Category Archives: Christianity

Between the Trumpet and the Fast

Posted on September 20, 2026 by nathanalbright

[Note:  This is the prepared text for a sermon given to the brethren in the Dalles, Oregon congregation of the United Church of God on Sabbath, September 19, 2026.] Introduction Brethren, we meet today in one of the most unusual … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, Church of God, History, Musings, Sermonettes | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Duped Suitor: Mr. Rushworth, Marriage-Market Vulnerability, and Austen’s Theory of Courtship in Mansfield Park

Posted on September 19, 2026 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Among the many suitors in Jane Austen’s novels, James Rushworth of Sotherton Court in Mansfield Park (1814) is one of the few whom Austen treats almost entirely as a warning. He is wealthy, well-connected, and eager to marry, … Continue reading →

Posted in Love & Marriage, Musings | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Borrowed Swords: Selective Human Legitimations of Rebellion and the Consistent Biblical Doctrine of Divinely Held Authority

Posted on September 17, 2026 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Modern political traditions that grew out of revolution face a problem they have never solved. Having justified their own founding by a right to overthrow unjust rulers, they must then govern people who can invoke that same right … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Bible, Christianity, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Deficit and the Labor: Asymmetric Categorization of Emotional Restraint in the Research Literature, and the Case for Mutual Burden-Bearing: A White Paper

Posted on September 15, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract Across several distinct research literatures, the same class of behavior — concealing distress, declining to voice needs, absorbing difficulty without transmitting it, and maintaining composure in order to spare another person — is categorized in two incompatible ways depending … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Love & Marriage, Musings | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Absorbing Relation: Invisible Kin Labor in the Closing Chapters of Pride and Prejudice, and What It Discloses About the Allocation of Unrewarded Competence: A White Paper

Posted on September 15, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The final chapter of Pride and Prejudice distributes the novel’s unresolved obligations across its surviving households and records the distribution with unusual precision. Elizabeth Darcy supplies money to Lydia Wickham; Jane Bingley supplies hospitality, proximity, and continuous social management. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Musings | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Day of Teruah

Posted on September 13, 2026 by nathanalbright

[Note: These are the notes for a sermonette given to the combined brethren of several United Church of God congregations in Kaizer, Oregon on the Feast of Trumpets, Sabbath September 12, 2026.] Good afternoon, brethren.  I hope you all had … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, Church of God, History, Musings, Sermonettes | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Appendix B: The Assembly and the Marks: A Theological Appendix on Ecclesiological Application

Posted on September 10, 2026 by nathanalbright

The Bounds of Their Habitation — Appendix to the Whole B.1 Why this appendix exists Paper 1 established that the imperial marks are not size-indexed, and offered 3 John as the smallest complete specimen in the canon: a man in … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Church of God | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Paper 12: Nineveh Repented: Jonah 3, Daniel 4:34–37, and the Availability of the Imperial Repentance Option

Posted on September 10, 2026 by nathanalbright

The Bounds of Their Habitation, Tier 1, Cluster D Abstract The eleven preceding papers describe a structure, its proportions, its speech, its economy, and its end. This paper supplies what the framework requires to be complete and what it would … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Paper 11: The Stone Cut Without Hands: Daniel 2 and 7, the Temporariness of Imperial Order, and the Inversion of Daniel by Translatio Imperii

Posted on September 10, 2026 by nathanalbright

The Bounds of Their Habitation, Tier 1, Cluster D Abstract Paper 10 gave the economic anatomy of empire. This paper gives the account of its end. It reads Daniel 2 and 7 as making three claims: that imperial orders are … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Paper 10: The Merchandise of Souls: Revelation 18:11–13 and the Economic Anatomy of Empire

Posted on September 10, 2026 by nathanalbright

The Bounds of Their Habitation, Tier 1, Cluster D Abstract Clusters A through C treated the imperial configuration, its proportions, and its speech. Cluster D turns to anatomy and end. This paper takes the cargo list of Revelation 18:11–13 as … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Musings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment