New Years Thoughts and Updates
"The waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh (Gen 9:15)... For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14).”
Happy New Year to all the readers and subscribers of The Open Ark substack! I hope 2024 has good things in store for all of us, and I want to thank you all for deeming my writing worthy of your attention. It brings me joy to know that my writing has been edifying and interesting to you.
The most-read article on this SubStack last year, by a large margin, was From Orthobro to Orthodox, an expose and analysis of the Orthobro phenomenon and its most prominent community and influencers. I cannot express in words just how grateful I am for all the support I received from you readers, as well as those persons and groups who aided in spreading this article whether publicly (e.g, The Wheel Journal, Theoria Substack, etc.) or privately. In subsequent articles, I continued to address certain misconceptions and unhealthy theological positions common in the Online Orthodox community, but having put that behind me I want my further publications to be more positively constructive.
In short, I want to contribute to and give insight into the building-up of a creative, critical, and open Orthodox theological worldview, the Open Ark being the iconographic image of this project. To begin then, I plan to research and write a series of articles on the identity, history, implications, and future paths of Eastern Orthodox Personalism. To be clear, I do not know when the first of these articles would appear, nor how frequently, life has a habit of getting in the way. I also hope that my research will lead to articles published in academic journals (which I would be sure to link here), and perhaps clarification and inspiration for further academic pursuits. This is all to say what I have made clear in the About section of the SubStack, “I do not expect to post on this Substack with any great frequency. I will post when I feel inspired or compelled to do so. I hope my miscellaneous thoughts are edifying, or at least enjoyable, for those who care to read.”
It is because of my infrequent posting that, as things stand, I do not feel it would be right to charge for a subscription. Perhaps that will change if I get to a point where I can produce high-quality content frequently, and if financial circumstances become more dire, but ideally I would like to keep all my posts free to view. That said, it would be remiss of me to refuse any possible support, so I am providing a PayPal donation link. It can be found here or in the description of the Donations tab.
In closing, thank you to all my readers, subscribers, those who promote this SubStack, and all those on this platform whose work I have learned from and enjoyed (for some see my recommendations). Many blessed years to all of you!
I very much appreciate your writing. Your sane exposition of the Orthodox tradition has helped me remain a catechumen, despite the proliferation of fundamentalist nonsense that often attaches itself - so it would seem - to the faith today.