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Thoughts

A mountain of facts

Johannes Vermeer's painting The Geographer, showing a scholar pausing over maps and instruments in a sunlit room.

Another room for science method

Vilhelm Hammershoi's White Doors, a quiet interior with open doors leading from one room to another.

August 19 writing question

A quiet writing table with blank pages, draft sheets, pencils, and open space.

Civilian casualty

AI-generated editorial illustration of a quiet storm-darkened city street with one warm lit window and a small sprout by cracked pavement.

Co-opting the flag

An owl butterfly.

Decolonializing science

Maria Sibylla Merian's natural-history illustration of Surinam insects and plants.

Deep and Broad Scholarship

AI-generated mixed-media study where books descend into a mine shaft on one side and spread into a canopy of pages and field notes on the other.

Democracy and the invisible hand

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Eco on fascism sounds to me like Trump

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Every wind of teaching

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting The Blind Leading the Blind, showing a line of blind men stumbling one after another.

Following directions

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Freedom from being pedagogical

AI-generated editorial illustration of a quiet writing desk with an open notebook, a pen, and a loosened lecture outline in soft daylight.

God forms ears

Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting The Annunciation, with Mary seated in a sparse room before a column of golden light.

How much is a shit ton?

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

How shall I teach faith?

AI-generated editorial illustration of a teaching desk with an open notebook, reading glasses, a plant, and a small scientific model.

I have been enjoying Timothy Snyder’s YouTube videos…

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I struggled to read as a child

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Institute of humanity

Raphael's The School of Athens, with philosophers and students gathered in an open architectural space.

Jesus' voice and the stranger's words

AI-generated editorial illustration of an unlabeled open book in a quiet reading room with two contrasting paths of light across the pages.

Jesus, Tactile and Near

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Language and the desire to understand

A horse-drawn carriage on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.

Meaninglessness and Finite Fields

AI-generated night scene of a small desk floating on dark water, with a glowing finite lattice rising from a chalkboard like constellations.

More of God, More of Man

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Neighbor, not competitor

AI-generated editorial illustration of two empty chairs facing a shared table with books, a cup, and a plant in a quiet courtyard.

Not Mine to Carry

AI-generated symbolic shore scene of a person setting down a translucent stone pack near water as dawn light begins to dissolve the weight.

Open questions and inner life

AI-generated editorial illustration of a quiet desk with an open notebook, magnifying glass, scientific model, and worn book.

Psalm 146ish: after Mel’s sermon on 2016 September 25

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Rejected by the Fellowship for Being a Scientist

AI-generated threshold scene of a scientist at a chapel doorway holding a microscope case and prayer book as stained glass becomes cells, galaxies, and light.

Responsible faith

Bruton Parish Church and churchyard in Williamsburg, Virginia, photographed in the 1930s.

Science as a Liberal Art

AI-generated seminar-room cabinet of curiosity with a microscope, compass, prisms, star globe, notebooks, and a dynamical-system model arranged on a round table.

Science, method, third room

Joseph Wright of Derby's painting A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery, with listeners gathered around an illuminated model of the solar system.

Scientism is bad religion

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Specifically Christian function

AI-generated editorial illustration of a professor's desk with a small glowing lamp, a blank notebook, and a scientific model in balanced still life.

Technical Prowess and Impotence

AI-generated surreal collage of technical students building a glowing machine behind the scenes while a distant civic hall towers beyond a translucent scrim.

The Distance to Jesus' Humanity

AI-generated contemplative image of distant golden light resolving into a carpenter's workbench, rough wood shavings, a basin, sandals, and a human hand.

The ability to see goodness

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The blessing of T’Pau (a dream)

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The child belongs

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The voices to be discerned

AI-generated editorial illustration of an open journal on a lit table with abstract light paths converging from several shadowed doorways.

Theoretical Biology Needs to Be More Theoretical

AI-generated conceptual science image in which cell membranes, networks, and microscopy colors rise into a precise architectural structure of theory.

Thoughtfulness shared through writing

AI-generated editorial illustration of an open journal, a pen, and two cups across a quiet writing desk in morning light.

Three enemies

A dim study doorway with three shadowed abstract obstacles and a warm opening of light.

Truth, not commentary

AI-generated editorial illustration selected for this thought.

Two mountains

A turtle shell.

What do I think I know?

AI-generated editorial illustration of a blank notebook, pencil, compass, index cards, and abstract non-readable diagrams on a desk.

What is writing to be?

Johannes Vermeer's painting A Lady Writing, showing a woman pausing with pen in hand at a writing desk.

What to write and the question of voice

Johannes Vermeer's painting A Lady Writing, showing a woman pausing with pen in hand at a writing desk.

Writing and open questions

A scientist using a microscope to examine a slide.

Writing and the research process

The Flammarion woodcut, showing a traveler kneeling at the edge of the world and looking beyond the sky.

© 2026 Greg Conrad Smith. Room for God & Others. All rights reserved.