Writing & Interests

Early Church & Desert Spirituality

Living in Egypt has given me something I couldn't have gotten anywhere else: proximity to the places, communities, and traditions where early Christianity took root and flowered. The Desert Fathers didn't live in an abstraction for me. I can drive to the monasteries where their successors still pray.

I'm a serious (if self-taught) reader of Eusebius of Caesarea, whose Historia Ecclesiastica is one of the most remarkable works of ancient historiography. I'm currently working through the later books, and I keep finding myself drawn into side investigations: the papyrus supply chains that made ancient literary culture possible, the role Egypt played as infrastructure backbone for successive empires, the mechanics of how books were actually produced and distributed in the third century.

My broader reading in this area includes the Coptic contemplative tradition, the Desert Fathers on watchfulness (nepsis) and inner stillness (hesychia), early church prayer practices (including the Didache and the Coptic Agpeya), patristic understandings of key theological concepts, and the development of the biblical canon. I approach these topics from an evangelical Christian perspective, but with deep respect for and interest in the Coptic and Orthodox traditions that have preserved much of this heritage.

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Arabic & Cross-Cultural Life

I blog about Arabic learning at thearabiclearner.com. The focus there is practical: what does it actually take to learn Arabic as an adult, and how do you keep growing when the initial enthusiasm fades? I also write occasionally about the experience of living between cultures for three decades, which is its own kind of education.

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Technology & AI

I think about how AI is changing the way people consume information, communicate across languages, and learn new things. FlashBrief is one expression of that thinking. I'm particularly interested in the tension between algorithmic curation (which tends to optimize for engagement) and intentional information consumption (which optimizes for understanding). These are ultimately questions of rhetoric, which is where my academic training comes in handy.

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Substack

I write occasionally on Substack, where the topics range across most of the above — faith, language, technology, and the experience of building a life far from where you started. Subscribe if you'd like to follow along.