Category Archives: Christianity

Bible study, Christianity, Church History Novels, Documenting America, research, The Teachings, Writing

Rested and Ready

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Well, this weekend was certainly different than last.

I don’t know that I ever formally announced this book on the blog. Maybe I’ll do that on Friday.

I have a list of blog posts I intend to write on. The problem is, each on the list takes a fair amount of forethought. I can’t just open the post box and write about rugged individualism, for example, without some research.

So, that list of posts is going to have to wait. I’ll just write about the weekend, as I did last Monday. Friday afternoon, as we were waiting for company to arrive, I received a message to say my order from Amazon had arrived. Great, I thought. That’s my copies of Documenting America: Making The Constitution. Went to the front door—to find nothing. Checked the notice again and saw that they went to my old office in Bentonville. E-mailed the receptionist there, and sure enough that’s were the package was. Even though company was en-route, Lynda and I hopped in the car to go fetch it. Took an hour in craft fair weekend traffic.

We had a good time visiting with our company, one of Lynda’s cousins. Talked all evening then again Saturday morning, and they were off to their next stop. Just as they left a light rain began falling. It continued for an hour or so, making everything outside wet, too wet to do the outside work I had planned for the day.

Confined to inside activities, I did paperwork tasks for a while, such as updating the checkbook and budget, as well as organizing the miscellaneous receipts and filing them. Food for meals was already prepared and waiting (meaning leftovers), so there was nothing else to do but read and write. Well, I suppose I could have cleaned, but that will be a next week task. The carpet in our main living area is desperately in need of shampooing. A day of vacuuming and dusting prep work, then maybe tomorrow I’ll begin shampooing. Well, if we have all the supplies, that is, which I believe we do.

It’s selling well in person. ‘Twould be nice to have some on-line sales as well.

Sunday I taught Life Group, Chapter 1 of Acts Of Faith. I sold the last three copies of it but have more on order, hopefully to arrive on Wednesday. Sold 26 of them from my order, but still no sales on-line. Alas. I napped some Sunday afternoon, continuing to read in Mere Christianity, and in the evening in my research into the Didache. The day concluded with another storm line and, after going to bed, a phone call from the county alert system saying we were in a tornado watch area. That soon passed, and I went back to bed and slept well.

Oh, yes, walked 2 1/4 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Sunday. My weight is down a little, and my blood sugars have been nicely under control.

Today will be a writing day, as storms overnight will make it too wet to work outside. Tonight we eat with my cousin who moved to Bella Vista, and get to know him and his wife some. Hopefully I’ll be one or two chapters further in the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith.

Christianity, miscellaneous

Congrats Mal McCawley

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Mal and Penny, with the two pastors (and their wives) he’s most recently served under.

Yesterday was a special day at church, as our long-time minister of worship, Mal McCawley, retired from full-time ministry. Mal’s been at our church eighteen years—this time. He was here in the late 1980s, then came back in 2001, making for over twenty years in all. Including other churches he served at it’s over 30 years of ministry.

To say Mal was our minister of worship is an understatement. He’s fulfilled many roles as an associate pastor. He did whatever needed doing, in a proactive way, but also understanding that he served at the pleasure of the lead pastor. In tributes made yesterday, he was described as demonstrating perfectly “how to lead from the second chair.” Look around, see what needs doing, and do it. Do your assigned tasks, but realize the One who you really serve may have more for you to do.

Mal, God bless you as you move into this next phase of your life. I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I’m enjoying mine.

Bible study, book reviews, Christianity

Book Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Opponent of the Nazi Regime

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Since Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the great cloud of witnesses I included in Acts Of Faith, and since I didn’t read a full biography of him in preparation for writing that half-chapter but rather relied on snippets of information gleaned from a couple of places, I decided I should read a biography of Bonhoeffer. I figured, if what I had already written was somehow off the mark or lacked vital information, I could add it and re-publish the book. So I looked in my library and, sure enough, found a suitable book.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Opponent of the Nazi Regime was written by Michael Van Dyke, published in 2001. It is part of Balfour Publishing’s Heroes of the Faith series, comprised of [then] 44 volumes. A short biography at 205 pages. In fact, it really isn’t biography per se. Rather, it is more creative non-fiction, for it contains much dialog between Bonhoeffer and others, dialog that could not possibly have been preserved to be able to reproduce in a book such as this.

That didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. It was simple, meant to be understood by almost anyone. It didn’t go much into his early years. Starting at World War 1, the book describes an aristocratic lifestyle for the Bonhoeffer family. In the opening chapter, Walter, the oldest of the Bonhoeffer siblings, was killed fighting in France. This set the tone for the book.

The Bonhoeffer home was strict, Christian, and loving. Dietrich was studious from the beginning. He went to university and excelled there. Always a Christian based on his childhood memories, he still found a need to have an encounter with God, and for God to become personal for him. As the book says:

The one thing missing from Dietrich’s life during these pears of intense theological and philosophical study, though, was a warm heart of true faith. He was learning everything that had ever been said about God, and yet he never spoke to God himself. He never prayed or read the Bible in order to hear what God was saying to him personally. Growing up in a highly intellectual atmosphere, he had absorbed the assumption that expressions of religious fervor were something of the ignorant masses did. It was the province of those who lived according to their hearts, not according to their minds.

