Maybe it was the exceptions we made for one another that brought God more pride than when we stood firm, maybe His heart opened when His creations opened their hearts to one another, and maybe that[…]
Category: Reflection
Holden Caulfield & Adolescent In-Betweenness
Just like the five decades of teenagers before me, I loved J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye in high school. I loved narrator Holden Caulfield’s stream of consciousness, because that was how I thought and[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
Conflicting Desires & bell hooks
Why, hello. I know it’s been over a year since I posted last–and I have a lot of good reasons for that–but I wanted to drop in to say hi and that I haven’t completely[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
An Everlasting Name
It’s the Tuesday after the horrendous shooting at the Orlando gay bar, and questions are flooding my mind: How do I grieve on behalf of a community? How can I be supportive without making this about[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
Islamophobia-phobia: an exercise in syntax
Monday afternoon, the 12-year-old I tutor, Ayni, asked me if I had heard that earlier that day her mosque was set on fire. The mosque was housed in a multipurpose building in the High Point[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
A Year of Grief
On June 9, 2014, my long-term boyfriend and I broke up. In a moment I was displaced, having to rearrange my whole life: find a new place to live, rediscover who I was as single, a[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
Good Friday “Grief”
Today is Good Friday, and I think, theologically, I’m starting to grasp its goodness. This has always been a hard one for me. Even in my young evangelical days I felt so uncomfortable with the[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
On Reading the New Testament
This term I’m TA-ing a New Testament survey at a grad school, where most of the students are not future pastors and theologians but therapists. Most come in with little to no exegetical training; many[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
A blessing for one who is exhausted
Two Sundays ago at Wits’ End we lit candles for the impending winter. It gets dark so freaking early these days. And winter here is hard, even if there isn’t snow and ice piled on the ground[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.
Literature as Sacrament: thoughts birthed from grief
Three weeks before graduation, my boyfriend of four years broke up with me. Bad timing, of course, but is there ever a good time to get dumped? At the time I was knee-deep in reading[…]
About Lauren D. Sawyer
I am a Ph.D. student at Drew Theological School studying Christian Social Ethics. Learn more about me at laurendsawyer.com.