There’s a plethora of good things here I want to read but just wanted to say I’m enjoying your brief reflections on some of the pieces. It’s like getting to peek into your intellectual/ spiritual journey in real time, which can be a gift to others. (Of course I’m sure there is much more going on than is shared! As it should be - all in moderation etc etc.)
It's ~ baby steps ~ to writing anything for me, all or nothing as I am about these things. (See also: that Family Unfriendly review I spent hours and hours on, after writing literally no essays since college. hahaha)
But I'm enjoying trying to put down some initial, unfinished thoughts as they come - in lieu of using Notes to do so.
- Not being able to control myself as I'd like (as with Twitter/Instagram in the past).
- Wanting more time for engaging with the long-form posts Substack was originally designed for - I want to honor people's efforts and appreciate their work in that way, over spending my limited time on snippets (as good as Notes can truly be! I've realized my FOMO was getting the best of me, and something had to give.)
- Also, the immediate, reactionary nature of it wasn't always doing me favors after a long stretch of on-and-off postpartum "mental afflictions" (in the words of Alan Noble). Perhaps that's why a good chunk of the essays I share aren't even published on here, and have no comments. :) You just have to sit there and listen to the writer, and Notes just felt like the overwhelming opposite of what I was trying to cultivate for others and myself. So after another difficult depressive episode around the end of last year, I just decided to pick my battles and let it go.
So, I'll still engage there if I happen to come across things, or people engage with me! I now make use of looking at a particular post's restacks, or a particular person's feed. But am simply not keeping up with the entire feed like a nutcase as I used to, wondering where my reading time went. And am banking on people putting the good stuff in their newsletters/Substack posts if they think it's worthwhile enough to share. :)
Thanks for sharing this! I’m sorry you’ve wrestled with “mental afflictions” but it sounds like you are handling them wisely! I like what you said about having to just sit and listen to a writer. I find myself torn between wanting to engage with the people who are engaging with similar ideas (this, both as a writer and a reader) and wanting to have time to think deeply and process the way I had to in my years of study.
I think there can be a balance! (As I think you've put it, having "coworkers or neighbors to talk to across the fence" about certain things can be good!) Maybe I'm more concerned with the experience of ONLY reading online on a place like substack and expecting every single piece to accept one's immediate input, two cents, personal reaction. haha It forms a different kind of reading experience... so maybe I'm just trying to find that balance for myself.
Can't believe you already finished the Duffy book! It took me years to actually finish lol. I see how it could be a firehose, especially in a quick read. He definitely assumes his readers have a good understanding of Catholic liturgy, practices, terminology etc.
I think it’s useful to get a broad overview of the reformation as well as particular close ups, especially because it was carried out so differently in different places. Ex: Where the German reformation had a populist bent, the English reformation was extremely top-down/political.
Also, it’s tempting for Catholics to De-emphasize corruption before, and Protestants to De-emphasize corruption/iconoclasm that happened in the execution.
It is such a complex period that obviously still impacts us so much today. I'm sure you are probably Reformationed out rn, but Brad Gregory’s Unintended Reformation is also really interesting.
I have been having lots of audiobook time as I've been doing spring cleaning and baby prepping around the house... more housework than usual. :)
The understanding of Catholic liturgy, practices, terminology wasn't actually much of a problem, I have somehow amassed a decent understanding of them over the past few years.
Yeah, I think Nate had a note a while back about that exact idea of being intellectually honest on both sides as to what was happening (a note which I think I saw you hop onto?)
haha Thank you for the recommendation. I did see someone else recommend that one a while back after I went through his book Rebel In The Ranks. And Tessa Carman and Becca Parsons added some general Reformation books to my list. (I'd been slowly going through Justo Gonzalez' Story of Christianity—need to pick it back up—which gives the highest birds-eye view of church history which is also helpful.)
Reading at its best truly is much more communal than individual...some of our family's most precious memories have been simply reading a great book, aloud, together.
I so appreciated how you gathered from Caitlin’s client, Emily, and Dixie the beautiful blessing of trusting God with our fertility vs seeking control. It’s a rare perspective these days, and heartening to hear from others.
Also, I’m glad to see that the [desecrated] body compilation is widely appreciated and a helpful companion to your newsletter. I pray it’s helpful to many. You’re doing great work in your writing and gathering.
Thanks, Leah. It gives me a high of sorts to find common threads in writing/thoughts I come across... and I hope by putting them together they illuminate each other more brightly than a stand-alone, one-off opinion could. That's the hope of the newsletter, at least. haha
(And I appreciate you suggesting I create that collection. It truly was a worthwhile idea.)
Does that mean you’re also one to follow the trail of cross-references in the Bible? My favorite type of following threads. But yes, super helpful and illuminating.
