Paul Hoard
@paulhoard.bsky.social
Is your game night a defense mechanism?
We often treat "Alpha Players" as a flaw. But psychoanalytically, groups install them to escape the anxiety of shared uncertainty.
New post on the big Other and being a "co-author of uncertainty":
paulhoard.substack.com/p/quarterbacking-in-cooperative-games
We often treat "Alpha Players" as a flaw. But psychoanalytically, groups install them to escape the anxiety of shared uncertainty.
New post on the big Other and being a "co-author of uncertainty":
paulhoard.substack.com/p/quarterbacking-in-cooperative-games
Quarterbacking in Cooperative Games: The Pressure of Playing Together
Understanding the 'Alpha Player' Problem in Cooperative Board Games
paulhoard.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Is your game night a defense mechanism?
We often treat "Alpha Players" as a flaw. But psychoanalytically, groups install them to escape the anxiety of shared uncertainty.
New post on the big Other and being a "co-author of uncertainty":
paulhoard.substack.com/p/quarterbacking-in-cooperative-games
We often treat "Alpha Players" as a flaw. But psychoanalytically, groups install them to escape the anxiety of shared uncertainty.
New post on the big Other and being a "co-author of uncertainty":
paulhoard.substack.com/p/quarterbacking-in-cooperative-games
Reposted by Paul Hoard
If you missed the live stream of @trippfuller.bsky.social, @paulhoard.bsky.social, and I talking about AI and the Christmas story, fear not! You can watch the recording here. In this clip, we riff on desire, flourishing, The Good Place & Zechariah losing his voice. open.substack.com/pub/personal...
December 23, 2025 at 5:44 PM
If you missed the live stream of @trippfuller.bsky.social, @paulhoard.bsky.social, and I talking about AI and the Christmas story, fear not! You can watch the recording here. In this clip, we riff on desire, flourishing, The Good Place & Zechariah losing his voice. open.substack.com/pub/personal...
Reposted by Paul Hoard
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I are so honored to have our book included on Dwight's Top 10 books of the year! And this list is fantastic. I absolutely recommend all of these!
dwightfriesen.com/2025/12/5204...
dwightfriesen.com/2025/12/5204...
Dwight’s Top Ten Books of 2025 • dwight j. friesen
Each December, as the days shorten and the year slows its final turning, I find myself returning to the quiet practice of naming the books that have accompanied me. Reading has has emerged as one of t...
dwightfriesen.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:01 PM
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I are so honored to have our book included on Dwight's Top 10 books of the year! And this list is fantastic. I absolutely recommend all of these!
dwightfriesen.com/2025/12/5204...
dwightfriesen.com/2025/12/5204...
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Welcome to the season finale of @queerpolifaith.bsky.social! Today's episode is a conversation I had with @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social about #bullshit. It is part 2 of our conversation about their book #Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life from August
December 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Welcome to the season finale of @queerpolifaith.bsky.social! Today's episode is a conversation I had with @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social about #bullshit. It is part 2 of our conversation about their book #Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life from August
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Y'all this event is going to be February, virtual registration is available (and free to students I believe), @paulhoard.bsky.social and I are gonna be presenting, and my counselor friends will even get CEUs for it. You should definitely sign!!!
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
Eucontamination: Psychoanalysis and the Theology of Disgust [Presentation]
Presentation to the Center for Christianity and Psychoanalysis
open.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Y'all this event is going to be February, virtual registration is available (and free to students I believe), @paulhoard.bsky.social and I are gonna be presenting, and my counselor friends will even get CEUs for it. You should definitely sign!!!
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
Reposted by Paul Hoard
NGL I like how the ridiculous threats from Hegseth have prompted Kelly to start treating this fascist regime with the disdain it deserved all along.
They will come for the rest of you and it will be better to act together now.
They will come for the rest of you and it will be better to act together now.
Kelly: He runs around on stage talking about lethality and the warrior ethos.. That’s not the message that should be coming from the Secretary of Defense… He runs around on a stage like he’s a 12 year old playing army. It’s embarrassing.
