About Me
NEW COLLEGE, its grey stones haunted by the ghosts of Presbyterians past, is the current base of operations for myself, W. Bradford Littlejohn, one of those dime-a-dozen theologians-in-training under whose weight the earth groans on its axis, and under whose collective blogdom many a server groans. To add my unceasing torrent of words to the immense supply of theological bricolage streaming from keyboards the world over would seem to require an exceptional justification.
Unfortunately, I can't really say I have one. Writing is a compulsion for me, and though some might say that it's best to keep such a compulsions to oneself, there's also something to be said for opening it up for public scrutiny so it can be critiqued, questioned, and turned to constructive ends. And so I hope, now that you have stumbled upon this page, that you will join me in this quest of faith seeking understanding, and hang around to ask questions, start some discussion, or just lob a couple rhetorical grenades and then duck and run. For more about what I envision as the purpose of this site, see "What is the S&P?" But here I will offer a few more details about myself.
As just mentioned, I study at New College, part of the University of Edinburgh, where I learn at the feet of the venerable Oliver O'Donovan (metaphorically) and under the stern gaze of John Knox (quite literally--there's a big statue of him in the courtyard). Having completed an M.Th. in Theological Ethics here, I am now working on a Ph.D in the same, with a particular focus on the relation of law, liberty, and Biblical authority in English Reformation political theology. As I am interested in just about everything, however, and a chronic overcommitter, I tend to find myself engaged in a host of other pursuits, intellectual and practical, as you will no doubt discover soon if you spend much time here. A sampling: professional investment advising, amateur magazine publishing, practical ministry to the persecuted Church, and writing about anything from the wonder of hurricanes to the meaning of exousia in Romans 13 to the perils of modern banking practices.
I am supported in all these pursuits by my darling and indefatigable wife Rachel and my irrepressibly curious toddler son Soren (yes, named after the Soren). I hail from the Reformed Presbyterian tradition, and my wife from the Anglican tradition, and my goal for our family and my vocation is to combine the best of those two traditions, with a large dose of catholicity (in every sense of the word--the catholic tradition of Christian teaching and practice, the many valuable lessons that the post-Vatican II Catholic Church has to teach us recalcitrant protestants, and a robust ecumenism). If that helps give you some clue as to my location on the theological landscape, I'm afraid I can't help you out so much in triangulating me on the political landscape--anarchist? socialist? conservative? localist? If you figure out the answer by reading this blog, be sure to let me know. ;-)