Demotivations With Anne Podcast

Sorry to be so late today. Tuesday is the new Monday, as far as I’m concerned. And what better way to launch into the horror of hard, cold, work week than finally clicking on this article that made the rounds over the weekend. You might remember that a while ago (that’s a technical amount of time, as far as I’m concerned) Rolling Stone reported on how Chat GPT was convincing vulnerable users they were god and the Large Language Mod...

Matt and I spent a lovely hour with The Anglican (Canon David Roseberry) about his great new book for preachers, teachers, small group leaders and anyone who wants to think deeply about the scriptures and the feasts and fasts of the church: Ten Ways to Preach the Church Year. We also talk about writing on Substack and his brilliant series of articles, The Christ Church Stories, sharing memories from his 30 years as rector of Christ...

I know the wide world is on fire, and my private one is under foul water, to almost biblical proportions, it would seem, but have you thought about what children ought to do during the summer months? Of course, if you have children yourself, you have doubtless thought about it. Likely, in the usual way, you will truck through life either taking a break from school, if they are school-aged, and enjoying the slower pace, or sending t...

This week Matt and I discuss the sad and tragic death of Jennifer Lyell and the strange way her friends seem to be using her passing for political advantage and to attack Megam Basham. We say a bit more about NT Wright and Michael Bird and their view of evangelicals and American politics. Finally, we get to the Rev. Austin Becton, the rector of an ACNA parish who seems to have come out as affirming.

I seriously want to weigh in on the Fuller thing which is so quickly slipping into the mists of internet time, but I can’t possibly pass up the moment that is upon us now, in which noted biblical scholar and Anglican bishop, NT Wright, talking to Michael Bird who is also a scholar, though one who has said increasingly weird and strange things about God and the Bible, together fall into a complete muddle of biblical and theological ...

Matt and I talk about the wedding, NT Wright deciding to be so terribly wrong about abortion, Pride Month starting off with a muted whimper, and Redeemed Zoomer’s suggestion that we all rush back to the mainlines or else we’re all cowards. Hope it makes your Monday charming!

Well, fancy that. There is still a blog that exists here on the inter-tubes! Every day this week, I woke and thought, I’ll just go over and type a few things, and then, by the time I’d opened my computer, I had fallen asleep again. It was most extraordinary, given how the week before I never slept at all. Or rather, not extraordinary at all, just the way these things go.

Yesterday, I managed to stagger back to the church and put lot...

This week, as a special treat, because all I can wrap my mind around is flowers and table cloths and shoes and how many communion hymns we’ll need, I thought it would be fun to do a mini-series on Great Marriages of the Bible. The number of actually good and functional marriages in Holy Scripture might be something like three. Priscilla and Aquilla seem cool. And I quite like Naaman and his wife and their Israelite slave girl. And,...

Oh, ah, well, I’m off with Matt down to DC and barely have time to think about anything. But there is a little bit of a tempest brewing in the Anglican teacup, and I thought I might as well wade in, because why not. So basically, Calvin Robinson, a day or two ago, was given temporary oversight by Bishop Ray Sutton of the REC, one of the member jurisdictions of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Jeff Walton reporting on X…...

Great to see all your names and comments on the live stream! We talked about the new Pope, reports about why the conclave might have gone his way, and how his first several days have gone. Then we discuss the vibe shift and the similarities between the Covid era and the trans movement, and two cats made brief appearances. Now back to wedding mania. Have a lovely day!

As I said yesterday, I somehow ended up on Karla Kamstra’s email list and, out of morbid curiosity, have never bothered to unsubscribe. Like all of us, she has migrated from other platforms to Substack and sends out weekly missives about how it’s ok that you don’t feel like going to church anymore on account of how you have deconstructed. By “you,” of course, I mean her ordinary reader, not you who is reading this very post, nor me...

Thank you all for joining in the live stream today! We talked mostly about AI and whether or not we should all have a private robot. Matt definitely wants one, especially when he is old, and thinks there will be no problem. I, on the other hand, am terrified of the whole thing. Hope it makes your Monday all sparkly and bright!

Our gorgeous tree before it rained and lost all its beautiful petals:

It’s been some weeks since I’ve had time to catch up on the New York Times. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the shroud and all that, have been much on my mind. I did wander over and type “Shroud of Turin” into the NYT search bar, and nothing very interesting turned up, so I then moved along with life. But then a dear friend sent me this thing, and I thought it was so fun that it was worth a bit of a fisk. It is by someone n...

Sorry to be getting this up so late! I am distracted by one thing and another. Also, it is an excessively balmy spring day, and I had to clear off my porch so that I could enjoy the breeze. This week, we talk more about the Shroud of Turin and why it seems to be legitimate, and then we wander over to talk about whether a woman editing books for Crossway constitutes a feminism being perpetrated upon the world. Is it now the case, as...

Well, I didn’t mean to, but I have been obsessively listening to Shroud of Turin podcasts and lectures for almost a whole week. In fact, I have fallen behind on all my usual content consumption because I have, hem, become transfigured by all the people talking about it. I wasn’t even sure why I suddenly thought I should drop everything to attend to this particular subject, and so, because Grok is so available to answer all of a per...

Thank you all so much for tuning in! Popping in some relevant links:

Here is Mark Marshall talking about Pope Francis.

Here is the piece in the Federalist.

Here is the apology.

UPDATE: Sorry! Forgot the article Matt mentioned about Paul and James. Here it is.

See you tomorrow!

It seems that, as usual, death and violence are the order of the day—helicopter and plane crashes, murder, hatred, vicious anger, and other kinds of evil. I sure can’t wait for humanity to progress towards becoming their better selves any day now. Total Depravity, on this, the third day of Holy Week, remains the undefeated champion.

Total Depravity with a heaping measure of Theological Pedantry on the side. I was amused to come acro...