Steven Rodriguez
@smarcorodriguez.bsky.social
Having a George Herbert moment. Reading Aristotle's Politics, the Chinese reception of Western classics, Śāntideva, and the songs of women in the Hebrew Bible
Starting out the new year by FINALLY daring to venture into Craig Keener's monstrous, sprawling, four volume Acts commentary
January 1, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Starting out the new year by FINALLY daring to venture into Craig Keener's monstrous, sprawling, four volume Acts commentary
I've been trying for months to finish Antony and Cleopatra, and this is not the first time in my life where I have tried (unsuccessfully) to finish the play. I just can't seem to get into this play like I can most of S's other works. What am I missing??
December 31, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I've been trying for months to finish Antony and Cleopatra, and this is not the first time in my life where I have tried (unsuccessfully) to finish the play. I just can't seem to get into this play like I can most of S's other works. What am I missing??
I don't want there to be to be any figural links to any other part of the Bible in Acts 27. I just want Luke to say that he wanted to tell a good story
December 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I don't want there to be to be any figural links to any other part of the Bible in Acts 27. I just want Luke to say that he wanted to tell a good story
Tarkovsky's Stalker is the dirtiest, grubbiest sci-fi movie I have ever seen.
Other dystopian sci-fi movies try to seem mud-daubed and grimy but can't escape the Hollywood sheen.
Stalker, on the other hand, is littered with tons of what look like ACTUAL SOVIET TRASH HEAPS.
Other dystopian sci-fi movies try to seem mud-daubed and grimy but can't escape the Hollywood sheen.
Stalker, on the other hand, is littered with tons of what look like ACTUAL SOVIET TRASH HEAPS.
December 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Tarkovsky's Stalker is the dirtiest, grubbiest sci-fi movie I have ever seen.
Other dystopian sci-fi movies try to seem mud-daubed and grimy but can't escape the Hollywood sheen.
Stalker, on the other hand, is littered with tons of what look like ACTUAL SOVIET TRASH HEAPS.
Other dystopian sci-fi movies try to seem mud-daubed and grimy but can't escape the Hollywood sheen.
Stalker, on the other hand, is littered with tons of what look like ACTUAL SOVIET TRASH HEAPS.
I tried to watch Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) last night with a friend and I fell asleep.
This means that I have only fallen asleep during three movies in my entire adult life and two of them were by Andrei Tarkovsky.
This means that I have only fallen asleep during three movies in my entire adult life and two of them were by Andrei Tarkovsky.
December 27, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I tried to watch Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) last night with a friend and I fell asleep.
This means that I have only fallen asleep during three movies in my entire adult life and two of them were by Andrei Tarkovsky.
This means that I have only fallen asleep during three movies in my entire adult life and two of them were by Andrei Tarkovsky.
Origen is quoting Celsus so we can’t be 💯% sure about this, but this quote about pagan syncretism is still wild
December 27, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Origen is quoting Celsus so we can’t be 💯% sure about this, but this quote about pagan syncretism is still wild
This is my first time really reading Acts with a literary lens and I'm seeing things I never saw before.
It sure looks like Luke has carefully placed more embryonic foreshadowing than I realized.
It sure looks like Luke has carefully placed more embryonic foreshadowing than I realized.
December 27, 2025 at 2:09 PM
This is my first time really reading Acts with a literary lens and I'm seeing things I never saw before.
It sure looks like Luke has carefully placed more embryonic foreshadowing than I realized.
It sure looks like Luke has carefully placed more embryonic foreshadowing than I realized.
Getting some NOs on my "The magic of Jane Austen can't be captured on film" take. Happy to be wrong!
December 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Getting some NOs on my "The magic of Jane Austen can't be captured on film" take. Happy to be wrong!
The most interesting part of the conversation around Jane Austen's 250 birthday has been the talk about "the remarkably un-visual nature of Austen’s novels." (John-Paul Stonard)
It makes me wonder if her novels could be described as "anti-ekphrasis."
It makes me wonder if her novels could be described as "anti-ekphrasis."
December 26, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The most interesting part of the conversation around Jane Austen's 250 birthday has been the talk about "the remarkably un-visual nature of Austen’s novels." (John-Paul Stonard)
It makes me wonder if her novels could be described as "anti-ekphrasis."
It makes me wonder if her novels could be described as "anti-ekphrasis."
Very interested in the distinction Luke’s Stephen makes in Acts 7 between κληρονομίαν (inheritance) and κατάσχεσιν (possession) of the land. Seems like the semantic difference may be charged with quite a bit of theo-political and ideological electricity…
December 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Very interested in the distinction Luke’s Stephen makes in Acts 7 between κληρονομίαν (inheritance) and κατάσχεσιν (possession) of the land. Seems like the semantic difference may be charged with quite a bit of theo-political and ideological electricity…
This is going to sound really mean, but I think it’s an important and necessary clarification of language: Only someone who has not lived through a violent revolution could write a sentence like this.
I hope to expand on this in the weeks to come.
I hope to expand on this in the weeks to come.
December 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
This is going to sound really mean, but I think it’s an important and necessary clarification of language: Only someone who has not lived through a violent revolution could write a sentence like this.
I hope to expand on this in the weeks to come.
I hope to expand on this in the weeks to come.
Weird that newer translations elide ὁμοιοπαθεῖς in Acts 14.15 into “like,” eliminating the chance of any philosophical or theological heft to Luke/Paul’s use of the word.
