The reason there isn’t much here is because there isn’t much about me that I believe to be all that interesting.
A Neo-pagan resource site recently linked me as a “Christian mystic and Inklings fan”. They’re 2/3 right. I am a Christian, a recently minted Orthodox Christian with roots all over the late 20th century theological landscape, I am definitely an Inklings fanboy, having read and re-read their works for over 40 years.
But I am not a mystic. Mystics don’t work in cubicles or watch Breaking Bad. I do both. Mystics dwell by waterfalls, collect mushrooms, and contemplate butterflies.
I go to this church, and enjoy the food in this restaurant. I have one wife, two children, and a Beagle.
Saint David of Wales is my patron. His feast day is March 1. The Welsh celebrate my name-day as their national day. St. David of Wales was a waterbender.
A Mule In The Chapter House 
18 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 27, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Aaron Taylor
We’ve got quite a bit in common, and I enjoy reading your blog. I recently posted some brief thoughts that you might be interested in on an Orthodox view of the ‘fantasy’ genre: . I’d love to get your feedback!
May 22, 2009 at 2:25 am
Discerner
Since there’s no email addy 4 U, Sir, I will have to post this here: your comment about Kierkegaard on May 14th in the a.m. @ IMonk’s blog was absolutely ***SUPERB.*** Thank you.
November 2, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Romanós
Brother, I saw a comment from you just now at Fr Stephen’s blog, and I just want to touch you for good. I am also a failure as a husband and father. So much so that my wife has disowned me and three of my four sons also ignore me for the most part. I didn’t think I was a failure, but I knew for sure that I was serving a loving and faithful God. Orthodox convert for 21 years, I followed the rules in every direction, but still ended up in the ash pit with Job. May this not happen to you. May your wife and children continue to return your love for them. (You can love all you want, but if people don’t receive your love, and tell you, you never loved them, what can you do?) May you find work soon and be able to provide for your family. You already know that everything comes from God, and that He is faithful and true. Just stay close to Him, as you are now, even when your prosperity returns. We are honored by our Savior Christ when we suffer, especially when we suffer humiliation and the battering of false witnesses, even the battering we dish ourselves. He alone knows us as we are, as He made us. He is letting us hang with Him on the cross. He will also let us know His resurrection in ourselves. That is a thing worth any price we have to pay.
February 11, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Sean Phillips
All I can say is that I love thi blog. Two of my own blogs are:
http://atheismvsfaith.blogspot.com/
http://afitd.blogspot.com/
May 8, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Eugene Durkee
This is a GREAT blog. And anyone who loves Little, Big by John Crowley, is a friend of mine (if I may presume). That list of sic-fi/fantasy books was great!
October 29, 2012 at 8:20 am
Burckhardtfan
I must thank you for pointing me to Father Stephen’s website! One of the first blogs I read answered a dilemma that has bedeviled me for years! Not only that, it is because of his blog that I’m considering looking into Eastern Orthodoxy! Again, thank you very much!
By the way, what caused you to look into Eastern Orthodoxy? And what made you dissatisfied with your evangelical upbringing? From what you’ve said it seems we share the same background, both of us coming from fundamentalist, Dispensationalist churches (let me guess – evolution was anathema, and liturgy was mocked?)
October 29, 2012 at 8:56 am
asinusspinasmasticans
I was baptized into the Reformed Church of America, the modernist branch of the Netherlands state church that followed the Dutch immigrants over the Atlantic and separated into matching libbie/fundie bodies, the Christian Reformed being the more evangelical body.
My come-to-Jesus moment came about in 1973, after the “Jesus Movement” came and went, and I ended up in the Assemblies of God. Charismatics are not by and large fundamentalists, so like Father Stephen, I know very little about independent Baptists or their pathologies.
Evolution I could care less about. I accept it in its broad outlines. “Science” and “the Bible” are like having two friends who disagree on some things but who have proved to be trustworthy in many other areas. Their disagreement can cause some measure of dissonance, but it isn’t unmanageable, especially since we only live 70 – 80 years. I can live without an overarching epistemology as long as I am making progress in loving my neighbor.
Based mostly on aesthetic considerations, I gave Dispensationalism the boot very early on. It is a very ugly theology. Mormon theology, by comparison, is deliriously imaginative.
Holy Orthodoxy is my heart’s home. When you do it right, it is the life of Jesus rather than another ideology extracted from a text.
