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Welcome back to O’ Theophilus. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

For more than a year now, I have spent some time away from O’ Theophilus. Last summer, a thoughtful reader of the blog challenged me as to why I had not continued to work on and produce new content for this passion project. I took this challenge seriously, setting some time aside to reflect on why I had struggled with creating the year prior and what I needed to do to come back to O’ Theophilus with renewed vision and vigor.

During that period of time, I began writing movie reviews for fun. Long ago, before I had determined to pursue study in divinity, I considered a career in screenwriting and storytelling. I had ultimately chosen biblical and theological studies back then, because I had become convinced as a storyteller that the narratively-shaped biblical witness laid out the key to understanding the fundamentals of storytelling as a craft. Writing these film reviews years later, I found that decision paying off as I pried narratively and theologically into the fabric of stories, their messages, and their applications using my skills as a biblical exegete and theologian. I was writing again effortlessly, staying up late into the night just to push out the thoughts brimming from the experiences that I had with these stories.

Circling back to O’ Theophilus, I began to realize what had been missing from this passion project in the past. I thoroughly enjoy studying the Bible and sharing what I have learned from it on O’ Theophilus, but I realized that I had struggled to clarify and actualize the cultural engagement side of O’ Theophilus that I had intended since its beginning. The blurriness came into focus as I wrote those reviews, with a new direction becoming clear to me for the project. The intersection between Christianity and culture that I naturally explore myself is the same intersection that I want to explore with you. 

After a long and inconsistent hiatus, I’m back with a new vision – to tell better stories for a better tomorrow, by teaching Gen Z how to think with and through the Christian Story. By exploring stories through the Christian Story, we will not only mine the depths of culture together but also hopefully encounter the truth of Christ in unexpected places and in unexpected ways. The story of Christ breathes life into every other story, and I look forward to telling, finding, and sharing that Story with you.

Shall we be off then?