Well, this is first edition of my Substack and I’ll get right into it. Each newsletter will cover two topics. First, I will highlight some of my recent writing, before offering some comment on culture stuff.
If you are interested in these monthly missals, subscribe below.
Writing:
Here are some of the writing projects I’ve been up to over the past month or so.
First the meatiest piece: “Christina Rossetti and the Virtue of Hope” over at the Center for Pastor Theologians Journal. It’s a little jargony, sure. And it deals with just what you’d expect in the title, the virtue of hope in the work of the Anglo Catholic poet, Christina Rossetti. The primary audience here is academics and thoughtful pastors.
I’ve long loved Rossetti’s work, and it was a pleasure to be able to pull out some threads on the virtue of hope in her books. I first presented the draft of this paper well over a year ago, so I’m glad it has made its way into print.For those of you who don’t know, I’m a regular contributor to Covenant a blog of The Living Church magazine. This means I write several articles a year. The latest came out in late July. It’s a collection of thoughts on the future of North American Anglicanism, which I hope (and pray) is moving toward unity.
It’s inside baseball, for sure. But if you are a thoughtful Christian into Anglicanism, you can check it out here.
It provoked some surprisingly strong backlash from liberals (I was too kind to traditionalists) and conservatives (I was too kind to liberals). Here is a podcast about why some folks think I’m wrong. And - my favourite - here is a take-down by David Virtue, titled “The Ecclesiastical Fantasy World of the Rev. Cole Hartin” You’re welcome!If that’s not enough, you can check out a couple of book reviews. Here is my take on God in Himself: Scripture, Metaphysics, and the Task of Christian Theology by Steven Duby over at Anglican Theological Review and then there is my review of G. R. Evan’s Crown, Mitre and People in the Nineteenth Century: The Church of England, Establishment and the State at The Journal of Anglican Studies. Both of these are written for an academic audience.
Of course, most of my time (and writing) goes into my work at Christ Church. You can see little articles on the church calendar and the book of nature in our parish newsletter The Crucifer. These are written for anyone to enjoy.
You might also want check out recent sermons at Christ Church Downtown or at Christ Church South.
Sermons are an interesting genre. They are written at a level that anyone from a teen to a grandma, with no education, or tons, can understand. They are also written for a particular community. In this case, it’s the good folks at Christ Church. And all sermons (at least good sermons) aim to proclaim the Gospel: That God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him might be saved.
So while these sermons are for Christ Church, by the grace of God, you might find something good in them as well.
There are more exciting writing projects coming up, and I’m excited to share them with you in coming months.
Culture
I’ve been grateful for the good art I’ve been able to take in over the past couple of months. Also thankful for the good food and drink. Let’s have a look together.
Books:
I read (via audiobook) Toni Morrison’s Beloved. This was a deeply moving, and deeply disturbing novel that really brings home the horror of slavery and its psychological impacts. There were moments of tenderness, too, though. I cried while listening to the way the community rallied around Denver when she was hungry and in need.
Anthony Trollope’s The Warden. I’ve read a lot of nineteenth-century texts, but this was my first time reading Trollope, believe it or not. It was at the suggestion of my colleague Fr. Ted. It had all of the hallmarks of a Victorian novel: Slow pacing, lots of dialogue, emotional understatement, and gaudy ecclesial characters. I loved it. It was just good. Reading it was good for my soul.
A group of us guys at church are reading comics together. This past month we read Weird Science. It was campy, nostalgic, sometimes boring, but really fun too.
Music:
Adrianne Lenker’s 2020 album songs has been on repeat. I think she is probably the most talented songwriter alive. Intimate and heartbreakingly sad music held up by the most lush (lushest?) acoustic finger-picking. Love it.
And then, Brian Bulger’s newest EP Exist led me to dig into his wider oeuvre. What’s really interesting is his reflections on an evangelical Christianity he has a left behind. He’s a little bitter, maybe, but mostly thoughtful.
Watching:
Steve Martin’s Only Murders in the Building is in its third season. We only have a couple episodes left. The first season was definitely better. But the characters are fun, and I think I love most the set (it’s shot in NYC) and the lavish apartment interiors. I can imagine for 30 minutes or so what it would feel like to be rich in New York. The ‘whodunnit’ plot is lively enough to keep me interested, but, though I am no prude, the language and is sometimes over-the-top. Some content is just straight up yucky.
Tasting:
I tried my hand at making pork al pastor. Used dried chipotle and guajillo peppers. I am happy with out it turned out, but not satisfied. I used this recipe and followed the directions for the marinade pretty closely. The pork I used was too lean, and their are better recipes out there.
As someone who very occasionally (2-3 times per year) has smoked a tobacco pipe since college, I have been drawn to the hobby more recently because high quality pipe tobacco is very affordable in America, especially as compared to Canada. Think about one fifth of the price it is in Canada. This means I’ve been able to expand my palette a bit. This week I tried Peterson’s My Mixture 965, kind of classic in the world of pipe tobacco. It’s an English blend, which means that it does not have any aromatic toppings added to it. The tin note smells like sweet, smokey, barbecue sauce. It was not super appealing. But the taste of the smoke itself was this wonderful umami, earthy, sweet, savoury. Delicious.
Finally, as a coffee person, I’ve long had a hateful disdain for flavoured coffee. While I was waiting for my next round of green beans to arrive to roast, I picked up some clearance pecan praline flavoured coffee on clearance at the grocery store to hold us over. Amy and I both liked it far more than we should have. We’ve also tried pumpkin spice (I know!) and maple pecan pie. These flavours are totally artificial, very decadent, and completely smother the bad coffee that they case. But they smell great, and have been kind of fun detour from the serious world of coffee.
I could add a lot more, but this is already long enough.
Thanks for reading. Please share with a friend who may be interested.
In Christ,
Cole+