December 2, 2025 at 12:39 AM
NGL I like how the ridiculous threats from Hegseth have prompted Kelly to start treating this fascist regime with the disdain it deserved all along.
They will come for the rest of you and it will be better to act together now.
They will come for the rest of you and it will be better to act together now.
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Today I am dropping the first of my brother @paulhoard.bsky.social 's Essay in his Lacanian Virtue Ethics Series. I plan to post Paul's essays (with a little additional commentary from me at the end) as my Friday posts for a while.
open.spotify.com/episode/798d...
open.spotify.com/episode/798d...
Freedom to Want: Desire and the Self-Help Illusion
open.spotify.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Today I am dropping the first of my brother @paulhoard.bsky.social 's Essay in his Lacanian Virtue Ethics Series. I plan to post Paul's essays (with a little additional commentary from me at the end) as my Friday posts for a while.
open.spotify.com/episode/798d...
open.spotify.com/episode/798d...
paulhoard.substack.com/p/not-whole-...
A short essay on Lacan and humility
A short essay on Lacan and humility
Not Whole, Not Seen: Humility Beyond the Other’s Gaze
A Short Essay
paulhoard.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:43 PM
paulhoard.substack.com/p/not-whole-...
A short essay on Lacan and humility
A short essay on Lacan and humility
New essay on fidelity and friendship just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
Stabbing the Image: Hegel, Lacan, and the Virtue of Fidelity
A Short Essay
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
New essay on fidelity and friendship just dropped.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Had a couple of really good conversations now with @paulhoard.bsky.social and @billieiswriting.bsky.social regarding their new book, Eucontamination. This one is focused more on the Bible and theology.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
SPECIAL: Eucontamination and Disgust Theology: Billie Hoard and Dr. Paul Hoard
Podcast Episode · Does the Bible say THAT?!? · 10/14/2025 · 1h 13m
podcasts.apple.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Had a couple of really good conversations now with @paulhoard.bsky.social and @billieiswriting.bsky.social regarding their new book, Eucontamination. This one is focused more on the Bible and theology.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
October 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Paul Hoard
“For if we ever fully belonged—if we were completed—we would lose the very condition that makes love possible.”
A thoughtful, provocative essay.
It prompted this in me: loving my community is sorta like loving my own body — it isn’t perfect; it’s mine & I accept it even as I try to improve it.
A thoughtful, provocative essay.
It prompted this in me: loving my community is sorta like loving my own body — it isn’t perfect; it’s mine & I accept it even as I try to improve it.
October 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
“For if we ever fully belonged—if we were completed—we would lose the very condition that makes love possible.”
A thoughtful, provocative essay.
It prompted this in me: loving my community is sorta like loving my own body — it isn’t perfect; it’s mine & I accept it even as I try to improve it.
A thoughtful, provocative essay.
It prompted this in me: loving my community is sorta like loving my own body — it isn’t perfect; it’s mine & I accept it even as I try to improve it.
Reposted by Paul Hoard
As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...
October 3, 2025 at 2:00 AM
As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Eucontamination Ch. 2
(because this is apparently what I'm doing this weekend 😄)
"Disgust is not so much about inherent qualities of an object, person, or group but about the concern they create around contamination. Nothing is *inherently* disgusting."
(because this is apparently what I'm doing this weekend 😄)
"Disgust is not so much about inherent qualities of an object, person, or group but about the concern they create around contamination. Nothing is *inherently* disgusting."
Eucontamination Ch. 1
Very smart. Many words. Much dense. overheated-brain.gif
[Inserts "I'm joking" disclaimer before @billieiswriting.bsky.social throws me out for immediately complaining about her book. I will write some about the actual chapter.]
Very smart. Many words. Much dense. overheated-brain.gif
[Inserts "I'm joking" disclaimer before @billieiswriting.bsky.social throws me out for immediately complaining about her book. I will write some about the actual chapter.]
Eucontamination Intro
"Our liminal position left us in a near-permanent tension between us and them...
What we found most impactful in this space of being the other was our friendships and not our arguments...
