yaz

"it's all cultural relativism?" "always has been"

Reactionaries be like "postmodernism breaks down the Western society bc of moral relativism" and then say "during the Christian hegemony in Europe, morality was based on absolute principles, such as 'thou shalt not kill" LMFAO my brother in Christ have you heard of the Crusades?

It all bothers me. For a room full of pastors and theologians to marvel at how their co-religionists must be "a world over" for religious practices that take seriously the demons in those pastors' bible?

It was one of those passing statements that was meant to evoke how culturally foreign her constituency was to her. Of course, during the Q&A, a student incredulously asks her to share details about the exorcism.

She does. There's lots of tittering and pregnant pauses.

This isn't going to make it into the final draft of my paper so I'm gonna write it here, especially before I see Sinners today-
in our class on the Holy Spirit, we had a guest lecturer who shared about her experiences as a missionary in Fiji. She mentioned being asked to perform an exorcism.

last paper, gotta make it count

they won't give me my master's degree until i learn how to spell "apocalypse" without spellcheck

a highlight of my time in seminary is definitely writing about New Testament apocalyptic genre and Black feminist speculative fiction. this is the kind of shit that keeps me eyeing a doctoral degree*

*but only after the union bargains a living wage tbh

my cat yakked on my copy of Columbus's Book of Prophecies

that's probably a question for my program instead of bsky. remember, kids: log off!

i submitted this thesis and i'm proud of it. now writing three more papers elaborating on its themes. how long does a manuscript need to be before you can shop it out to publishers?

Pope Francis’s "Urbi et Orbi" Easter speech:

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants...I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others.”

I should not have waited until easter to finish my thesis, but it's said that some of the most absolutely unhinged theological works were written in periods of fasting soooooo add me to the roster coach

synthesize pls?
NO READ, only synthesize

Wrapping up my thesis and, wasn't expecting this, but ended up relating Columbus's theological ideas to Palestine.

Can't and won't stop writing about Palestine.

the birth certificate copies set me back $24, but the good news is that nobody is hiring so i can just plan to pay that with my student loans.

anyway i wonder why i pivoted all my term papers to be about apocalypse.

archive. next message: DOGE tries to install federal team in nonprofit organization, plans to roll this out for everyone receiving federal grants. cool cool. next message: US citizens being detained by ICE, here's how to make your safety plan. order copies of birth certificate to carry around. cool.

wake up, head to campus. the research team is torn about publishing about genocide in Gaza, so I make the call on whether or not we jeopardize international students who could get their visas revoked. lunch with a colleague! read an email blast for fundraisers: "Your DEI Messaging Action Plan!"

I want to shroud myself in that kind of humility for my whole life.

last class of my master's program. I finally realized why I found my New Testament professor's closing prayers to be so peculiar:

We spend hours learning and debating postcolonial interpretations. And then she prays because despite how much we want to know the truth, we do not know it.

"xyz thing has been happening forever, look at this example from the 1880s."
me, looking up from my bowl of rabbinic midrash from the third century: "yes girl slay"

Rev 18:19

‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’

(RIP to my retirement fund but to God be the glory)

11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore... 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice...and human beings sold as slaves. 14 They will say, The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.

Revelation 18 really hittin rn

one of the coolest thing about seminary is that half my classmates are preachers. i'm sitting through a powerpoint where this guy is just spitting absolute FIRE about chapter 7 of Miroslav Volf's Exclusion and Embrace.

always saw those memes. "latinas be short as hell and still argue you about anything" and i was like HAH can't relate. well, got myself into a happy secure relationship and all i want to do is argue!!! about nothing at all. nature is healing i guess. also pray for Ash everyone

my boo got themself a vegetable spiralizer and now they can't be stopped. they spiraled a cauliflower stem and then somehow turned it into mashed potatoes??

y'all will always have more access to the hearts & minds of white men than the rest of us. we need you to be able to hold your own and not just "lift up BIPOC voices" (homie it's been leg day for a decade and my BIPOC ass is tired).

especially if you're gonna walk around with a Master of Divinity!

being wrong is fine. crying and stumbling over your words is ok, human, etc. and also, please inventory your interior after these moments and see if those tears are about having skipped the work required to be agile with your anti-oppressive thinking.

ok lemme go ahead and be specific.

if you feel strongly, as a white ally, about liberation theologies that claim God holds a preferential option for the poor and the oppressed: this is exactly the right time for you-- yes, you!-- to start practicing how to name and claim your values out loud.