I have just published the first episode of a podcast to accompany my Substack newsletter, The Living Dark. I invite you to listen:
Episode 1: The Remarkable Story of God’s Autobiographer, Jerry L. Martin
In it, I explore the remarkable story of Jerry Martin and his book, God: An Autobiography, as Told to a Philosopher, through an in-depth interview with him. Jerry, a former skeptic and philosophy professor, shares his personal journey of experiencing an unexpected encounter with a voice claiming to be God. We delve into the problem of spiritual discernment, the role of faith, and the varied reactions from others when they learned of his experiences and conversations with God. We also examine the significance of the relational aspect of God, the importance of understanding different world religious traditions, and the potential implications of this new understanding of God for religion today. I invite you to join us as we explore the diverse spiritual journeys individuals may undertake as they connect with the divine in their own unique ways.
There’s also another item of note when it comes to my newsletter: The title “The Living Dark” is new. These seven months after launching the project, I have decided to act on a suspicion that has whispered itself in my psyche from the start: that the title “Living into the Dark,” which I gave it when I rolled it out last September, is not entirely effective. It has always felt a bit lumpy. It never rolled off the tongue as smoothly as I would have liked. By contrast, “The Living Dark” both encompasses the original title—which in my mind always carried the implicit connotation “living into the (living) dark”—and expresses a meaning that is simultaneously more expansive and more pointed. It’s an ideal moniker for a project whose guiding theme and short description, which I have also recently retooled, is “the numinous intersection of religion, horror, creativity, and the unknown.”
In addition to the title change, there will also be a shift in focus as the matter of deep creativity, of the relationship that we each have to our own demon muse, however conceived or experienced, becomes focal, though I will continue to write about many other things, too.