A person is like a boat, as the song goes:

Row, row, row your boat…

I think that’s about my favorite song in the world, and what it says is the whole goal here. That and facing where you’ve been with your back to what’s ahead; row hard or row gently, and try to steer.

My name is Nathan Schneider. I was raised in Arlington, Virginia and now live in Brooklyn, New York, where I work as a freelance writer. The online religion magazine Killing the Buddha keeps me happy and busy as an editor. Same with a blog which I co-founded, Waging Nonviolence. I also help with programs at the Social Science Research Council and contribute to their religion blog, The Immanent Frame. Formal schooling consisted of a master’s degree from U.C. Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s from Brown University, both in religious studies.

The journal I keep on this site is the notes toward an integration still discovering itself—an assembly of thought, education, and experience that is truthful and communicative. My tone and method is precisely speculative: every word is exactly hypothesis. I believe in the importance of free-ranging explanation, while recognizing fearfully that with even the most casual remark we are building ourselves and our world irrevocably.

My hope is to share and to create a space for others’ sharing. I am eager to learn from the reactions and criticisms of readers. Explorations are always best shared, with companions both comforting and challenging.

Write to me at nathan [@] therowboat.com.