academic book editor • occasional author • appreciator of scholarship & elegant writing • interested in religion, esp. (post)modernist versions of Christianity & Buddhism • also a fan of trees, cats, and movies • all views strictly my own • he/him/his 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌿https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mp5eowkdjc23"The true shunyata ["emptiness"] empties itself as well as everything else. Through its self-emptying it makes everything else exist as it is and work as it does." —Masao Abe25 Jun 2026 21:27 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp5eowkdjc23https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mowji4ggk223"I asked him about God. 'If you don't believe God is real, why would God help you?' "'God is a story,' he said. 'I believe in stories, and God knows this. Stories are real, my boy. They matter.'" —Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, 53823 Jun 2026 04:04 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mowji4ggk223https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3moi6s7lslc2o"We write from aspiration and antagonism, as well as from experience. We paint those qualities which we do not possess." —Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Prudence"17 Jun 2026 11:16 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3moi6s7lslc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mnhgjgsdxk2g"The rise of AI . . . poses an existential danger to humankind not because of the malevolence of computers but because of our own shortcomings." —Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus, chap. 1104 Jun 2026 10:36 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnhgjgsdxk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3ml6ldro66c2oThe issue isn't how religious you are; it's how you are religious.06 May 2026 11:18 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml6ldro66c2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mjriwhp6xs2u"Inside? Outside? What is the difference and how can you tell? When a sound enters your body through your ears and merges with your mind, what happens to it? Is it still a sound then, or has it become something else?" —Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, 5118 Apr 2026 13:05 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjriwhp6xs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mimg5uihpk2t"Her faith allowed her to see beyond *what exists*, because she saw what *could* and *ought* to exist." —Tourmaline, Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson. 249.03 Apr 2026 19:07 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mimg5uihpk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mhri5vtkvk23"'God told me to do it,' Marsha explained to the police. She had painted her whole body white and was wearing only a pink slip and a feather boa." —Tourmaline, Marsha, 20124 Mar 2026 02:01 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhri5vtkvk23https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mgf764gqdc2gWhat if we stopped thinking of revelation as the conveyance of divine authority in one place, or a limited number of places, and thought of it instead as the promise of divine presence in every place?06 Mar 2026 11:23 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgf764gqdc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mfr6oz2ch22o"Christian exceptionalism relies on conjuring a history that did not exist." https://religiondispatches.org/2026/02/23/donald-trumps-violent-mentality-quite-literally-biblical?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQNGe1jbGNrBA0Z42V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHh7rS-31Iz7_NJiXPnwHBL_3HVCDhfEIN8MLwJ-45si9UJepBIbaeTQ4JtLV_aem_68TMIMguh9iGTQSEH9gKEQ26 Feb 2026 12:21 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfr6oz2ch22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3me7s3kwqes2706 Feb 2026 20:55 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3me7s3kwqes27https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3me2rxnrja22eMy article, "How I Became Religiously Multiple," made Christian Century's "Top 25 of 2025"! 😊 See the link for it, and the other top articles, here: https://www.christiancentury.org/editor-s-post/our-top-25-2025?utm_source=Christian+Century+Newsletter&utm_campaign=83344cc461-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_EdPicks_2026-02-03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b00cd618da-83344cc461-8644405504 Feb 2026 21:10 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3me2rxnrja22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mdmlbcfeik2a"But the universe would not turn backward. It was a great engine . . . inviting humankind to attempt other forms of order and disorder." —Frank Herbert, Children of Dune (1976)30 Jan 2026 05:33 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdmlbcfeik2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mcruhlplfc2sFor this #MLKday, some timely selections from Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermon "A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart": . . .19 Jan 2026 14:35 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcruhlplfc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mbpy6ghcq22x"What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?" —Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah (1969)06 Jan 2026 03:11 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbpy6ghcq22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mbm472mldk27"There wasn’t even clear evidence that those drug traffickers were from Venezuela, let alone that they were governed by Maduro in any sense." —Susan Breau, prof. of international law and senior associate research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-trump-maduro?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other04 Jan 2026 14:12 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbm472mldk27https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3mabzsejio22oI'm tempted to say that I like Everybody Scream even more than I like Dance Fever. Maybe that's just the charm of the new. But maybe not? https://media.tenor.com/Ku49n5gtr94AAAAC/shrug-simon-cowell.gif?hh=280&ww=49818 Dec 2025 20:38 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3mabzsejio22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m7nhq547x22dLiteral eschatology—the expectation that an outside power will one day swoop in and "set everything right"—is a recipe for tragically unconstructive discontentment. It discourages both working to change present circumstances and looking for happiness in the present.10 Dec 2025 16:21 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7nhq547x22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m7fit3jcuk2v"Thanks to emptiness, everything is possible; without emptiness, nothing is possible." —Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 24.1407 Dec 2025 12:19 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7fit3jcuk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m7d2qpi6rs2k"Many . . . are drawn into thinking that emptiness is the ground of being, the ontological ground of everything. But emptiness, when understood rightly, is the absence of *any* ontological ground. . . . It is not any kind of absolute or ultimate reality." —Thich Nhat Hanh, The Other Shore, chap. 406 Dec 2025 13:02 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7d2qpi6rs2khttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m6we6ngubk2o"The results show that urgent action is needed to stop forest loss or the world risks losing one of its most important natural carbon buffers. . . ." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/28/africa-forests-transformed-carbon-sink-carbon-source-study?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other01 Dec 2025 11:46 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6we6ngubk2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m6u7rnntks2tCheck out my article from the August 2025 issue of the Christian Century. 😊🙏 [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Nov 2025 15:22 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6u7rnntks2thttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m6u5gs3tvk2c"The name (of) 'God' is not the name of an assured presence but of a tremulous coming-to-presence, of a soft voice that disturbs the peace of the present and pries it open to the prospect of what is coming." —John D. Caputo, What to Believe?, 17530 Nov 2025 14:40 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6u5gs3tvk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m6s5smrfec23"God's existence, like ours, is contingent, fragile, unstable, and uncertain, because it is dependent upon the extent to which *we* manage to make this event [God] come true." —John D. Caputo, What to Believe?, 14329 Nov 2025 19:42 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6s5smrfec23https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m6p3xf57ic2o"Revelation [is not] a special delivery from on high that has disclosed information beyond the reach of human wit. Revelation is the self-revelation of the Spirit, & it arises from the bowels of being, revealing the inner essence of the forces with which we resonate." —Caputo, What to Believe?, 7028 Nov 2025 14:31 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6p3xf57ic2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m5vrf2g2as2xI'm looking forward to #AARSBL2025 this weekend. I'm especially excited to celebrate with Greg and Edwin their new books, The Essential "City of God" and The Incarnation as God's First Intention, which I had the pleasure of working on with them this past year.18 Nov 2025 12:45 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5vrf2g2as2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m5olc4wn6c27"This is the greatest honor that the soul can pay to God, to leave God to himself and to be free of him." —Meister Eckhart15 Nov 2025 16:07 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5olc4wn6c27https://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m5i6jkddt22sApophasis for the masses: [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Nov 2025 03:03 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5i6jkddt22shttps://bsky.app/profile/alexdemarco.bsky.social/post/3m5i67ogjfk26God is neither a man nor upstairs.13 Nov 2025 02:57 +0000at://did:plc:qd32os3ltxdjlligm4k24prr/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5i67ogjfk26