May 14, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Emma
You co’nldut pay me to ignore these posts!
January 15, 2013 at 10:55 pm
Steve
If you’re on Facebook, there’s a nice pucture for your blog here:
August 7, 2013 at 11:44 am
UmiUmiSumi
Hi Mule,
I found your blog via Internet Monk. I’m an ex-evangelical and I’m at the beginning of my search for a new ‘home’ (if I can find one…) Do you have some good resources and starting places for learning about Orthodoxy for the completely un-initiated? Your writing has piqued my interest in this tradition, but it seems unaccessable from the outside where I am. Thanks!
August 7, 2013 at 11:53 am
asinusspinasmasticans
The best advice would be to attend an Orthodox Church for a while, say, a year, without committing yourself one way or the other. Fr. Stephen Freeman’s blog, “Glory To God For All Things” is a great place to go on the Internet. Email Father himself.
It is better not to force things. I made that mistake and my wife does not attend church with me.
In the meantime, do your best to seek Christ and be kind to all those you possibly can, especially your husband and children.
October 3, 2013 at 1:07 am
UmiUmiSumi
Hi Mule,
I was trying to think of a way to message you privately about the kerfuffle going on at Internet Monk today, but this is the best I can do. Please delete this if you want.
I really like your writing, and I don’t mind the sardonic and at times scathing observations and opinions you profess. I’ve been enjoying your POV on imonk and your perspective on Orthodoxy, etc. Anyhow, what I’m trying to get at is that there are a couple of people making objections about your person over your writing.
It looks like there’s been some googling of your commenting proclivities on some sites, and there are really too many of them to completely read in context. To me, most aren’t a big deal, especially for internet comments (though I usually have a tough stomach for misogyny and that heartiste site was too much for me…) At this point, I feel like a lot of people are forming negative opinions about you and thus your writing based off of a few of these comments.
I’m no newbie. I troll far more than I should, though anonymously or through extra screen names, and I know it’s something people do. I guess what I’m looking for here is your side of the story instead of letting some comments floating around the internet do it. I suppose the accusations being raised are making you out to be a misogynistic troll who objectifies women and that you shouldn’t be allowed to write at iMonk because of this and the sites that you have associated with.
It all feels a little witch-hunty, though I was surprised at some of the comments myself. I enjoy your writing too much to let myself be swayed into having a poor opinion without trying to get more firsthand explanation.
Anyhow, sorry to bother. If you want to respond to this privately you can email me at smallspaulson@gmail.com
October 3, 2013 at 3:33 pm
Ken
UMiUmisumi
I would say just read what the mule has written on InternetMonk, they say it all.
people can interpret comments whatever way they want.
August 31, 2013 at 8:17 pm
mobileknight
I dunno Mule. That last post on Imonk. Read it a few times and thought you were pretty accurate. Sure got some feminists going.
There is an old saying – throw a rock into a pack of dogs and the one that yelps got hit.
I was too afraid to state the obvious to them…. we should not take ourselves too seriously. ..
Thanks for a breath of fresh air.
January 1, 2014 at 5:51 pm
Dana Ames
Mule,
I wish you and your family a very blessed 2014 in our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Dana
February 7, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Josh in FW
Mule,
I just wanted to let you know I’m glad to see your comments over at iMonk again. I’ve enjoyed much of your writing.
November 9, 2015 at 7:19 pm
David
I am David from internet monk who has left that blog. You were never any part of the reason I left. I have always found your comments helpful and agree with most that you say. Thanks for everything and I will keep looking for your new posts on this blog.
January 9, 2020 at 12:01 am
Review of “Love and Quasars: An Astrophysicist Reconciles Faith and Science” by Paul Wallace, Part 9. | internetmonk.com
[…] Trump is re-elected in 2020, but by 2024, as boomers continue to do the world a favor by dying off, and younger people take over, Americans are fed up and Trumpism withers away in ignominy. The Evangelical leaders who supported Trump have so disgraced themselves that Mega-Churchianity declines precipitously. The younger generation that has been more inclined to accept mainstream science and evolution and less inclined to believe in creationism becomes the new Christian majority. The Creation Museum and Ark Encounter close for lack of customers, Bob Jones and Liberty University wither to the size of community colleges, and America’s long decline in STEM education begins to reverse itself. I retire to a beach on Aruba to drink mai tai’s and write occasional essays for Internet Monk, which is now run by Michael Spencer’s grandchildren and the daughter of this guy. […]