Germany, 1636: Moving Through It

Germany, 1636: Moving Through It

The Rhineland, 1636The Thirty Years War had been running for eighteen years by the time I was moving through the Rhineland in the winter of 1636. A third of the German population was dead or had fled or was in the process of dying. I have seen other wars. This one had...
Why Holy War Cannot Be Metaphor

Why Holy War Cannot Be Metaphor

Present Day, July 4, 2026Some listeners will hear Holy War and experience it as a historical document, a meditation on something that happened in other centuries to other people. I understand why. History provides distance. Distance provides comfort.I am writing this...
The Day Both Songs Arrived

The Day Both Songs Arrived

Present Day, July 2, 2026I Am Crying and Holy War are in the world now. Two testimonies that belong together, that I kept together when the release schedule shifted rather than separate them, because they are the two sides of the same fact: what the thing witnessed...
The General’s Words and the Five Centuries Behind Them

The General’s Words and the Five Centuries Behind Them

Present Day, June 26, 2026A United States military commander recently described the current conflict in the Persian Gulf as a holy war intended to bring about the second coming of Christ. He said this to the people he commands: the people who will carry out the...
Two Songs, One Day: July 1

Two Songs, One Day: July 1

Present Day, June 20, 2026I Am Crying and Holy War arrive together on July 1. I want to explain why these two, and why together.They are the two poles of what witness costs. Holy War is the external: what I have watched across five centuries of religiously sanctioned...