December 26, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Weird that newer translations elide ὁμοιοπαθεῖς in Acts 14.15 into “like,” eliminating the chance of any philosophical or theological heft to Luke/Paul’s use of the word.
Ok gonna have to do a word study on δεισιδαιμονία because the way it’s being used in Acts is weird compared to the way that pagan skeptical philosophers like Plutarch used it…
December 26, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Ok gonna have to do a word study on δεισιδαιμονία because the way it’s being used in Acts is weird compared to the way that pagan skeptical philosophers like Plutarch used it…
I am actually somewhat critical of Willie Jennings’ project in his Acts commentary, but I’m scared to talk about it publicly, since everyone I know is a Jennings Stan. I’m wondering if I can post critically about it and readers can keep in mind that I’m both a sympathetic and critical reader of his.
December 26, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I am actually somewhat critical of Willie Jennings’ project in his Acts commentary, but I’m scared to talk about it publicly, since everyone I know is a Jennings Stan. I’m wondering if I can post critically about it and readers can keep in mind that I’m both a sympathetic and critical reader of his.
Kavin Rowe saying that scholars wonder about the influence of… OVID! on Acts 14… this is better than I hoped…
December 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Kavin Rowe saying that scholars wonder about the influence of… OVID! on Acts 14… this is better than I hoped…
the part of my brain wrecked by Star Wars reads Acts 2 as a story of Outer Rim Jews coming to the Core Worlds for the festival
December 24, 2025 at 2:42 PM
the part of my brain wrecked by Star Wars reads Acts 2 as a story of Outer Rim Jews coming to the Core Worlds for the festival
Yet another instance where the gender inclusivity of the NRSV obscures important information in the text, and in this case it's something no less ideologically charged:
December 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Yet another instance where the gender inclusivity of the NRSV obscures important information in the text, and in this case it's something no less ideologically charged:
Another question I've had about Acts for years is whether or not Luke draws figural links between the Deuteronomistic History and Acts.
December 23, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Another question I've had about Acts for years is whether or not Luke draws figural links between the Deuteronomistic History and Acts.
10 years ago, I started this book and then archived it for when I finally preached Acts.
Coming back to it a decade later, it will be the clearest test case yet for whether postliberal interpretations of scripture have been thoroughly discredited by Trumpism.
Coming back to it a decade later, it will be the clearest test case yet for whether postliberal interpretations of scripture have been thoroughly discredited by Trumpism.
December 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
10 years ago, I started this book and then archived it for when I finally preached Acts.
Coming back to it a decade later, it will be the clearest test case yet for whether postliberal interpretations of scripture have been thoroughly discredited by Trumpism.
Coming back to it a decade later, it will be the clearest test case yet for whether postliberal interpretations of scripture have been thoroughly discredited by Trumpism.
In January and February I'll be guest team preaching on the Book of Acts.
December 23, 2025 at 11:09 AM
In January and February I'll be guest team preaching on the Book of Acts.
Few things make me happier than going for a walk with a friend and in the middle of the walk they suddenly blurt out,
"So I've finally started reading Bakhtin's Rabelais and His World..."
"So I've finally started reading Bakhtin's Rabelais and His World..."
December 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Few things make me happier than going for a walk with a friend and in the middle of the walk they suddenly blurt out,
"So I've finally started reading Bakhtin's Rabelais and His World..."
"So I've finally started reading Bakhtin's Rabelais and His World..."
well that might be the most fun I’ve ever had preaching
December 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
well that might be the most fun I’ve ever had preaching
I almost never quote poetry in my sermons, but tomorrow I just might drop a line from George Herbert, another one from W. H. Auden, a third from John of the Cross, and if I really lose self-control, I might slip up and even quote Wendell Berry
December 21, 2025 at 2:11 AM
I almost never quote poetry in my sermons, but tomorrow I just might drop a line from George Herbert, another one from W. H. Auden, a third from John of the Cross, and if I really lose self-control, I might slip up and even quote Wendell Berry
Robert Alter vs. Ellen Davis on Song of Songs, a shocking difference of opinion:
Alter: In Song of Songs, “there is little in the way of allusion to earlier Hebrew texts.”
Davis: Song of Songs is “the most biblical of books… the poet is throughout in conversation with other biblical writers.”
Alter: In Song of Songs, “there is little in the way of allusion to earlier Hebrew texts.”
Davis: Song of Songs is “the most biblical of books… the poet is throughout in conversation with other biblical writers.”
December 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Robert Alter vs. Ellen Davis on Song of Songs, a shocking difference of opinion:
Alter: In Song of Songs, “there is little in the way of allusion to earlier Hebrew texts.”
Davis: Song of Songs is “the most biblical of books… the poet is throughout in conversation with other biblical writers.”
Alter: In Song of Songs, “there is little in the way of allusion to earlier Hebrew texts.”
Davis: Song of Songs is “the most biblical of books… the poet is throughout in conversation with other biblical writers.”
“It feels like a sort of quiet, happy lonesomeness of things ending in the fullness of time.”
—Joanna Newsom on the sound of a mourning dove, interview, 2015.
—Joanna Newsom on the sound of a mourning dove, interview, 2015.
December 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
“It feels like a sort of quiet, happy lonesomeness of things ending in the fullness of time.”
—Joanna Newsom on the sound of a mourning dove, interview, 2015.
—Joanna Newsom on the sound of a mourning dove, interview, 2015.