March 16, 2023 “Deconstruction” has become overused and weighed down with cultural baggage, but I still find it a useful concept. I am disassembling bits and pieces of my spiritual heritage and the framework I’ve built to determine what can support belief and what needs to be discarded or renovated (made new again). This isn’t hipster indulgence (as if—I’m 61 years old), as it is sometimes labelled by religious curmudgeons and the overly certain, but an in-depth analysis of beliefs I’ve inherited and a thorough exploration of alternatives.
Lioness, Seneca Park Zoo This is a photo I took in 2021 of either Zuri or Asha, the two lionesses at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, NY. This was in the middle of winter, on a beautiful day with a clear blue sky. I’ve been volunteering as a photographer at the Zoo since 2019, when my wife started there as a docent. It’s an activity we can share while still making our own individual contributions—sort of parallel play for big people.
March 16, 2023 Sooooo . . . where am I going with this?
First, I want to document and discuss my deconstruction from both intellectual and experiential perspectives. This has been a long process, really more of a spiritual journey than deconstruction, per se, with roots all the way back to my teens and 20s. I don’t expect this to be a process where I arrive at some destination and sit there, fat and happy.
March 11, 2023 I’ve been in a near constant state of gradual spiritual evolution over the last 40 years (since college), development which reached a turning point around 2016. Even though I was more comfortable calling myself “Evangelical adjacent” than Evangelical, Evangelicals were still my people. I went to an Evangelical college, listened to Evangelical music, and grew up in a church that anyone from the outside would have called Evangelical.
March 12, 2023 So, why write about all this? Why not just chuck it and be done? There are several reasons:
I haven’t said I don’t believe in Christianity but that I don’t know how to believe in it—I am agnostic, not antagonistic. Scripture may well be inspired and authoritative, if not inerrant—I just need to find a new basis for believing that. I believe there is a God at minimum, because I can’t conceive of a universe without a first cause or creation without a Creator.
March 11, 2023 This is my daughter’s incredibly undignified cat, Thor the Wonder Kitty. He is a roughly 16lb Maine Coon mix, and he loves this chair. He also loves to harass his older housemate, Chester. In spite of all his annoying faults, he’s a lovable lunk.
Remember, I didn’t promise the Great American Novel. Cat pics qualify.
March 11, 2023 This is my first attempt at a real, live blog—something of a leap for an introverted geek who has struggled for 40+ years with any kind of writing. Terrifying, actually. Well, I’m going to give it a try. My therapist will be so proud.
Yes, my handle is ArtGeek. That’s a name I adopted when trying to freelance, and it still fits. My day job is in IT support at a large academic medical center, and I love music, photography, and being outdoors when I’m not curled up with a good book (or tablet).