I recently read God's Secret Agents, about the Jesuits in Elizabethan England. It was easy to read, compelling, and I felt it was fairly written. The Reformation was such a mess of religion and politics and wars, and England was its own beast in that context. But that book shed a bit of light for me!
Thank you, Haley. Great stuff here. I hadn't seen that Mary Harrington piece. Appreciated your comments on "Sexuality After Industrialism" especially. Indeed, there is no simple way forward. But it's stuff that's worth thinking about. And as always, thanks for linking my work. Keep up the good work!
Our family culture is so intertwined with the books we’ve read aloud over the years, especially the whole Narnia series, LOTR, SD Smith’s Green Ember series, the Penderwicks, and the Vanderbeekers. Even now, with two flown the nest, one on her way out, and only three left home, we still read aloud to each other in the evenings. There are so many inside jokes- but also- so many inside encouragements to be better people, one sibling to another, referencing our favorite reads. I am so grateful for that language being a part of our lives. I’m pretty sure we will all be old and gray and still doing it. (Case in point: a long running inside joke about young Ben in the Penderwicks led to the whole fam ‘ducking’ our eldest’s apartment- all 267 rubber and resin ducks, large and small, in his shoes, his icemaker, on picture frames….he still hasn’t found them all! The laughter and hilarity that ensued was such good good medicine.)
You finished Duffy's book before I did, but I admit to being in a similar spot with it. I will publicly retract my claim about the terrible conditions of English Christianity pre-Reformation: on Duffy's account-- which has had a massive impact on scholarship, I've discovered, and is well-received as the correct paradigm of religious/spiritual life in late medieval England-- English Christians had a vibrant and rich faith.
That said, there is a lot he puts forward that, despite its wide acceptance and the happy condition of the people, was corrupt and corrupting. So I don't believe the English Reformers were entirely incorrect in their spiritual diagnostics, and I do think that the Reformation was mostly tragic, but they really did identify issues that needed correcting. And I think that if Henry VIII hadn't forced their hands, it might have been resolved while still under Roman jurisdiction and history may have gone much differently.
There’s a plethora of good things here I want to read but just wanted to say I’m enjoying your brief reflections on some of the pieces. It’s like getting to peek into your intellectual/ spiritual journey in real time, which can be a gift to others. (Of course I’m sure there is much more going on than is shared! As it should be - all in moderation etc etc.)
Thanks, Kerri
It's ~ baby steps ~ to writing anything for me, all or nothing as I am about these things. (See also: that Family Unfriendly review I spent hours and hours on, after writing literally no essays since college. hahaha)
But I'm enjoying trying to put down some initial, unfinished thoughts as they come - in lieu of using Notes to do so.
That review is proof that you’ve got talent :)
Would you ever write a bit more about why you stepped away from Notes?
I suppose a combination of things!
- Not being able to control myself as I'd like (as with Twitter/Instagram in the past).
- Wanting more time for engaging with the long-form posts Substack was originally designed for - I want to honor people's efforts and appreciate their work in that way, over spending my limited time on snippets (as good as Notes can truly be! I've realized my FOMO was getting the best of me, and something had to give.)
- Also, the immediate, reactionary nature of it wasn't always doing me favors after a long stretch of on-and-off postpartum "mental afflictions" (in the words of Alan Noble). Perhaps that's why a good chunk of the essays I share aren't even published on here, and have no comments. :) You just have to sit there and listen to the writer, and Notes just felt like the overwhelming opposite of what I was trying to cultivate for others and myself. So after another difficult depressive episode around the end of last year, I just decided to pick my battles and let it go.
So, I'll still engage there if I happen to come across things, or people engage with me! I now make use of looking at a particular post's restacks, or a particular person's feed. But am simply not keeping up with the entire feed like a nutcase as I used to, wondering where my reading time went. And am banking on people putting the good stuff in their newsletters/Substack posts if they think it's worthwhile enough to share. :)
Thanks for sharing this! I’m sorry you’ve wrestled with “mental afflictions” but it sounds like you are handling them wisely! I like what you said about having to just sit and listen to a writer. I find myself torn between wanting to engage with the people who are engaging with similar ideas (this, both as a writer and a reader) and wanting to have time to think deeply and process the way I had to in my years of study.
I think there can be a balance! (As I think you've put it, having "coworkers or neighbors to talk to across the fence" about certain things can be good!) Maybe I'm more concerned with the experience of ONLY reading online on a place like substack and expecting every single piece to accept one's immediate input, two cents, personal reaction. haha It forms a different kind of reading experience... so maybe I'm just trying to find that balance for myself.
Same!
Agreed, Kerri!
