“Bannon offered Epstein something irresistible: to build a right-wing MAGA coalition that would “stave off” the global movement against sexual harassment for more than a decade.” bylinetimes.com/2025/11/14/s...

‘Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. —from Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism, our reading next week at The Priory. Subscribe now! substack.com/@karenswallo...

A beautiful reflection on All Saints' Day by @karenswallowprior.bsky.social.

Propane man left our annual calendar. And some treats for the dogs. They love him.

How All Saints’ Day brought me grief, then hope this year religionnews.com/2025/11/11/h... @karenswallowprior.bsky.social

Grief runs by its own clock. Time speeds up and slows down at whim, but runs right on schedule in the land of the living. Tomorrow marks one year since we lost my sweet mother: religionnews.com/2025/11/11/h...

One more day until these books will be together forever! (And not just in my head.) I can't wait to share Face to Face: A Novel of the Reformation with you all. Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon: I love you all, and I loved telling your stories!

“A new start after 60: I found my feet in midlife, became a park ranger at 85 – and retired happily at 100” Amazing and inspiring! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. -A. Camus

“It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.” — GMH

New podcast conversation on callings—at all stages of life: faith-and-imagination.castos.com/episodes/ep-....

Belinda is mortified at the loss of her beautiful curls and spirals into despair. Pope paints a literal picture of this existential space and its inhabitants. Belinda’s handmaids, who accompany her into this dark cave, are Ill-nature and Affectation: open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

I will be teaching a "Seminary for Everyone" course based around my book, The Evangelical Imagination, at Bethel Seminary (online) next June! More details to come. Interested registrants can receive $45 off with the code: SEM45

Today’s run

“A sense of self-importance so high that it surpasses all limits is a mental illness called ‘mania grandiosa’.” — Leo Tolstoy

God save the King. www.cnn.com/2025/10/30/e...

“All human life begins the same way. Yet there are so very many ways to destroy it.” Since nuclear weapons are back in the news (again), I’m sharing this 2015 essay of mine in Sojourners: sojo.net/magazine/aug...

This is purity culture, eighteenth-century style. (Some things never go out of style.) open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

At Dear, Strange Things, I interviewed @karenswallowprior.bsky.social about her excellent new book, "You Have a Calling." dearstrangethings.substack.com/p/author-q-a...

My dad, 86, has been reading my copies of @theatlantic.com before I get to them and telling me about the stories therein. This morning he told me all about Taylor Swift.

Good morning

Delighted to talk with Joel Miller about callings over on his substack today! open.substack.com/pub/millersb...

Zeugma, mock-heroic, and sylphs, oh my! Alexander Pope’s masterpiece of satire: open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

The President of the United States. Unbelievable.

Maybe “Eden” Ain’t So Lonesome as New England Used to Be by Karen Swallow Prior, Karlson Scholar, Bethel Seminary oikonomianetwork.org/2025/10/mayb...

In an increasingly consumeristic age, being a part of a small congregation evokes the familial - we didn’t choose this as much as we were born (or reborn) into it. Small really is beautiful.

In the era of megachurches, author @karenswallowprior.bsky.social spotlights the small church she now attends, which quietly serves its community. She argues that “small is faithful, too,” and simple worship reflects the authentic purpose of church life. julieroys.com/a-word-for-t...

I will be speaking in Dallas tomorrow night! www.dbu.edu/ige/events/s...

Perhaps being a blessing to the faithful, persevering saints in our midst is what it means to be the church. religionnews.com/2025/10/15/a...

Today my yoga instructor encouragingly asked me to demonstrate the *one* pose I can do better than the others in my class (believe me, I am the most remedial student and never get asked to demonstrate!) so I did, but I didn’t do it quite right, and she said, “That’s alright!” 🥹

The couple described in On Chesil Beach in 1962 could be any church kids in 2022. And that should not be. I loved this book. open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

Every morning the world is created. Under the orange sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again … —Mary Oliver

Don’t make me tap the sign.

I lived 58 years before I ever even thought about needing therapy. The Southern Baptist Convention changed my mind. #WorldMentalHealthDay (I’m 60 now and doing much better, in part thanks to therapy.)

Next week, my newsletter will feature the next installment in my series titled, “Books I Cannot Recommend.” It’s a fun series! 😃 Here’s an earlier entry. Sign up to get it free in your inbox. open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

It’s not too late to register for my eight-week online graduate course on the literature of the good the true and beautiful at @ics-canada.bsky.social Details here: f2bf.icscanada.edu#page-j

Offerings for your weekend listening and reading pleasure: substack.com/@karenswallo...

After ~15 years of teaching my biggest realization has been this: students don’t need the professor to be cool, they need the professor to think THEY are cool

"Sometimes, people will leave a role and explain their departure by saying God has “called” them elsewhere. At times, I wish they’d simply say, 'Hey, I decided I want to do this new thing.' Because surely that is the case at times." @karenswallowprior.bsky.social www.plough.com/en/topics/fa...

Some people get paid to do what they love, but many don’t. How can we find purpose in everyday work? Author @karenswallowprior.bsky.social joins me to discuss You Have a Calling and how vocation is about goodness, truth, beauty, and relationships, not just career. amyjuliabecker.com/calling-voca...

Pope made an unexpected and passionate declaration of love to her, one that so took her by surprise that she burst out in laughter in his face. (This is the moment captured years later in the painting at the start of this post.) open.substack.com/pub/karenswa...

“Vocation is not about being able to fulfill our desires, pursue our passions, or follow our bliss. Vocation is about being called by others to serve. This understanding offers a much bigger vision of vocation than mere self-fulfillment.” @karenswallowprior.bsky.social

Tomorrow would have been my parents’ 64th anniversary, but we lost mom last November. My brother is here and we will make the day special for my dad, but it’s going to be a hard day for him. Would appreciate any prayers from those who pray.

Less than a week after The Roys Report exposed sexual harassment allegations against former Liberty University VP Jay Spencer, Houston Christian University has fired him. julieroys.com/houston-chri...

Right now—more than half off The Evangelical Imagination! 💥💥💥

Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Texas, pleaded guilty to 5 felony counts of sexually abusing Cindy Clemishire beginning when she was 12 yo. Under a plea deal, Morris will serve 6 months in jail, register as a sex offender & pay $250,000 in restitution. 1/2 julieroys.com/breaking-rob...