my Christmas was getting to host the venerable monks at my church on Christmas day. #walkforpeace #opelika #christmas

Happens to be a Vietnamese Catholic shrine here in upstate South Carolina (Holy Queen Mother of Vietnam Park), built by the local Vietnamese refugee community in 1991

This is a great thing about the Midwest in general; when I moved elsewhere, after growing up in Indiana, I was surprised to learn that people in other parts of the country talked about “natives” vs “transplants,” terms I never heard in Indiana

Great point here that also applies to Islamic Studies. Since 2000s there has been anxiety about the “decline” of philological/textual scholarship, and some critiques of newer methods are legitimate. But “no reads the texts anymore” often just means reading the “wrong” ones; for example…

Re: cool Zoroastrians- this is one of the most unique and illuminating books I’ve read in awhile- a translation of a classic dualist Zoroastrian critique of monotheism on it’s weakest point, the problem of evil

Interesting! January has been proclaimed Interfaith Harmony Month in South Carolina with the first event tomorrow, held by Buddhists. www.wistv.com/2025/12/30/s...

Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as NYC's first Muslim mayor on a Qur'an from the personal collection of the great Afro-Boricua intellectual Arturo Schomburg—as well as Qur'ans owned by Mamdani's grandparents. www.nypl.org/press/schomb...

Die wollt ich schon lange mal fotografieren. Endlich.

Absolutely fascinating piece on the effects of LLMs on hiring. Once again, the problem with this tech is how it can erode actual communication between real people. And when that happens, we fall back on status and hierarchy. Gift link here: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Reminds me of the emergence of contemporary cafe style coffee culture in Turkey in the early 2000s (iirc it was/is called "third generation"). Back in spring 2006 when I was at Boğaziçi U. in Istanbul I would go to one of these places, called Gölge (Shade), pic below (been closed for years now tho)

Thomas Paine: "I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it."

*taps the sign*

Literally none of these things would have happened without mass immigration

Oh you’re a professor? What do you teach?

Beyond the headlines: How is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) involved in the ideological war supporting Russian imperialism? A crucial read from September 2024.

This is an insightful formulation of the core concern of LLM skeptics like myself: that this tech will erode interpersonal connection, which is the whole point of language These objections are often framed as mere superstition, but they’re rooted in the fundamental dilemma posed by the digital age

do you not already have people and books in your life you can do this with? and how much is your thinking really going to be stretched by something which you admit that you have to set and guide to get it to interact the way you want in the first place?

The Magi following the Star of Bethlehem and meeting King Herod From Chora/Kariye Camii

This perceptive observation made me think about the future of liberalism in general, which is (and always was) agreement on ethics and not on metaphysics. imo this was the original genius of the discovery of liberal politics after the wars of religion- that people don’t need to have the same…(1/3)

this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade

Post a random GIF, and everything will go good in 2026.

How I’m walking out of 2025

“I should like to help to open eyes, not to loosen tongues.” Somehow only now discovering this wonderful book

My mom died in 2019. It took me 6 years to have a good Christmas again. All to say that if you've lost a loved one & are earlier on your grief path, be patient & kind with yourself. Grieving is a life-long process; next year may be a bad Christmas for me again. But happiness does come.

Very beautifully said

Merry Christmas! Michelle and I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with light and joy.

The Soviets tried to steal Christmas for 70 years. They failed. Grandmothers sang forbidden hymns in locked churches. One teacher secretly taught carols to kids who'd never heard of Christmas. "New Year had no meaning except to eat well. But Christmas was magic."

Christ is Born! Merry Christmas! Icon of the Nativity, Ukrainian, mid. 16th century (National Museum in Krakow); via: www.icon.org.ua

Christmas, a woodcut by Emma Schlangenhausen, 1933.

Pope Leo: “While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person. While humanity seeks to become “god” in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us.” Full homily:

Read theory

Merry Christmas from Damascus 🇸🇾🎄

Merry Christmas Eve. I don’t know what I believe in when it comes to faith. I may never know. But I do believe in the intrinsic good nature of people. Even this year. The loudest voices drown out the melody underneath. We are the melody. Never forget that. You just have to listen.

By far my favorite icons of the Nativity are by Greta Lesko, a contemporary iconographer from the Carpathian region of southeastern Poland: gretalesko.com/en/

On the same theme: a beautiful Christmas message from His Eminence @elpidophoros.goarch.org calling attention to those “on the margins,” and emphasizing that the love extended to them “extends throughout space and time and reaches the cave of Bethlehem.” orthodoxobserver.org/watch-archbi...

For Christmas Eve the absolute beauty of the interior of Watts Chapel, Compton, Surrey. #ArtAdventCalendar #ColorADay #Photography #HistoricBuildings

Edward Hopper, Christmas card, 1928 whitney.org/collection/w...

There are many messages in Christmas but one of the central ones is that we must always welcome refugees and provide them with a room in the inn, our nation. We will be judged by what we did for the least of these. The least of these is the greatest of these.

For those interested in Christianity and human rights: a recent major Orthodox contribution to this question is currently available open access: brill.com/view/journal...

22 Dec: Isaiah 11:6

Great thread