Randy Everist's Substack
Why is it here? What does it do?
This is a continuation of my old blog, Possible Worlds. In this post, I explain what you can expect and how you can expect to interact with me if you’d like.
Jesus said the greatest commandment is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). That is a holistic way to love God, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it. It includes our emotions, our desires, our choices, and our thoughts. Notice it does not say love God with one or two of these, but in all of these areas we are each to love God.
Doing philosophy is one way I try to live that out. When I was younger I had no idea what philosophy was all about. I would have said “metaphysics” is some guy levitating while saying “ommmm.” Instead, philosophy about learning how to think well, seek truth, ask questions, live wisely, and most importantly, it’s about worship and love directed properly toward God.
That’s why I’m writing here: to try out random thoughts, finished ideas, crash-and-burn articles that I later denounce, etc.
This Substack is for thoughtful reflection on theology and philosophy. I want to make philosophy more approachable, especially for those of us who care deeply about following Jesus Christ but also wrestle with the deeper things of God. I also want to try out, or feature, new or cutting-edge suggestions for philosophical or theological problems. In other words, I want it to be both academic and accessible.
So, whether you’re a seasoned thinker or just starting to explore these ideas, I hope this encourages you on your faith journey. If the greatest commandment really is to love God with everything we are, then not only do I expect this Substack to help me to do so, I desire for it to help you to do so as well.
To that end, while I am introducing some paid suscriber content, the overwhelming majority of my posts will remain free, including all posts under 1500 words. Those longer-form essays will belong to paid subscribers. But I figured I ought to involve some better benefits than that. So check out what awaits!
Paid Subscriber Benefits: all free posts, plus Subscriber-only posts and full archive; Monthly Q&A (submitted ahead of time; emailed answers); Mind's Workshop (ideas in progress) emails (at least one per month); Early access to certain posts (24 hours); Quarterly group Zoom call (60 mins).
Philosopher’s Guild Benefits: All Free and Paid Subscriber benefits; Name on every post under Philosopher's Guild; quarterly 1-on-1 Zoom call (60 mins.); personalized feedback on one journal-sized academic paper/essay/chapter per quarter.
The funds I receive would go toward things that make this Substack better (for one example: purchasing books on philosophy and theology!). Wanna remain free? Please do so! I just want to interact with you and write. If you’d like, you can also share this Substack with others. Thanks for taking the time to read, and see you around!