A New Source for Occasional Writing on Theology, Spirituality, Whatever
Back in 2009 I was asked (“told”) by my publisher that I should start a blog, which I obediently did. Throughout the aughts, book publishers were obsessed with the idea of their authors expanding their “platforms” to increase interest in both the author and the work.
And so I launched a blog titled “DatingGod.org,” which came from the title of my then-forthcoming book, Dating God: Live and Love in the Way of St. Francis.
The site became reasonably successful. At times I would post short reflections or long essays or an assortment of reviews daily, with thousands of daily views and a robust subscription base. I did this for the better part of a decade, but over time what had originated as an obligation and turned into a source of pleasure and enjoyment became yet again something that felt obligatory and not very life giving.
At the same time, I had published several more books, hundreds of articles, was hired as a columnist by America Magazine (then a weekly Catholic publication) where I served on the masthead for four years, and then I was brought on as a columnist at National Catholic Reporter, a much larger publication where I still write a twice-monthly column.
Over the years my schedule has become understandably busy. As a theology professor at a graduate school of theology and ministry in Chicago, I had a regular course load to teach. As a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, I had ministerial obligations to attend to. As someone committed to general-audience writing and speaking in addition to academic research, publication, lecturing, and conference presentations, I no longer felt I had the time to maintain a personal blog in the manner I did nearly a decade earlier.
And so, about three years ago, “DatingGod.org” was put to rest. It no longer existed as a platform, which was fine with me because there were so many other venues where readers could find my work or, now, listeners could catch my co-hosted podcast.
But I confess that I have at times missed the ability to share thoughts in progress, half-baked essays on whatever I was interested in exploring, or pieces of writing that did not necessarily fit my current more traditional and sometimes more formal publishing outlets.
I am not interested in taking on another publishing obligation or accepting another assignment for episodic work; I have enough of that on my plate.
However, I have launched this Medium page to fill that hole in my writing heart and take advantage of a platform where I can share occasional pieces, works in progress, musings of a theologian and scholar of spirituality.
I don’t really know with confidence what I will post here moving forward or how often, but that is exactly the point and the appeal. I’m just happy to have this in the mix. And I hope that you will enjoy, engage, respond, and share the fruit—ripened or otherwise—of my musings posted here.
Daniel P. Horan, OFM, PhD, is a Franciscan friar, assistant professor of systematic theology and spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, a columnist for National Catholic Reporter, and the author of many books, including Catholicity and Emerging Personhood: A Contemporary Theological Anthropology (2019). Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
