What is The Layman?

These are the reflections of a forester in Tennessee, mostly about the Bible, ecology, and literature. In terms of fancy degrees and accolades and reasons why my thoughts on the Bible or other topics are worth reading, I have none and can only say my love for a disappearing land has had a huge effect on my reading of the Bible.

A few primary influences on my thinking you’ll see pop up are all over the Christian tradition: Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, Wendell Berry, Jacques Ellul, Simone Weil, Dorothy Day, etc.

Ecclesiastically, I stand in the wake of the Stone-Campbell Movement, or “Restoration Movement” that swept through my little corner of the world in the 19th century and continues to ripple today. It’s a tradition I have great love for though I strive for an ecumenical perspective. There are gaps in any discourse—I don’t presume to fill them, but I want to exist in them.

I’m interested in the physical world, in agriculture and silviculture and culture in relation to the Bible, a text that forces us to wrestle with the notions of whatever society we find ourselves in. I’m probably wrong regularly here, but that’s inevitable in pursuit of truth. So here we explore various ideas that often make us uncomfortable, like violence, ecumenism, anarchism, heresy, mysticism, politics, and so on. Let’s take our analytical, systematic theologies and put them on hold for a moment to explore the beyond before coming back to decide whether our newfound ideas are reconcilable.

I’m grateful to anyone who uses any of their precious time reading here. If you have feedback of any sort, you can reach me in the comment sections of posts or privately at thelayperson@substack.com.