Good weekend, folks A bit of beauty for your timeline

There is a new, open access 🚨 📖 book tracing the global history of Zoroastrianism from antiquity (6th century BCE-7th century CE) to the Middle Ages—and then into modernity. My friend & top Manichaeism scholar @babelalexandria.bsky.social has a chapter as well. www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi...

A blog post, in which the author yaps about this book even more manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2026/05...

Most common way perpetrators explained their behaviour was to cast their victims as consenting participants. Abusers positioned themselves as the hapless casualties of their (mostly female) victims’ devious sexual scheming, describing their young victims as “flirtatious”.

Wrangled a hard-won 815 words for my new book this morning #iamwriting #academicsummer

It's a month old, but in case you need some strength & hope

Thankful for this Is my street medic days during the Battle of Seattle era, these chemicals weren’t used so much to protect order as to silent dissent

Mr. Higbie said Christian morality is "100% the backbone" of the U.S.' foundational principles Yet when it comes to ICE, ~ Care for his neighbor's suffering? No ~ Love for fellow children of God? None ~ Valuing $$$ over human life? Yes State worship ≠ Christ worship Let's not confuse the two.

Nothing in the 2020s should give one pause like a billionaire telling us their agenda is inevitable

America leads the world at present in golden-calf production. ― Eugene H. Peterson

A 21% rate of domestic-violence offenders tells you all you need to know about a political movement h/t @protik.bsky.social

Academic freedom as currently practiced in the U.S. increasingly binds but does not protect faculty, while protecting but not binding the administration. We are told we cannot have generalized policies on LLM usage or absences, for instance, b/c Academic Freedom, but that our speech can be censored.

Good night Sleep well You are loved

Me: h/t - @philosophymatters.bsky.social

This.

"Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the "just war" theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated." – Pope Leo XIV

Death by non sequitur 🙄 thehill.com/homenews/adm...

"Especially when abusers abuse while carrying the cross." Exactly why I find Howard Thurman's distinction between the "religion of Jesus" and what often passes for "Christianity" so important.

Central to Gospel mission—and Jesus' ministry—is not looking away from abuse, but entering into solidarity with the abused in their struggles This is a prime directive. Especially when abusers abuse while carrying the cross h/t @akarra.bsky.social

A bit of beauty for your timeline

Remembering the young May light perpetual shine upon them

The folly of empire 👇🏼👇🏼 “The miscalculation in 2026 [attack on Iran] is thus not an aberration; it is a predictable outcome of an imperial order that confuses the ability to deploy violence with the ability to shape history.” interregnum.ghost.io/the-war-agai...

Beautiful to see a leader doing the right thing

“We must eradicate a culture of privilege, arrogance, and inaction that has caused so much harm to this land...and the world.” #PopeLeoXIV

PhD-Student Opportunity in Morality and the ANE: Vacancy at the Protestant Theological University in Utrecht for a PhD student. Includes an income www.pthu.nl/en/about-us/...

1/8

AJR is honored to feature this panel from the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature celebrating the work of Elizabeth Castelli. We begin with an essay from Julia Nations-Quiroz @sblsite.bsky.social

Can't wait to dig in to this

Sums up so much Trump Says He Will ‘Try and Make’ Son’s Wedding, but Timing ‘Not Good’ www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/u...

Women Workers in the Canteen at Williams & Williams, Chester (1940s) by Ethel Leontine Gabain, commissioned as a UK WW2 artist #womensart

A bit of beauty for your timeline

Elizabeth Bruenig on the importance of stories about state killings, both for the people condemned to die and for all of us: the citizens who participate in the structures that kill. sojo.net/articles/int...

Great things happening in biblical studies

Truth.

Joy is key to surviving (and resisting) the dark times

A bit of beauty for your timeline

Has the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) made a statement?

Think how fast we could advance medicine or any other field if copyright didn't restrict the flow of information If we have capital enough to give tax breaks to the rich & billions to defend Trump's allies, surely we can allow folks, whether line-workers or researchers, to work without fear of want

Have a mind to preach 1 Samuel 8:4-22 this Sunday 👇🏼 Trump’s Taxpayer-Funded Revenge Plan www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/p...

My heart and my solidarity go out to our Muslim sisters & brothers suffering in the wake of today’s shooting Peace be with you and may light perpetual shine upon the three men lost to their loved ones in San Diego 🙏🏼💔

Good Monday to all A bit of beauty for four timeline

Sigh. *puts head in hands* The Middle Ages was no more “superstitious” then almost any other premodern period. Greeks and Romans also consulted astrology, had demons, and believed in myth. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/o...

So many itches scratched Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’ www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/s...

You know it's Friday of finals week when your email inbox hasn't had activity all morning

Medieval History opening at Leeds

Whelp, AI reached that social-evolutionary phase *much* faster than the humans www.wired.com/story/overwo...

Sad to see REI selling out

I’m old enough to remember when software updates *improved* functionality

Let's play Academic Jeopardy! A: "It's on the syllabus." . . . . . Q: What sentence has Matthew typed more than any other in the past 48hrs?

Hunger is caused, not earned