Dawson Vosburg
@dawsonvosburg.bsky.social
sacramental evangelical | class struggle social democrat | sociology PhD candidate studying capitalism, race, and Christianity at Ohio State University
dawsonvosburg.com
dawsonvosburg.com
Biased because my wife is on the translation committee but imo the NLT is really excellent for church and devotion, and does the Old Testament especially well. I don’t love its rendering of the epistles at the moment but that’s being worked on!
December 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Biased because my wife is on the translation committee but imo the NLT is really excellent for church and devotion, and does the Old Testament especially well. I don’t love its rendering of the epistles at the moment but that’s being worked on!
I generally don’t think for in-church or devotional reading the translation philosophy of the RSV-descended translations is well suited. They are bone dry and wooden, which isn’t a downside for scholarly purposes, but isn’t amazing in contexts where immediate understandability is higher priority.
December 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I generally don’t think for in-church or devotional reading the translation philosophy of the RSV-descended translations is well suited. They are bone dry and wooden, which isn’t a downside for scholarly purposes, but isn’t amazing in contexts where immediate understandability is higher priority.
I'm working toward finishing the project so not at the moment. Thanks!
December 2, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I'm working toward finishing the project so not at the moment. Thanks!
It's a book I'd love to write but that I haven't had the time to give to since I'm currently working on my dissertation!
December 2, 2025 at 3:20 PM
It's a book I'd love to write but that I haven't had the time to give to since I'm currently working on my dissertation!
I really hate to say this so often but I don't think there's an easy thing to point to for evangelicals. This is the basic explanation of the welfare state perspective, but it doesn't address theology or particular evangelical objections. www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2018/09/18/t...
The Best Way to Eradicate Poverty: Welfare Not Jobs
Poverty mainly afflicts nonworkers and the welfare state is the solution.
www.peoplespolicyproject.org
December 2, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I really hate to say this so often but I don't think there's an easy thing to point to for evangelicals. This is the basic explanation of the welfare state perspective, but it doesn't address theology or particular evangelical objections. www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2018/09/18/t...
I would say their focus is on encouraging work, and they see the barriers to that as being a complex web of personal and social issues you have to tackle case by case—via “hanging out with poor people.” So in that sense it’s very focused on the sort of things churches are able to do.
December 2, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I would say their focus is on encouraging work, and they see the barriers to that as being a complex web of personal and social issues you have to tackle case by case—via “hanging out with poor people.” So in that sense it’s very focused on the sort of things churches are able to do.
it’s because in reading their work and looking at what they do in the world I don’t think they’re christofascists, and I do think they sincerely mean to reduce poverty and want to do so from a Christian motivation and as political conservatives
December 2, 2025 at 1:16 AM
it’s because in reading their work and looking at what they do in the world I don’t think they’re christofascists, and I do think they sincerely mean to reduce poverty and want to do so from a Christian motivation and as political conservatives
but I think that’s exactly the tragedy: it sells conservative political answers to those who would be open to more accurate explanations. it neutralizes the possibility for evangelicals who are about poverty to advocate for the politics that could solve it.
December 1, 2025 at 11:53 PM
but I think that’s exactly the tragedy: it sells conservative political answers to those who would be open to more accurate explanations. it neutralizes the possibility for evangelicals who are about poverty to advocate for the politics that could solve it.
it’s perhaps the ur-text of compassionate conservatism because it also attracts people whose instinct is to care about poverty and who worry that “short term missions” is just a weird kind of poverty tourism.
December 1, 2025 at 11:53 PM
it’s perhaps the ur-text of compassionate conservatism because it also attracts people whose instinct is to care about poverty and who worry that “short term missions” is just a weird kind of poverty tourism.
I think the reason this book is so compelling to evangelicals is because it’s flattering to them. it tells them actually, worldview and personal relationships are the Most Important things, and that conservatives happen to be right about welfare being bad and work being the solution.
December 1, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I think the reason this book is so compelling to evangelicals is because it’s flattering to them. it tells them actually, worldview and personal relationships are the Most Important things, and that conservatives happen to be right about welfare being bad and work being the solution.
in countries where the distribution of income—not production—is the problem, the solution simply is the universalist welfare state giving unconditional income to children, the elderly, the disabled, and other people not working like the unemployed. the theoretical and empirical case is bulletproof.
