My blog
2026
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Subscribing to this blog
I've added a page to this Website describing how you can subscribe to this blog.
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Green apocalypse (my dissertation proposal)
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I'm a Protestant, why should I care about Vatican II?
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The structure of Genesis
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What is an agnostic?
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10 very short stories about the Reformation
I'm summarising a few of the big stories about the Reformation I've been studying recently.
2025
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Why did the church become persecuting in the fourth century?
In one generation, Christians in the Roman Empire went from officially persecuted to becoming imperially-backed persecutors themselves. It's important to understand why, to prevent the church from persecuting today.
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Arianism
I'm summarising what I've learned recently about Arianism: the heresy par excellence, named for the early-fourth-century Alexandrian priest, Arius. I'll conclude with some reflections on why we still need to reject Arian temptations and affirm Nicene orthodoxy today.
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381: how the church as we know it was made
The church which defines our world now is in a significant way the one which emerged out of sixty years of controversy from the Council of Constantinople in 381. I've been charting what happened, why, and the ongoing legacy.
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Changing my ambitions
When I started my first degree, I had unrealistic and unhelpful ambitions. For my second degree, I'm setting my sights on different targets.
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Why Psalm 118 is the theme tune to Matthew's Gospel
Partly inspired by what I misheard at Cornhill Summer School 2025.
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Figuring things out
I thought I needed to 'figure things out'. Here's what I did instead.
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Does resurrection doctrine give us unique reasons to work for justice?
Tom Wright claims that the only Christian grounds for striving for justice now is in resurrection doctrine. I'm not convinced.
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Surprised By Hope
I've been working on my resurrection doctrine. Here's where I've got to.
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A paradox about 'should'
I seem to have accidentally proven that drinking wine both is and is not a thing you should do. Let's hope that wine doesn't disappear in a puff of logical smoke.
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Why scientists need philosophers
This is a practice essay, OK? Don't shoot me if it's no good.
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How I read things on the Internet now (no, of course I don't leave the terminal!)
I've been sprucing up how I follow what's happening on the Internet. I can now read all the things I want to read pretty efficiently, and enjoy doing it, which is exciting.
2024
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Questions I have about sex
Mark Vernon got me thinking about how the Church’s teaching on sex may be evolving.
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What do academics think LLM ‘hallucination’ means?
What does the word ‘hallucination’ actually mean in reference to LLMs when used by academics? And where does that word come from? I’ve trawled the academic literature for answers.
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Doctor Who, Gayness, and the Church
Series 14 of Doctor Who has a schizophrenic relationship with Christianity. It’s also gay. I think there might be a connection.
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LLMs do not understand anything
Save this for the next time someone tells you that LLMs 'understand' things.
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How I made YouTube work for me
I just learned YouTube channels have an RSS feed. This is terrific news.
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God Is Not Great, initial thoughts
My spark notes on Hitchen's classic 2007 polemic against religion, plus some initial thoughts on how I want to respond to it.
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Who consecrates the tabernacle? (Ex 29)
A quick, cursory and possibly completely rubbish observation I've made on Exodus 29.
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Tracking pixels
Concerning a notice in the privacy policy of an HR app
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Why Easter is the best week of the year
Based on a talk given to my colleagues at Scott Logic for Maundy Thursday, 2024.
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Harari’s Sapiens on Religion
In which I discuss why I think Harari’s characterisation of religion is inadequate because it’s too materialistic.