About Life Under the Word

A theology blog by Keanu Heydari on Barth, apocalyptic Paul, and Reformed witness in public

About Life Under the Word
Keanu Heydari at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, January 11, 2026.

Life Under the Word is my theology blog. I'm a historian, a deacon in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) preparing for ordination, and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan studying Iranian student activism in postwar France. My main website is here.

I write on Karl Barth and apocalyptic readings of Paul, attentive to the Reformed confessional tradition. The questions my historical work raises about exile, belonging, and human dignity also shape how I read scripture and the theologians who taught me to read it: Barth, J. Louis Martyn, Beverly Gaventa, and Douglas Campbell.

You'll find essays, sermons, and working notes here. Most writing is free; paid subscriptions sustain the work. Start with my essays, sermons, devotionals, liturgies, and translations.