Can't believe you already finished the Duffy book! It took me years to actually finish lol. I see how it could be a firehose, especially in a quick read. He definitely assumes his readers have a good understanding of Catholic liturgy, practices, terminology etc.
I think it’s useful to get a broad overview of the reformation as well as particular close ups, especially because it was carried out so differently in different places. Ex: Where the German reformation had a populist bent, the English reformation was extremely top-down/political.
Also, it’s tempting for Catholics to De-emphasize corruption before, and Protestants to De-emphasize corruption/iconoclasm that happened in the execution.
It is such a complex period that obviously still impacts us so much today. I'm sure you are probably Reformationed out rn, but Brad Gregory’s Unintended Reformation is also really interesting.
This is a super helpful perspective, Amelia.
I have been having lots of audiobook time as I've been doing spring cleaning and baby prepping around the house... more housework than usual. :)
The understanding of Catholic liturgy, practices, terminology wasn't actually much of a problem, I have somehow amassed a decent understanding of them over the past few years.
Yeah, I think Nate had a note a while back about that exact idea of being intellectually honest on both sides as to what was happening (a note which I think I saw you hop onto?)
haha Thank you for the recommendation. I did see someone else recommend that one a while back after I went through his book Rebel In The Ranks. And Tessa Carman and Becca Parsons added some general Reformation books to my list. (I'd been slowly going through Justo Gonzalez' Story of Christianity—need to pick it back up—which gives the highest birds-eye view of church history which is also helpful.)
Reading at its best truly is much more communal than individual...some of our family's most precious memories have been simply reading a great book, aloud, together.
I so appreciated how you gathered from Caitlin’s client, Emily, and Dixie the beautiful blessing of trusting God with our fertility vs seeking control. It’s a rare perspective these days, and heartening to hear from others.
Also, I’m glad to see that the [desecrated] body compilation is widely appreciated and a helpful companion to your newsletter. I pray it’s helpful to many. You’re doing great work in your writing and gathering.
Thanks, Leah. It gives me a high of sorts to find common threads in writing/thoughts I come across... and I hope by putting them together they illuminate each other more brightly than a stand-alone, one-off opinion could. That's the hope of the newsletter, at least. haha
(And I appreciate you suggesting I create that collection. It truly was a worthwhile idea.)
Does that mean you’re also one to follow the trail of cross-references in the Bible? My favorite type of following threads. But yes, super helpful and illuminating.
Glad to hear, Haley!
I recently read God's Secret Agents, about the Jesuits in Elizabethan England. It was easy to read, compelling, and I felt it was fairly written. The Reformation was such a mess of religion and politics and wars, and England was its own beast in that context. But that book shed a bit of light for me!
That "partnership over compromise" article was very good
I love the William Merritt Chase paintings!
It was truly hard to choose. He has so many good ones.
Thank you, Haley. Great stuff here. I hadn't seen that Mary Harrington piece. Appreciated your comments on "Sexuality After Industrialism" especially. Indeed, there is no simple way forward. But it's stuff that's worth thinking about. And as always, thanks for linking my work. Keep up the good work!
I also love the versatility of thrifted baskets 🙂
Our family culture is so intertwined with the books we’ve read aloud over the years, especially the whole Narnia series, LOTR, SD Smith’s Green Ember series, the Penderwicks, and the Vanderbeekers. Even now, with two flown the nest, one on her way out, and only three left home, we still read aloud to each other in the evenings. There are so many inside jokes- but also- so many inside encouragements to be better people, one sibling to another, referencing our favorite reads. I am so grateful for that language being a part of our lives. I’m pretty sure we will all be old and gray and still doing it. (Case in point: a long running inside joke about young Ben in the Penderwicks led to the whole fam ‘ducking’ our eldest’s apartment- all 267 rubber and resin ducks, large and small, in his shoes, his icemaker, on picture frames….he still hasn’t found them all! The laughter and hilarity that ensued was such good good medicine.)
You finished Duffy's book before I did, but I admit to being in a similar spot with it. I will publicly retract my claim about the terrible conditions of English Christianity pre-Reformation: on Duffy's account-- which has had a massive impact on scholarship, I've discovered, and is well-received as the correct paradigm of religious/spiritual life in late medieval England-- English Christians had a vibrant and rich faith.
That said, there is a lot he puts forward that, despite its wide acceptance and the happy condition of the people, was corrupt and corrupting. So I don't believe the English Reformers were entirely incorrect in their spiritual diagnostics, and I do think that the Reformation was mostly tragic, but they really did identify issues that needed correcting. And I think that if Henry VIII hadn't forced their hands, it might have been resolved while still under Roman jurisdiction and history may have gone much differently.
Thanks, Haley!