James Bejon 🇮🇱

An attorney writes to me about the mostly AI-written law review article he had accepted this spring, now forthcoming in the flagship law review of a Top 50 law school. A draft of the article is now up on SSRN. According to the attorney: " Last month I used Claude to assist in drafting a new article . . . . I drafted this article in about 15 hours. In 2022 I published an article of similar length that took around 150 hours." The attorney adds: "I used Claude the way I’d use a junior associate—as a first drafter, sounding board, and research assistant. Most of the article, including the entirety of the title, abstract, and intro, is mine from the keyboard up. And anything Claude contributed that made it to the final version is there because I reviewed it, agreed with it, and chose to sign my name to it. This is no different than how I’d review an associate’s draft and then take responsibility for the finished product." The attorney adds: "That first draft was by no means file ready, but it was better than what I would’ve received from the vast majority of BigLaw associates. I was blown away, and have since started my own appellate and litigation practice in an effort to replicate these productivity gains for client work." Your thoughts? I know the attorney's name, and the journal, and I have checked out the article, but I figured that, at least for now, I would hold that back.

Many of you might not be aware of the fact that my biblical reflections are available in an easily searchable and attractive format on my website. Click on any chapter and you can access my material on it. Link below.

It’s hard to locate Theopolis on a map of contemporary Christianity. We’re unabashed Protestants, but Protestants with profound appreciation for the pre-Protestant Christianity of the patristic and medieval age. We’re Protestants who think that Protestantism needs to be ready to die for the church. We’re Reformed, but critically so. We complain that Reformed churches have neglected liturgy, thinned out the Scriptures, idolized intellect, and flirted with Gnosticism. Some Reformed folks regard us as marginal, edgy if not wholly outside. We’re sort of Lutheran, but we have Reformed convictions about predestination and the real presence. We resemble Anglicans, but we’re too regulative-principled to feel entirely at home with the Anglican ethos. We’re liturgical, but not “high church.” We’re serious about theology, but think all theology should be pastoral. We’re devoted to the Bible, but find much biblical scholarship stultifying. We’re too theocratic for the Religious Right. We’re catholic, but too catholic to be Roman Catholic. We love Alexander Schmemann, but believe that icon veneration violates the Second Word. We admire the zeal of Baptists and charismatics, but we baptize babies and don’t speak in tongues. We’re “old” catholics – catholics as they were before the ascendancy of the papacy and the emergence of transubstantiation and Marian devotion. We’d be most at home in a future church that doesn’t yet exist. We’re gratefully appreciative of everyone. But we’re also gently or severely critical of nearly everyone and don’t make a neat match with anyone. Maybe this represents undisciplined eclecticism. I like to think it’s generous, catholic orthodoxy. Whatever it is, it creates practical problems for Theopolis. It’s hard to develop an “elevator pitch.” We have no natural constituency. To put it crassly, we’re not producing goods for an existing market. We’ve got to create the market. I’m convinced the practical challenges are worth it. I can’t say this without sounding pretentious, but I’ll risk it: Theopolis serves the church of the present by serving the church of the future. We want the church to become biblical, liturgical, unified, culturally-transformative. We work in hope of a Theopolitan future. We’re grateful you’re willing to throw yourselves into this future with us. It’s a thrilling ride, and we’re glad to have company. And, beyond the thrill, we live in profound certainty that the future belongs to Jesus, Lord of God’s city. - Peter Leithart