Maple 🍁 🐶

My PhD thesis is under contract with Routledge. My external examiner is also my editor. And the big change they wanted was a final chapter on the immediate legacy of Isaac Watts. I’ve been researching it today, and I’ve found so much material. It’s been wonderful

I'm really pleased that my paper on evangelical hymns and slavery was accepted for the Reformation Studies Colloquium. At heart, I'm a historian, and that is how and why I engage with the hymn tradition. Being able to present my work in the wider context of Protestant history is a joy

The right (far right) are angry about these postage stamps. On the left, Mary holding Jesus - both have brown skin, and Mary is wearing pink which historically symbolises her (I think?) love and devotion. On the right is the new “fixed” version of the stamp. Made by, and for, nasty little racists

Some high school students attended my “Living standards before the Black Death” lecture at @viuniversity.bsky.social yesterday. The lecture included a bit about coins, so I had an opportunity to show off some medieval silver pennies, including this one from King John’s reign (1199–1216).

A Christmas film is one that requires Christmas to be an essential component in the plot. As such, Home Alone is not a Christmas film, but Home Alone 2 is

This broccoli is not happy about being cut into

I hate this. I can see that tower from my house. A symbol of the UK university sector being actively and intentionally destroyed. Devastating

This is indeed horrific and stupid, and so sad

Boaty McBoatface

I’ve just been asked if I’d like to buy shares in an Egyptian tourism project. The idea is that if I invest £5000 today, I should get a return of £50,000 by next year. And I get bonuses if I get others to invest I’m a bit suspicious, as it just sounds like a pyramid scheme to me

Facebook memories are reminding me of the time I played a set of Christmas songs *in October* in a garden centre cafe as they launched their Christmas stock. You haven't known despair until you've played Wizard before the clocks change to an empty cafe surrouded by tinsel

Does anyone have access to Christianity Today? I’m trying to get a copy of my own article, on ‘Amazing Grace’. Thanks

My wife made my son’s birthday cake. Feathers McGraw

I’ve just seen a Trump-supporting American friend post a reel about wishing there were No Kings protests during the Covid pandemic, because of the experimental medicines and impact on small businesses. Can anyone remind me was president in 2020…?

Eldest son is 13 on Monday, and he asked tonight if we can go and see Shakespeare at the theatre sometime, and then he wishes his English class would read more of the Bard’s text before discussing context. He gets it

How long do I keep going back and forth with a man who was a pastor for 30 years about whether or not the Rivers of Blood speech is a fair representation the evangelical position on immigration? When I cited the Good Samaritan, he equated immigrants with the thieves and robbers. I despair

I received a reply from @dramys.bsky.social about contributing to a panel, so this is what we have so far. If you know of anyone else who wants to think broadly about performance and the Reformation(s), please let me know. This is our working abstract - full text in the Alt description too

“Well, a comment, actually”

40, in good company

"Ok team, footnotes or endnotes? Great, endnotes it is. I was just thinking, how about - instead of chapter names for ease of navigation - we give simply designate each chapter with a Roman numeral, so that the reader has to go to the index page before they find the endnote reference?"

I've been asked to write the blurb for a book for the first time, which is super exciting, but all I've been sent is a PDF. Given the time involved, I feel like a book is a fair trade for my efforts - but, I want to support the author, they've been VERY supportive of me. Thoughts?

This is a fascinating topic for a panel - the Reformation in performance - and you should definitely think about joining it!

