About A.J.

Rev. A. J. Swoboda (Ph.D., Birmingham) is the associate professor of Bible and Theology at Bushnell University. He served as a college pastor on the University of Oregon campus for nearly ten years. For another decade, he planted and pastored an urban church in Portland, Oregon, called Theophilus, which continues to worship today. He leads a Doctor of Ministry program around Spiritual Formation and Soul Care at Friends University. He has taught at the London School of Theology, LIFE Pacific, Southeastern University, and Multnomah University. He is the author of over ten books, including Redeeming How We Talk (Moody), After Doubt (Brazos), and the award-winning Subversive Sabbath (Brazos). He hosts the Slow Theology podcast (w. Dr. Nijay Gupta) and writes the widely read Low-Level Theologian Substack. A.J. lives and works on an urban farm with his wife and son in Eugene, Oregon.

My life has become a writing life.

Increasingly, my life has become a writing life. While I never would have believed it would have been so, writing has become the lifeblood of my thought. As one famous writer said, “I don’t know what I think until I write it.” I write because it gives flesh to thought.

“Theology that is not in service of the church is our highest form of idolatry.”

–Karl Barth

Currently Exploring

Theology

Spiritual formation

Creation & creation care

The place of doubt and deconstruction in the life of faith

Sabbath & rest

The church’s engagement with culture

Desire