Introducing *Some Assembly Required
A weekly newsletter on Protests, People, and Pluralism
I am starting a free newsletter covering topics in my teaching, speaking, and writing. Many of these topics flow out of my interest in the right of assembly and related ideas.
Why Assembly?
The First Amendment protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This right has implications for protests, groups, associations, identity, pluralism, speech, and religion. I have written about these topics in a number of different academic articles and shorter pieces. And I wrote about assembly in my first book, Liberty’s Refuge.
Assembly raises questions of what groups and institutions are, what they stand for, and how they express themselves, and the resulting differences that emerge in a world where not everyone shares the same beliefs. These are some of the ideas that inform my books, Confident Pluralism and Uncommon Ground.
Assembly also links to the embodied community of Christian faith: the ecclesia (assembly) of the New Testament and the theological insights that follow from it. This connection is important to some of my scholarly work at the intersection of law and theology. It is also important to my personal life, as I seek to live as part of a Christian community and engage authentically and respectfully with people of other faiths and of no faith. One of the ways I do this is as a senior fellow with Interfaith America, an organization that seeks to bridge America’s religious diversity without sacrificing religious particularity and the unavoidable tensions that come from conflicting particularity.
What will this newsletter be?
Each week, I hope to share three things:
In the News — Current issues and occasionally breaking news
In my Head — Larger issues and ideas beyond the news
In the World — Content that someone else has put into the world
I’ll have some special edition newsletters, too. They might be interviews, essays, or longer reflections.
My goal is to share something on Fridays, with occasional posts in between.