Jimmy Kimmel vs Charlie Kirk on the 2028 presidential ballot - you heard it here first

I'm just wondering what my wife ingested during pregnancy that caused this

The Reformation Studies Colloquium is April 15-17, 2026 at University College London. I'm thinking of putting a panel together on Performing the Legacies of the Reformation. I'll be doing something on hymns, but if anyone wants to do things on plays, literature, visual culture, or anything else

Podcast recommendations, please and thank you

Does anybody want these? 90s editions of volumes 1 and 2 of Muller’s Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics. I was given the full set recently

One of the joys of parenthood is the way children approach things with fresh wonder. For example, the ways they treat the familiar tasks of getting ready for school as if it's the first time they've ever done this, with no recall whatsoever of how this process may transpire

I'm looking for book recommendations on the legacies of Evangelicalism - mainly in relation to the eighteenth century, slavery, Christian nationalism, etc. Many thanks

I’m so excited to be at the @nonconformity2025.bsky.social conference today to present some of my research on the use of hymns by evangelical missions to enslaved peoples. Arriving a bit late, but so looking forward to being here. If you’re at the conference and see this, please say hi!

12 - almost 13 - year old just had a conversation about a game he wants for the Switch, and how he’ll ensure his younger siblings don’t play it due to its rating, and why he’d like it. Astonishingly mature and aware of himself and the family. I said yes as the game is free

I recently went to Pontypandy, where I tried to buy some stables commemorating the events of 1066. I was asked to pay Anglo-Saxon shillings. When I expressed my confusion, they told me that this was the Norman price

My kids are watching Star Wars for the first time. I’ve never seen a full Star Wars film, but the boys are loving it. They’re turning into proper little Trekkies

I base the first chapter of my PhD thesis on Isaac Watts’ annotation of Bishop Wilkins’ book Ecclesiastes. Thanks to @gregjenner.bsky.social, I now know that Wilkins also first imagined the logistics of travelling to the moon! Need to update the chapter before it becomes a book…

Church WhatsApp group carnage tonight. Some women were having a hen party for one young lady. One person said they’re bringing Pimm’s, cucumber, strawberries, and ice. Except they misspelled it as “pimps” Quite a party was had by all, I gather

Does anyone have access to the following article please - THE PEDAGOGY OF CONVERSION : MISSIONARY EDUCATION TO SLAVES IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, 1800–1833 (Paedagogica Historica International Journal of the History of Education Volume 18, 1978 - Issue 2) Thank you!

In light of Trump's latest pronouncements of inane, racist dishonesty regarding museums and the history of slavery, I'm reminded of one of my favourite books - 'Fallen Idols' by @alexvont.bsky.social The work of historians is to tell the truth, by letting history speak. That means to give voice to

The first time ‘Amazing Grace’ was published in Britain to the common tune of NEW BRITAIN with the verses: Amazing Grace… ‘‘Twas Grace… Through many dangers… When we’ve been there… Was more recent than The Beatles’ first UK single

Devilled eggs, anyone?

At the weekend, my kids did a bake sale. I moved the car down the street so the driveway was free. On our local Facebook group, someone complained about where I had parked my car *but also* told people to come to my kid's bake sale, not knowing the link I think I have completed community Facebook

The comments to this post are glorious. My mind assumed that this book was a revolutionary text published about three quarters of the way through Animal Farm. Boxer is gone, and someone secretly writes this book, informing the uprising

My daughter, aged 6, loves to write the lyrics to her favourite songs in her special notebook. "Dad, how do you spell 'kissy face, kissy face, sent to your phone'"?

It’s hard to know what to say about the immediate closure of Spurgeon’s College. It’s really tragic, and seems to have been avoidable from what their statement says. The staff and students are uppermost in my mind

It’s a big claim, but I think this is the nicest beer I’ve ever had. Old Bones. From All Day Brewery, Norfolk. It’s a 9% ale, brewed in English Whisky aged cherry wood smoked barrels. Just sensational sallemoorhallfarm.co.uk/stores/all-d...

Are we really meant to believe that there was a whole boarding school and not once person thought to troll him by calling him Baldemort?!

Woke up to a text from my sister, who is on a once-in-lifetime holiday is Hawaii…

Welcome to the Church of Bluey 🎶 our God is healer, awesome in power 🎵

A colleague gave me a large selection of books, including the full set of Richard Muller’s Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics. If you know, you know

Dads and their boys hugging when the Lionesses win in extra time is worth letting those boys stay up late on a school night