Stephen L. Young
@slyprofessor.bsky.social
#BLM | Professor in Mountains of NC | Nerd about Religious Studies - Mediterranean Antiquity | I study how ancient and modern Christians imagine history | Cycling | he/him | Writes @RDispatches | OpinionsMine
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“Make Rome Great Again” Preceded “Make America Great Again”: The Ancient Romo-Nationalism of Biblical Writers - Stephen L. Young, 2024
The ideas about religious, sexual, gender, ethnic, urban, moral, and family decay that underlie “Make America Great Again’s” message have notable antecedents in...
journals.sagepub.com
My new Open Access article! For some reason it felt relevant to discuss the Bible and the LONG history of leaders telling stories about how things used to be great before moral, ethnic, urban, gender, and family corruption bigly happened. #EduSky #Election #Bible journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
My new Open Access article! For some reason it felt relevant to discuss the Bible and the LONG history of leaders telling stories about how things used to be great before moral, ethnic, urban, gender, and family corruption bigly happened. #EduSky #Election #Bible journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
“Make Rome Great Again” Preceded “Make America Great Again”: The Ancient Romo-Nationalism of Biblical Writers - Stephen L. Young, 2024
The ideas about religious, sexual, gender, ethnic, urban, moral, and family decay that underlie “Make America Great Again’s” message have notable antecedents in...
journals.sagepub.com
November 1, 2024 at 12:54 PM
My new Open Access article! For some reason it felt relevant to discuss the Bible and the LONG history of leaders telling stories about how things used to be great before moral, ethnic, urban, gender, and family corruption bigly happened. #EduSky #Election #Bible journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
So, @vox-magica.bsky.social's new book is an awesome rethinking of not just early Christianity, but how ancient Christians wrote abt Christian history & heroes by developing their own self-serving ways of talking magic, miracles, orthodoxy, and heresy
Check out the publications she found helpful!
Check out the publications she found helpful!
November 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM
So, @vox-magica.bsky.social's new book is an awesome rethinking of not just early Christianity, but how ancient Christians wrote abt Christian history & heroes by developing their own self-serving ways of talking magic, miracles, orthodoxy, and heresy
Check out the publications she found helpful!
Check out the publications she found helpful!
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
🧵[CW Sexual violence] William Yoo's book on Presbyterian history doesn't beat around the bush, but explains that most white Presbyterians in 18th-19th cent were ghoulishly immoral and tried to turn the brutalizing and rape of enslaved humans into an issue of Biblical interpretation #AwesomeWork 1/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
🧵[CW Sexual violence] William Yoo's book on Presbyterian history doesn't beat around the bush, but explains that most white Presbyterians in 18th-19th cent were ghoulishly immoral and tried to turn the brutalizing and rape of enslaved humans into an issue of Biblical interpretation #AwesomeWork 1/10
🧵[CW Sexual violence] William Yoo's book on Presbyterian history doesn't beat around the bush, but explains that most white Presbyterians in 18th-19th cent were ghoulishly immoral and tried to turn the brutalizing and rape of enslaved humans into an issue of Biblical interpretation #AwesomeWork 1/10
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
🧵[CW Sexual violence] William Yoo's book on Presbyterian history doesn't beat around the bush, but explains that most white Presbyterians in 18th-19th cent were ghoulishly immoral and tried to turn the brutalizing and rape of enslaved humans into an issue of Biblical interpretation #AwesomeWork 1/10
I want to begin a series of posts on scholarship in Biblical Studies & Christian history that does things right! As in, work that's not just interesting & ruthlessly truthful, but activist in disrupting the bullshit paradigms that made racism, enslaving, sexism, homophobia, etc feel ok #AwesomeWork
November 2, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I want to begin a series of posts on scholarship in Biblical Studies & Christian history that does things right! As in, work that's not just interesting & ruthlessly truthful, but activist in disrupting the bullshit paradigms that made racism, enslaving, sexism, homophobia, etc feel ok #AwesomeWork
If you want to learn some awesome and nerdy scholarly stuff, get Dr. Patel's new book. Fellow academics, email your librarians so they can acquire it too!
it’s officially book promo time! so, hey, i wrote this book; it comes out in a week! would you mind signal boosting and asking your library to buy it? if you’d like a copy, the code AUFLY30 will get you 30%off.
global.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM
If you want to learn some awesome and nerdy scholarly stuff, get Dr. Patel's new book. Fellow academics, email your librarians so they can acquire it too!
Since Trump is concerned about getting to heaven, maybe he could do what Jesus told a rich dude who had similar concerns, "Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mark 10:21).
You'd think Trump's evangelical advisors could tell him?
You'd think Trump's evangelical advisors could tell him?
Trump: "I don't think there's anything that's gonna get me in heaven. I think I'm not maybe heaven bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven."
October 13, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Since Trump is concerned about getting to heaven, maybe he could do what Jesus told a rich dude who had similar concerns, "Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mark 10:21).
You'd think Trump's evangelical advisors could tell him?
You'd think Trump's evangelical advisors could tell him?
