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.
after the asterisk
close reads of the stories we live inside.
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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