Every article on this site is the product of a specific workflow. I want to name it plainly.
What I do
The questions are mine. The angle, the framing, the intended reader, the theological direction. I decide what gets written and why. I pick the primary sources I want represented. I read every draft and revise it until it sounds true. Every factual claim is checked against its primary source before publication. Nothing goes out that I do not own.
What the AI does
An AI research assistant (currently Claude, by Anthropic) does two things. First, it searches the primary-source corpora I have assembled: Westminster Standards, Reformed theologians from Calvin through contemporary PCA writers, podcast transcripts, and statistical sources like the World Bank, UNICEF, and the Gordon-Conwell Center for the Study of Global Christianity. It synthesizes the relevant material into a research dossier. Second, it drafts prose from that dossier in a voice we have worked out together over many edits. The drafts come back to me for revision.
What Erin does
Erin Illian is the editor for many articles. She reads with fresh eyes after I have revised, catching what I miss.
Fact-checking
Every statistic, quotation, and historical claim is checked against its primary source. We run a dedicated fact-check pass before publishing, and a second lint pass that flags AI writing patterns and stylistic tells.
Why I work this way
I believe the ideas on this site matter, and I want them in front of readers who would not encounter them otherwise. I also have a full-time job and a family. The research alone takes days I do not have: primary sources to pull, cross-references to chase, claims to verify. AI compresses that work to hours, which means the writing actually happens. The alternative is not a slower version of this project. It is silence.
Why I am telling you
Most public writing is produced collaboratively. Newspaper bylines run over wire copy. Pastors' books are ghostwritten. Institutional reports name the institution rather than the staff who drafted. This is not new. What is new is the introduction of AI into the collaboration, and I think readers deserve to know that. The byline names the person accountable for the message. I am that person. One member of the team is not human, and I would rather you hear that from me than wonder later.
A theological note
The Apostle Paul dictated his letters to scribes. Tertius signs off on Romans (16:22). The letter is still Paul's. Tools have always been part of the work of articulating what God is doing in the world. The question is whether the message belongs to the one signing the byline. It does.