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
It is a completely open 'secret' (b/c media don't discuss it) that Evangelical orgs openly fire professors, ministers, and staff who even think-aloud in a way that differs from leadership and donors. They make no apologies and demand they be given this exemption to cultivate their insular spaces.
Does Klein earnestly believe the reason you don't see progressives tour conservative evangelical churches to defend abortion or some such is that progressives are dispositionally less interested in debate and civil discourse than the right? Genuinely? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...
September 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
It is a completely open 'secret' (b/c media don't discuss it) that Evangelical orgs openly fire professors, ministers, and staff who even think-aloud in a way that differs from leadership and donors. They make no apologies and demand they be given this exemption to cultivate their insular spaces.
It is a completely open 'secret' (b/c media don't discuss it) that Evangelical orgs openly fire professors, ministers, and staff who even think-aloud in a way that differs from leadership and donors. They make no apologies and demand they be given this exemption to cultivate their insular spaces.
Does Klein earnestly believe the reason you don't see progressives tour conservative evangelical churches to defend abortion or some such is that progressives are dispositionally less interested in debate and civil discourse than the right? Genuinely? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...
September 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
It is a completely open 'secret' (b/c media don't discuss it) that Evangelical orgs openly fire professors, ministers, and staff who even think-aloud in a way that differs from leadership and donors. They make no apologies and demand they be given this exemption to cultivate their insular spaces.
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
The stuff Jeffrey Epstein’s friends felt comfortable saying and drawing in grotesque detail with their names attached knowing they would not face consequences is the kind of thing I think of when I think about rape culture and how sexual violence against girls and young women is actually glorified
September 9, 2025 at 3:22 AM
The stuff Jeffrey Epstein’s friends felt comfortable saying and drawing in grotesque detail with their names attached knowing they would not face consequences is the kind of thing I think of when I think about rape culture and how sexual violence against girls and young women is actually glorified
I swear this #SCOTUS would rule 6-3 that the SS can continue their roving patrols to check if someone is a Jew: 'The questioning is typically brief and the non-Jews may promptly go free' while the SS loads the Jews onto the trains "for deportation."
This is a paragraph Brett Kavanaugh wrote on his little computer and then sent out into the world:
September 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I swear this #SCOTUS would rule 6-3 that the SS can continue their roving patrols to check if someone is a Jew: 'The questioning is typically brief and the non-Jews may promptly go free' while the SS loads the Jews onto the trains "for deportation."
Serious question: Is there a reason that the Governor and Mayor can't direct State/City law enforcement to monitor and arrest ICE agents for committing (checks notes) crimes like assault and kidnapping?
Pritzker: It appears they are amassing ICE officers… It’s been reported that about 300 officers are planning to come in and do what they did in LA — terrorize neighborhoods and cause mayhem. Their plan is to create enough chaos on the ground that troops will have to be called in
September 4, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Serious question: Is there a reason that the Governor and Mayor can't direct State/City law enforcement to monitor and arrest ICE agents for committing (checks notes) crimes like assault and kidnapping?
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
Interesting. Didn’t know Thiel was working on a memoir.
Peter Thiel to give four lectures on the "biblical Antichrist." Among the "religious thinkers upon whom Peter will draw" is Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt.
August 22, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Interesting. Didn’t know Thiel was working on a memoir.
ON THE WAY! The volume @alexichantz.bsky.social, Paula Fredriksen, & I edited is @fortresspress.bsky.social for pre-order. TOC Below. Truly awesome contributors. Big thanks to all involved. Feels like we've been having a party and finally get to invite everyone! www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle
Leading and rising scholars introduce a burgeoning new approach to the study of Paul, which situates the Jewish apostle to gentiles within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion.
www.fortresspress.com
May 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
ON THE WAY! The volume @alexichantz.bsky.social, Paula Fredriksen, & I edited is @fortresspress.bsky.social for pre-order. TOC Below. Truly awesome contributors. Big thanks to all involved. Feels like we've been having a party and finally get to invite everyone! www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
Coming your way soon-- a great collection with an amazing line up of scholars! More details to come! @slyprofessor.bsky.social @alexichantz.bsky.social 🤓
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle
Leading and rising scholars introduce a burgeoning new approach to the study of Paul, which situates the Jewish apostle to gentiles within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion.
www.fortresspress.com
May 3, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Coming your way soon-- a great collection with an amazing line up of scholars! More details to come! @slyprofessor.bsky.social @alexichantz.bsky.social 🤓
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
As a bright professional spotlight, my third book, Scandalous Christian Histories, is now under contract with the University of Edinburgh Press. Onward!
April 15, 2025 at 1:28 PM
As a bright professional spotlight, my third book, Scandalous Christian Histories, is now under contract with the University of Edinburgh Press. Onward!
