Nick Olson

I know, I know…I’ve been MIA these past 5 years. But for good reason! I was hard at work writing the biography of Larry David. And finally, now, I can return to the land of the living: the book is done and comes out in October! people.com/larry-david-bi…

Just finished Ken Burns' 6-hour doc "The US and the Holocaust." Can't think of another doc that reduced me to tears like that. A painful reminder of what humans are capable of when we decide other groups of people are less than human. I'm shook.

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If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern. ~William Blake

A chance find in a London archive has allowed a researcher to pinpoint the exact location of William Shakespeare’s London home for the first time. cnn.it/4dPyGkL

The reason rumors of sexual misconduct by political leaders remain rumors rather than substantiated fact is because their victims don’t come forward. Their victims don’t come forward because too often such accusations are not taken seriously enough to be seriously investigated.

“It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who ever had been alive.” — James Baldwin

“Deception on a worldwide scale never possible before might spur our meditation on the meaning of the legend of the Antichrist …The dominance of appearance over substance may not have been invented in the electronic era, but…deceit has reached a new level of sophistication.”

If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick. William James

I was enough of a nerd to know at least vaguely who he was even then, but when he became a senator I remembered seeing him that night, and how he kind of was quiet, stood back, didn't draw attention to himself. I disagree with him about many things but his faith has always seemed genuine and sincere, and I found this interview moving. He's in my prayers

“Timaeus in Paradise: Metaphors and Beauty from Plato to Dante and Beyond” Piero Boitani press.princeton.edu/books/hardcove…

“Never will God reject a soul that sincerely loves him: be his speculative opinions what they may: and whether in any given instance certain opinions, be they unbelief, or misbelief, are compatible with a sincere love of God, God can only know.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria

“Hell is often supposed to be an after-death state created by God in which people are eternally tortured for finite offences. But this doctrine is merely one more example of the depravity of the human mind that thought it up. Man alone is responsible for hell, and much as he would like to pursue his cruelties beyond the grave, he is blocked from doing so. God’s interest in this hell is confined to ‘harrowing’ or redeeming those who are in it. At the same time there are honesty, love, neighbourliness, generosity, and the creative powers in the arts and sciences. Human life appears to be a mingling of two ultimate realities, which we call heaven and hell. Hell is the world created by man, and heaven, or at least the way to it, is the world created through man by God.” —Northrop Frye, The Double Vision

Melina Matsoukas to Direct 'Parable of the Sower' for Warner Bros. (EXCLUSIVE) variety.com/2026/film/news…

Yeats seems to have calculated that 1927 marked a turn of the “Great Year” that had begun with the birth of Christ. Thus: “what rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born” (1919).

What is the field of Jewish–Christian relations—and why does it matter more than many people realize? In this episode, I sit down with Rev. Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, director of the Boston College Center for Christian-Jewish Learning for a conversation that takes you inside a world many people don’t even know exists. Drawing from a recent conference at Boston College titled “Mapping the Field of Jewish–Christian Relations”, we explore the growing body of scholarship, collaboration, and conversation dedicated to helping Jews and Christians better understand each other—biblically, historically, and relationally. 🎧👉 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… 📺👉 youtu.be/e31y9FfdLYM?si…

Magical moment at the ballpark 🌈

Today is my debate with Giovanni Bazzana, New Testament Professor at Harvard, about my book *Josephus and Jesus*. Located at Harvard's Center for Jewish Studies and open to Harvard Affiliates , 6-8 PM, moderated by Annette Yoshiko Reed @AnnetteYReed cjs.fas.harvard.edu/2026/03/30/jos…

Go see it. It's AMAZE. AMAZE. AMAZE.

Steven Spielberg "cannot wait" to see Dune: Part Three and is a huge fan of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the series. "They are among my favourite science-fiction movies," the director tells Empire. "not just recently, but of all time." Read more: empireonline.com/movies/news/st…