Greetings, and welcome to my passion, JUCUTHIN. My name is Luke Schumann, and I started this blog on November 14, 2015 as a way to document my life, but also as a way to reflect upon all the ways my life is a small part of a much bigger story. Even a few years later, it still I feel like it is only just getting started. I’m glad to have you here with me, but I’d also like you to know a few things about this blog before moving forward.
What is JUCUTHIN?
JUCUTHIN is a semi-abbreviation of the four main topics this blog focuses on: Justice, Culture, Theology, and all the ways those three things Intersect.
For whatever reason, when I first created this blog, this name was the only one that seemed to capture the all-encompassing deep dive I hope to take with these topics, and so I just decided to stick with it. I know that it is not the most ideal of blog names, but it has come to grow on me, nevertheless. It catches the eye and piques the curiosity (it brought you here, didn’t it?).
And plus, Sojourners was already taken.
About the Logo
Juxtaposed with the unique name is a logo that may also require some explanation. The orange symbol that is found midway through the name ends up working in several ways.
- It serves as the face of the blog. A name like JUCUTHIN can be hard to remember and awkward to try to pronounce. (I always say, “It’s meant be read, not to be said.”) But when you have a symbol, you have something to remember–something that says, “Ah, yes! This is Luke’s weirdly-named blog!”
- It’s simpler than you may realize. Of all the different logos that my designer, Rachel, and I went over, the one that ended up winning out above the rest was, believe it or not, a Venn diagram. The three circles, of course, represent Justice, Culture, and Theology, and to make the logo work inside the title, we decided to keep the parts that Intersected with each other.
- It alludes to Christian art and symbolism. This was an unintended bonus, but one of the things that made me fall in love with the symbol was the fact that shares a lot of aesthetic similarities with the triquetra, which became a popular Celtic symbol for the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) most notably in the 19th century. While it is not an exclusively Christian symbol, and may even pre-date Christianity, it still goes well with a major theme I try to capture in this blog: that the Kingdom of God is historic, it is rooted deeply and holistically into different cultures, and we are all only a part of it. Though this blog is very much my own, I hope to not get disconnected with the centuries of history–both good and bad–that have helped make Christianity and my faith what they are today. Also (please don’t read too much into this), it occurred to me that the Trinity in some ways reflects the themes of this blog. Jesus the Son is very much a symbol for justice when examining his life and teachings, the Holy Spirit makes way into our hearts and leads us to God even through cultural boundaries, and theology is, well, the study of God.
- It kind of looks like a “T”. Of course, this was another good reason to have this be the logo.
What I Hope to Accomplish with this Blog
As time goes on, I hope that this blog can serve as a sort of personal archive for myself in the future to document my progression as a Christian, writer, and human being.
But more than that, I hope that this blog can be used as a resource for others, whether it’s a fellow writer in need of a platform, a wayfarer searching for stories of hope in an unjust world, or a mourner searching for a way to express their pain to a God they’re worried isn’t listening.
What I Hope You Gain from this Blog
I have always approached this blog as someone who’s still growing, still clueless, and (hopefully) still humble, and I want all who enter here to feel okay with having that same mindset. Inside are stories of some of my own struggles and frustrations with myself, with other Christians, and even, dare I say, with God. But like the psalms, I hope to display my frustrations in a healthy and prayerful way. Like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, I hope to use this blog as my tallit, as my prayer shawl, as my way to connect everything in my life to God. And I hope this encourages you to do the same.
JUCUTHIN 