Highlights at The Layman and elsewhere

Celebrating 50 posts

Hello everybody! I’m super grateful to all of you who have been reading my essays, rants, and other gibberish. Time is precious, and I hope any time spent here has been edifying—or at least thought-provoking. I’m currently in the middle of a two-week stay in Bogotá, Columbia, and I’ve got some big life changes waiting for me when I get back (more on that at a future date!), so content may be reduced a bit. I still plan on releasing something at least every two weeks, but it may look a little different for a month or two.

Last week marked 50 posts here at The Layman, a project I started in April of ‘23. I had two goals: to improve my writing and refine my perspective on the Bible and Truth. How much progress has occurred is impossible to say, but my goals haven’t changed.

And to paying subscribers, thank you for the support! The patron/donation model helps justify the hours spent drumming things up each week. Plenty of other writers offer far more content on a weekly or monthly basis than I do, so I want to offer a low-priced option for those who wish to support in this way. Substack sets a $5/month minimum before discounts, but this link provides a permanent discount:

Don’t worry if you don’t want to or can’t afford to! I plan to keep everything on the substack free—that way, it’s at least worth what you pay for it.

But onward. I’ve gained quite a few subscribers in the last few months, in relative terms anyway, so here are some highlights you may have missed!

The top 5 “biggest hits” on The Layman

As my last essay made (un)clear, relating effectiveness to metrics is a fool’s errand—but hey, I guess people liked these the most.

1. Why I side with Tecumseh — Exploring the figure of Tecumseh as an archetype of humanity in a world full of erosion and loss

2. An invitation to my crisis of faith — An introduction to my journey into (hopefully) increasingly radical Christianity

3. "So shall your offspring be" — Arguing that God’s promise to Abraham involved more than we realize

4. The Gardener God — If God is a gardener, shouldn’t his disciples be too?

5. Is political abstinence an act of privilege? — Defending the notion that “not voting” is a legitimate stance. Elijah Brook, a fellow writer on substack, wrote a response with some criticisms and elements of his own perspective: Politics, Privilege, and Participation. It was fun to read! I’d love to do something similar with other posts if you’re interested.

My top 5 favorites on The Layman

Whether because they convey something personal, or they were just plain fun to write, these are my favorite posts outside of the previous list.

1. "Washing the future into the sea" and the God who gathers back the waters — As a forester and as someone with an ecological education, I see the world through a lens of loss. For hope, I reflect on Psalm 37 and the words of Aldo Leopold, a landmark forester in American history.

2. Peering into the abyss — My take on the gist of The Sickness Unto Death by Kierkegaard, easily one of my favorite books

3. The city in the preface — Is it possible that the first 11 chapters of the Bible provide an unsettling critique of civilization as we know it?

4. The city in Cormac McCarthy — McCarthy is easily one of my favorite fiction authors. This is my take on his worldview and response to it, with an nod toward the biblical critique of civilization.

5. On appreciating our governments and state officials, and on Christianity as anarchy — My initial attempt to argue that it is not hypocritical or inconsistent to both hold anarchist views and to deeply appreciate certain aspects of law and order—in this case, the North American wildlife ethic and its enforcement. It’s all over the place, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Wendell Berry to Noam Chomsky. I’ll have to write a more cohesive essay on this at some point.

Some favorites from other writers

Can’t be tootin’ my own horn too much! Here are some fantastic pieces elsewhere on substack, in no particular order:

• What Care Demands — A striking reminder that if we’re going to claim we care about something—such as the environment—we have do to something about it. I feel so strongly about this idea that I ranted on it for 12 minutes straight: "We don't care, and we should admit it."

• Simple Acts of Sanity: A Seed Catalogue — A follow-up post to the equally engaging “Sowing Anachronism: How to be Weird in Public, and Private” with tons of fun examples from readers, all held by a common thread: stepping away from the maelstrom of life and focusing on what matters

• Beyond Empires and Toward Hope — Some thoughtful warnings and criticisms about the way we sometimes criticize “empire”

• But what about my followers? — An honest take on writing for the wrong reasons

• Essays From West of 98: A Jayber Crow-Inspired Vision — An image of healthy rural communities from a fellow Wendell Berry fan

• Christ Contra the Crowd — Similar themes as my last post and some more I’ve got in the cooker, but more academic and detailed in style. Kierkegaard and anarchism are both recurring themes on The Layman, and if they interest you, definitely check out Kierkegaardian Reflections.

I hope you check out some of these great substacks! They should keep you busy and then some while I’m gallivanting around the world and shaking things up at home.

Thanks for reading!