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
when people say "this isn't what I voted for" they should be forced to list what they DID vote for
April 7, 2025 at 1:55 AM
when people say "this isn't what I voted for" they should be forced to list what they DID vote for
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
Keep in mind: the NEH’s budget is 0.01% of the entire federal budget. This is not about savings - it is about the destruction of the Humanities and the critical thinking abilities that they teach. 🗃️
DOGE has now turned its sights on a small agency that provides support for community programs in every state. The National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds museums, historic sites, libraries, educators and media outlets across the country, has been told to slash staff by 70-80 percent.🧵
April 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Keep in mind: the NEH’s budget is 0.01% of the entire federal budget. This is not about savings - it is about the destruction of the Humanities and the critical thinking abilities that they teach. 🗃️
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
Four years after initial inception, and we have a hard copy! I cannot express just how grateful I am for the work that our contributors put into this volume. Cheers, @apocalypsenow5.bsky.social and @drmjcwarren.bsky.social!
March 12, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Four years after initial inception, and we have a hard copy! I cannot express just how grateful I am for the work that our contributors put into this volume. Cheers, @apocalypsenow5.bsky.social and @drmjcwarren.bsky.social!
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
💰CHARTS: Since Reagan, the rich have gotten much richer (especially white folks)
Now Republicans want to cut programs for the poor and let people at the top keep even more.
A redistribution of wealth has been going from bottom to top for decades.
www.cbpp.org/research/pov...
Now Republicans want to cut programs for the poor and let people at the top keep even more.
A redistribution of wealth has been going from bottom to top for decades.
www.cbpp.org/research/pov...
February 17, 2025 at 4:57 AM
💰CHARTS: Since Reagan, the rich have gotten much richer (especially white folks)
Now Republicans want to cut programs for the poor and let people at the top keep even more.
A redistribution of wealth has been going from bottom to top for decades.
www.cbpp.org/research/pov...
Now Republicans want to cut programs for the poor and let people at the top keep even more.
A redistribution of wealth has been going from bottom to top for decades.
www.cbpp.org/research/pov...
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
The new Trump administration has illegally removed far more people from their jobs because of speech and beliefs in the last month than the entire list of cancelled or pressured people (many of whom were criticized, not fired) compiled by FIRE and others over years.
It’s not remotely close.
It’s not remotely close.
First, the activist ‘overreach’ mostly consisted of low-stakes, cherry-picked anecdotes. The police were not defunded. Words were not banned. White men were not barred from college.
The backlash is responding to the *possibility* of social change, not actual change.
The backlash is responding to the *possibility* of social change, not actual change.
February 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The new Trump administration has illegally removed far more people from their jobs because of speech and beliefs in the last month than the entire list of cancelled or pressured people (many of whom were criticized, not fired) compiled by FIRE and others over years.
It’s not remotely close.
It’s not remotely close.
Was writing about Sirach and misogyny. File this passage (25:23-26) under "Patriarchy is Uncreative Loser Energy." Though from an ancient Jewish text now in Catholic Bibles, it reads like a manosphere bro manifesto about how women exist for the comfort & pleasure of men. 🤮 #BiblicalStudies #Classics
February 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Was writing about Sirach and misogyny. File this passage (25:23-26) under "Patriarchy is Uncreative Loser Energy." Though from an ancient Jewish text now in Catholic Bibles, it reads like a manosphere bro manifesto about how women exist for the comfort & pleasure of men. 🤮 #BiblicalStudies #Classics
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
If this reporting stands up (and it appears confirmed by multiple sources): devastating.
The EIS is the front-line SWAT team of disease detection in the US and globally, and also the training ground for new generations of public health workers.
No EIS, no boots on the ground for outbreaks. ->
The EIS is the front-line SWAT team of disease detection in the US and globally, and also the training ground for new generations of public health workers.
No EIS, no boots on the ground for outbreaks. ->
Major news:
Entire first-year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service must be out by 5pm, sources say.
Also: a major CDC contractor "just let go." Others may follow.
This is an attack on our ability to detect outbreaks.
More, with quotes from CDC officials:
open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
Entire first-year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service must be out by 5pm, sources say.
Also: a major CDC contractor "just let go." Others may follow.
This is an attack on our ability to detect outbreaks.
More, with quotes from CDC officials:
open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
News: Half of CDC "disease detectives" terminated. DOGE takes aim at US disease surveillance.
Entire first-year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service must be out by 5 p.m., sources say. Also: a major CDC contractor "just let go," and others may follow.
open.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 8:17 PM
If this reporting stands up (and it appears confirmed by multiple sources): devastating.
The EIS is the front-line SWAT team of disease detection in the US and globally, and also the training ground for new generations of public health workers.
No EIS, no boots on the ground for outbreaks. ->
The EIS is the front-line SWAT team of disease detection in the US and globally, and also the training ground for new generations of public health workers.
No EIS, no boots on the ground for outbreaks. ->
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
The main beneficiaries of the Department of Education are disabled kids (IDEA) and working-class and poor Americans (Title I, Pell Grants, work assistance), so of course Trump wants to do away with it.
February 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
The main beneficiaries of the Department of Education are disabled kids (IDEA) and working-class and poor Americans (Title I, Pell Grants, work assistance), so of course Trump wants to do away with it.
Reposted by Stephen L. Young
Dear the Media,
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
January 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Dear the Media,
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public
When something bad happens in an area under the executive branch's purview, and the White House goes "uh... a Black or gay person must've done it," you do not need to accept that. You're allowed to follow up in pursuit of the factual reason, not the bigoted excuse.
Love,
The public