This all began to make more sense once we started exploring the psychology of disgust..."
"Our liminal position left us in a near-permanent tension between us and them...
What we found most impactful in this space of being the other was our friendships and not our arguments...
This all began to make more sense once we started exploring the psychology of disgust..."
September 29, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Eucontamination Ch. 2
(because this is apparently what I'm doing this weekend 😄)
"Disgust is not so much about inherent qualities of an object, person, or group but about the concern they create around contamination. Nothing is *inherently* disgusting."
(because this is apparently what I'm doing this weekend 😄)
"Disgust is not so much about inherent qualities of an object, person, or group but about the concern they create around contamination. Nothing is *inherently* disgusting."
Reposted by Paul Hoard
All that to say, yeah. Disgust doesn't care about logic, and it is a powerful motivator. To deal with any of these messes we're in, we're going to have to undermine the disgust reaction, so thank you to Paul and Billie for jumping into the work.
September 29, 2025 at 5:08 AM
All that to say, yeah. Disgust doesn't care about logic, and it is a powerful motivator. To deal with any of these messes we're in, we're going to have to undermine the disgust reaction, so thank you to Paul and Billie for jumping into the work.
Reposted by Paul Hoard
Oh my gosh I love this so much!
Eucontamination Ch. 1
Very smart. Many words. Much dense. overheated-brain.gif
[Inserts "I'm joking" disclaimer before @billieiswriting.bsky.social throws me out for immediately complaining about her book. I will write some about the actual chapter.]
Very smart. Many words. Much dense. overheated-brain.gif
[Inserts "I'm joking" disclaimer before @billieiswriting.bsky.social throws me out for immediately complaining about her book. I will write some about the actual chapter.]
Eucontamination Intro
"Our liminal position left us in a near-permanent tension between us and them...
What we found most impactful in this space of being the other was our friendships and not our arguments...
This all began to make more sense once we started exploring the psychology of disgust..."
"Our liminal position left us in a near-permanent tension between us and them...
What we found most impactful in this space of being the other was our friendships and not our arguments...
This all began to make more sense once we started exploring the psychology of disgust..."
September 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Oh my gosh I love this so much!
Reposted by Paul Hoard
For the record, the technical term for language spoken or written without regard for the truth, designed only to shape the listener's/reader's imagined reality in a particular way is "bullshit".
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I wrote about that (building on Frankfurt) in our book.
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I wrote about that (building on Frankfurt) in our book.
September 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
For the record, the technical term for language spoken or written without regard for the truth, designed only to shape the listener's/reader's imagined reality in a particular way is "bullshit".
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I wrote about that (building on Frankfurt) in our book.
@paulhoard.bsky.social and I wrote about that (building on Frankfurt) in our book.
Reposted by Paul Hoard
If you wait to decide until the federal government calls the question, the temptation to justify making the "safe" decision will be overwhelming.
As my brother writes: integrity requires commitment to the unfinished and uncertain; reject the fantasy of security.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
6/
As my brother writes: integrity requires commitment to the unfinished and uncertain; reject the fantasy of security.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
6/
Integrity and the Fantasy of Wholeness
A Short Essay
open.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
If you wait to decide until the federal government calls the question, the temptation to justify making the "safe" decision will be overwhelming.
As my brother writes: integrity requires commitment to the unfinished and uncertain; reject the fantasy of security.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
6/
As my brother writes: integrity requires commitment to the unfinished and uncertain; reject the fantasy of security.
open.substack.com/pub/paulhoar...
6/
Reposted by Paul Hoard
"Authoritarianism treats critique not as feedback, but as infection."
This line makes my mind go to the theology of disgust that @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social talk about in their book.....
This line makes my mind go to the theology of disgust that @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social talk about in their book.....
September 19, 2025 at 11:17 AM
"Authoritarianism treats critique not as feedback, but as infection."
This line makes my mind go to the theology of disgust that @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social talk about in their book.....
This line makes my mind go to the theology of disgust that @billieiswriting.bsky.social and @paulhoard.bsky.social talk about in their book.....