Daniel Vaca

Confession: I started writing this during the pandemic, when the sources I use here were just about all I had to work with when all the libraries and archives were shut down. I had started collecting these sources in grad school! So, shout out to other electronic packrats out there! 3/3

If the idea of pauperization sounds familiar, that's because it's evergreen. It's still used today to racialize poverty and justify schemes like "effective altruism," which privilege the power of wealthy philanthropists and their private judgment. 2/

Here's an article out that's been in the works for a long time! Set at the end of the 19th century (and focused on JP Morgan and his church), it's about the formerly common idea that giving too much help to the poor would "pauperize" them by worsening their "natural" tendency toward dependency. 1/

A course like theory/method is a course about the field as it is, but also as it can or even should be. Or so I hope.

Part of why I'm asking around is because this also comes at a time when it's clear that we need to be thinking pretty hard about what the humanities in general and RS in particular are for (now and for the future), and helping our students think through that with us and for themselves.

On the history of the field angle: when I taught this before, I tried to make it about how major questions were posed/thought about across time, with older+recent examples. I'd be happy to share about my experience last time, and to learn from others. 2 /

Religious Studies folks: I'm teaching theory/method for grad students this fall, and I'd love to hear/share ideas about what we should read together. This is Pt. 1 of a 2-part sequence; it's also supposed to develop a sense of the history of RS as a field. Any thoughts? 1/

Immigration FAQ Get answers to the most frequently asked questions about immigration such as, How many immigrants live in the United States? What are the immigration statuses? Where do immigrants in the U.S. come fro...

Today is tax day 🤓

Did you know that undocumented immigrant workers pay $100 billion/yr in taxes? This money goes toward social safety net programs like Social Security & Medicare—programs they can't even benefit from.

Learn more in @dcosta.bsky.social's new FAQ: www.epi.org/publication/...

The University President Willing to Fight Trump Christopher L. Eisgruber of Princeton University talks about the administration’s move to freeze billions of dollars in funding to higher education institutions.

Several thoughts about this very helpful interview on NYT w Chris Eisgruber, president of Princeton, about existential attacks on higher ed, how and what solidarity among American universities looks like. And why it's worth the listen. (Also a dopey headline.) 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/p...

“Disappeared” is how Argentines and Chileans talk about the citizens kidnapped by military regimes of 80s and 90s. Today Mexicans use it to refer to those who vanish in the cartel war. “Disappear” is a verb, noun & adj: When ppl are disappeared, they become los desaparecidos—the disappeared

The full CFP is available here. papers.aarweb.org/sites/defaul...

And if you’re looking for a chair or respondent, I’m happy to help out!

Feel free to reach out (I just joined the steering committee this year) if you want to talk through any ideas.

North American Religions, paper proposal networking!

The steering committee also set up this doc as a space for sharing ideas and making connections w others. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

If you’re interested in attending/presenting at the annual American Academy of Religion conference in Boston this November, check out the CFP for North American Religions! A lot of generative topics to pitch work around. (Unrelated panels and papers also welcome.)

Sending condolences to you and the Calvin community, Kristin.

I put this over on discord, too late for this recording, but hoping you all can enlighten us sometime: What is the actual process that would lead to a change with PGMOL, or create some other structure? We hear all the time that PGMOL is crap and not good enough. But can it actually change? How?

This weekend a friend nominated Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.” I mean, incarnation theology is in the title! Can’t stop imagining this as the highlight of a church Xmas pageant. “Don’t be a drag; just be a king!”

Thought experiment: what pop songs would make good churchy Christmas songs (with minor tweaks)?

Basically, the process I went with: pick a dozen or so topics or themes you think are cool/generative/important, select work you're excited for students to think with, and then maybe (depending on level/time/etc) show them how that connects to older work.

For grad students (and maybe even more for undergrads!): while some people prioritize "the classics," I prefer focusing on newer work with bits of classics as supplementary material, so students can see how scholars past+present are still dealing with particular issues/problems.

For grad students or undergrads? I've taught this for grad students; for undergrads, I offer a lot of theory, but in service of particular topics.

If you’re at AAR, come learn about @laurahelmuth.bsky.social’s incredible and inspiring book FIRE DREAMS! CC-20B. Huge all-star panel of respondents.

For anyone who cares: I’ll be on panels about @janinegiordano.bsky.social’s excellent book (Gospel of Church) and on one about Matt Sutton’s AAR article about “evangelicalism” and how it’s not a concept that names the thing it is now (and never really was).

Looking forward to the USIH conference this weekend! Hope to see many of you there. Congrats to @benjaminepark.bsky.social and @econroykrutz.bsky.social for putting together such a great program!

Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’ Today we celebrate a new addition to the Global Tetrahedron LLC family of brands. And let me say, I really do see it as a family. Much like family members, our brands are abstract nodes of wealth, int...

The Onion! But what they will do with InfoWars's supplements business?: "We plan to . . . boil the contents down into a single candy bar–sized omnivitamin that one executive (I will not name names) may eat in order to increase his power and perhaps become immortal." Next up: The Trump Organization?

My book looks at how evangelicals created an alternate set of institutions & media, starting in the 19th century, which led to the consumer culture we have today. I draw upon the work of people like @danielvaca.bsky.social & @tgloege.bsky.social

One of my biggest regrets in life is realizing in 2015 or so, at a urinal at Reagan airport, that I was peeing next to him, but then not peeing on him. I realized too late to make and execute a plan. Plus this was before Trump era, when he fully earned any pee that came his way.

LIKE A BOSS. Glad you survived!