December 1, 2025 at 11:47 PM
in countries where the distribution of income—not production—is the problem, the solution simply is the universalist welfare state giving unconditional income to children, the elderly, the disabled, and other people not working like the unemployed. the theoretical and empirical case is bulletproof.
finally, they really bury this under “dignity” language and concern for not hurting people with handouts, but the authors think that the labor income of the poor is always the material solution to material poverty. insofar as this is correct it means all countries are doomed to 25% poverty!
December 1, 2025 at 11:45 PM
finally, they really bury this under “dignity” language and concern for not hurting people with handouts, but the authors think that the labor income of the poor is always the material solution to material poverty. insofar as this is correct it means all countries are doomed to 25% poverty!
I don’t agree with this, I think they actually believe what they’re saying and they’re just wrong
December 1, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I don’t agree with this, I think they actually believe what they’re saying and they’re just wrong
the second conflation of welfare generally with punishing benefit cliffs. there have been welfare programs that do this obviously—but that’s the result of the conservative attempt to target those who “deserve” benefits rather than building a universalistic social democratic welfare state.
December 1, 2025 at 11:39 PM
the second conflation of welfare generally with punishing benefit cliffs. there have been welfare programs that do this obviously—but that’s the result of the conservative attempt to target those who “deserve” benefits rather than building a universalistic social democratic welfare state.
for the “handouts don’t work” bit, they just do tons of conflations. the big one is between poverty in high vs. low production economies. there are places where production is too low and thus many are poor, and there are places where the production is very high but extremely unevenly distributed
December 1, 2025 at 11:33 PM
for the “handouts don’t work” bit, they just do tons of conflations. the big one is between poverty in high vs. low production economies. there are places where production is too low and thus many are poor, and there are places where the production is very high but extremely unevenly distributed
but they do a pretty bad job giving an account of poverty causation. they just assert “well it’s a complex mix of structural/individual causes you have to work out case by case.” but in their examples, poor people are already poor when their individual “poverty causing” beliefs and behaviors occur!
December 1, 2025 at 11:22 PM
but they do a pretty bad job giving an account of poverty causation. they just assert “well it’s a complex mix of structural/individual causes you have to work out case by case.” but in their examples, poor people are already poor when their individual “poverty causing” beliefs and behaviors occur!
even if it’s caused by and results in broken relationships somehow construed, it’s not helpful to say the poverty itself isn’t material. it’s a way to dismiss giving people material resources as a solution. the motte is that broken relationships cause poverty; the bailey is that they ARE poverty.
December 1, 2025 at 11:18 PM
even if it’s caused by and results in broken relationships somehow construed, it’s not helpful to say the poverty itself isn’t material. it’s a way to dismiss giving people material resources as a solution. the motte is that broken relationships cause poverty; the bailey is that they ARE poverty.
all three of those claims are a mess. they argue that in fact poverty is not primarily material in cause or in substance; it’s about broken relationships, and we only think it’s material because of western materialism. but poverty simply *is* material lack, and they give no reason to think otherwise
December 1, 2025 at 11:18 PM
all three of those claims are a mess. they argue that in fact poverty is not primarily material in cause or in substance; it’s about broken relationships, and we only think it’s material because of western materialism. but poverty simply *is* material lack, and they give no reason to think otherwise
and frankly, it’s extremely easy. the only time I’ve ever “messed up” ice cream is when the freezer bowl wasn’t frozen properly so we just bought some ice cream and used the base we’d made as the milk in some unbelievably rich milkshakes.
November 25, 2025 at 9:34 PM
and frankly, it’s extremely easy. the only time I’ve ever “messed up” ice cream is when the freezer bowl wasn’t frozen properly so we just bought some ice cream and used the base we’d made as the milk in some unbelievably rich milkshakes.
should your poverty line get lower if your society starts providing free daycare in the same way it provides free k-12? I don’t think it should, personally.
it’s also true that it’s bad for a country to be car dependent. I also don’t think that should be a huge driver of your poverty measure!
it’s also true that it’s bad for a country to be car dependent. I also don’t think that should be a huge driver of your poverty measure!
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
should your poverty line get lower if your society starts providing free daycare in the same way it provides free k-12? I don’t think it should, personally.
it’s also true that it’s bad for a country to be car dependent. I also don’t think that should be a huge driver of your poverty measure!
it’s also true that it’s bad for a country to be car dependent. I also don’t think that should be a huge driver of your poverty measure!
mainly because—you only have to pay for childcare for like, 5 years per kid, max! so should we have different poverty lines on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for families with only school age children vs. ones with children 0-5?
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
mainly because—you only have to pay for childcare for like, 5 years per kid, max! so should we have different poverty lines on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for families with only school age children vs. ones with children 0-5?