never again to whom?
the settlers left america and packed the fourth of july in their luggage. a founding story from another shore asks who was missing from the “we.”
after the asterisk
close reads of the stories we live inside.
doing the capitalism https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/doing-the-capitalism/
on haggling, power, and the loss of innocence
the smuggled malice https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-smuggled-malice
we have no word for necessary asymmetry, for arrangements where one party holds total power over another but exercises it benevolently.
what i didn't say https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/what-i-didnt-say
i was part of a poetry collective at jackson state, and several of the members were queer. i was a straight christian man in mississippi, and here's what I didn't say.
agnostic about what?
on what's left to be agnostic about, and why I stopped
jesus called that lady a bitch https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/jesus-called-that-lady-a-bitch/
a historical-critical reading of mark 7
i'm third https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/im-third/
on a sermon, a shelf, and the self underneath
the rebrand is the doctrine https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-rebrand-is-the-doctrine/
how “relationship” became a defense strategy
the theology of the blink https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-theology-of-the-blink/
when the god who sees looks away
the last time i prayed https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-last-time-i-prayed/
on learning to live without an answer
the rapture is a fantasy https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-rapture-is-a-fantasy/
there’s no bailout coming. we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
there's no such thing as a conservative hero https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-conservative/
why the radical becomes the orthodoxy becomes the obstacle
rome wasn't built for grief https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/rome-wasnt-built-for-grief/
certainty as anesthetic, apologetics as border patrol
maps for worlds that don't exist https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/maps-for-worlds-that-dont-exist/
on apologetics, certainty, and the cost of consistency
the men on the roof https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-men-on-the-roof/
david & bathsheba, freedman's bank, and the anatomy of a heist
the song and the silence https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-song-and-the-silence/
on the "survival technology" of the black church, the danger of the balcony, and learning to say grace with my eyes open
i believe you felt something https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/i-believe-you-felt-something/
separating the light from the film
how i lost my faith https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/how-i-lost-my-faith/
i wasn't looking to deconstruct. i was trying to explain why jesus rode a donkey.
the invention of the villain https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-invention-of-the-villain/
what the bible's contradictions reveal about judas
the bible has a slavery problem https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-bible-has-a-slavery-problem/
spoiler alert: it wasn't just "indentured servitude"
the first sin was a lie https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/the-first-sin-was-a-lie/
they lied to eve, and then they lied about her.
in the beginning* https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/in-the-beginning-622/
see also: everything that came after
i'm third https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/im-third/
on a sermon, a shelf, and the self underneath
how i lost my faith https://www.aftertheasterisk.com/how-i-lost-my-faith/
i wasn't looking to deconstruct. i was trying to explain why jesus rode a donkey.
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culture
the surfaces outside the bible: novels, music, and the cultural inheritances we carry out of the rooms we left.
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deconstruction
essays on leaving the faith and finding out why. the slow attrition of certainty, and what gets written from the other side of it.
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institutions
the church, the empire, the corporation, and the machinery of belief that holds them up.
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texts
close reads of the bible and what gets lost in translation, mistranslation, and motivated reading.
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patterns
names change but concepts don't. essays on the recurring shapes of belief, power, and language.
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