Bonhoeffer eventually found that experience with God. It was, perhaps, less emotional than some people experience. He came to believe that:

Christianity was the daily experience of God, both individually and corporately, to the furtherance of God’s glory alone.

Most of the book deals with Bonhoeffer’s relationship to the Nazis after they came to power. He tried to get the church to see that Hitler and his accomplices were evil and that the church should oppose them. He lamented that instead the church either embraced Hitler or acquiesced to the Nazis’ impositions on the church. He spent much time in theological studies and reflections trying to figure out what the correct response of the church and Christians should be to someone like Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a believer in non-violent resistance in the mode of Gandhi. How would that work against the Nazis?

Then World War 2 came. Bonhoeffer was of age where he could be called into the service. His brother-in-law was a member of an organization, the Abwer, that allegedly conducted counterintelligence but essentially was working to overthrow the government, either by a putsch or by assassination. Bonhoeffer joined. The violent intentions of the organization troubled him, but he went ahead with it. This is what eventually caused him to be sent to prison and, ultimately, executed.

The part of the book dealing with Bonhoeffer’s time in prison was very good. Interrogations, dealings with other prisoners, prison letters, relocation to different prisons. It’s all there.

At some point I will want to read a more comprehensive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but for now this will do. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this in my library or not. My wife may want to read it, so I suppose I will keep it for now.

 

Christianity

So Will I

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A hundred billion galaxies are born…if creation sings Your praises so will I.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of modern church music. What do I define as modern? Certainly the current decade, and the decade before it. How far back it goes I don’t know.

I’m not stuck in the 1970s music era, however. I find Christian songs I like in all decades. It’s just that they are harder to come by nowadays. I don’t make claims that I hear others making. “Modern songs don’t include doctrine.” “Modern songs are too repetitive.” “Modern choruses focus too much on us and not on God in the person of Jesus Christ.”

All of those, to me, aren’t good arguments. If you don’t like a style of music you don’t like it. You don’t have to defend your position or come up with a theology of songs. There’s no arguing about tastes. I don’t like rap, most 1990s popular music, and most disco. No one can argue about that. You like what you like.

Still, patterns seem to emerge as music styles change over the years. Modern choruses do seem to have a lot of repetition. I disagree that they are us-centered rather than God-centered. It’s mostly a matter of music style with me. I’m not a fan of current music styles, including current church music.

So when I find a current song I really like, it’s an event. That’s the case with “So Will I“, a song by Hillsong United. This is inspired by Jesus’ words in , during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Pharisees object to all the adulation He is receiving and tell him to rebuke his disciples. Instead He says, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” [Luke 19:40 NIV]  Meaning, He will receive worship. If mankind doesn’t do it, Creation will.

I won’t quote the lyrics from the song, as they are certainly copyrighted. The idea is that Creation will worship God, and so will I. If a hundred billion galaxies can sing Your praises so will I. If a hundred billion creatures still obey You so will I. If creation worships You so will I.

The song has enough doctrine to satisfy the staunchest believer in hymns only. It is God-centered, but joins man and God in a relationship. It has worship coming from every line.

I hope to find more of this kind of song as the years pass.

Bible study, books, Christianity, Documenting America, Life Group lessons, miscellaneous, Writing

Progress as Promised, On Several Fronts

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In my last post, I told about the de cluttering effort my wife and I are in. I spoke specifically about the multiple stamp collections I’m dealing with, as well as a few other de-cluttering activities.

The stock book I worked on. I still have a few stragglers to add to it (which fell out before my work commenced), plus perhaps some re-distribution.

This weekend, while de-cluttering is still high on the priority list, so is what I call simply “getting things done.” It began on Friday, where I worked in The Dungeon for a good part of the day, doing my normal writing and stock trading tasks. In the evening I finally finished putting loose stamps into that stock book I mentioned in the last post, and on Saturday I gathered all the stamps in one place, while on Saturday and Sunday I put them all in a larger box and into their designated place in the storeroom. Check one item off the to-do list.

Our newer minivan was overdue for servicing. I finally called on that on Friday afternoon, learned they had appointments on Saturday, and took an early one. I learned of a sensor that’s gone bad; it will be replaced later this week under warranty. I also took that van to a nearby body shop for an estimate on fixing the rear tailgate after the fender-bender I caused in June. Ah, me. Much money to be spend fixing that small folly.

Friday and Saturday remained productive for the whole days. Let’s see what I checked off the list.

  • Elliptical and walking for Friday and Saturday.
  • Work on Acts of Faith each day.
  • Work on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition each day.
  • Clean up in the front yard, along with weekend weeding and deadfall pick up in the back yard on Saturday.
  • Seeing about accommodations for a trip we will soon be taking.
  • Making a haircut appointment. (I hate using the phone for things like that and always put off making such appointments, so when I do it it feels like a major accomplishment.)
  • Helping the wife make an omelet Saturday noon.
  • Household budgeting on Friday; balancing the checkbook on Saturday; catch up on trading accounting on Saturday.
  • Dusting the high corners near the ceilings.
  • Preparing to teach Life Group on Sunday.
  • Working on organizing the stamp collections, in place for better storage or, perhaps, selling within a couple of years.
I found time each day to just sit and read in the sunroom, and nap there one day.

I could probably add a few more things to the list, but I’d be getting into minutia if I did. Suffice to say the weekend was full, productive, enjoyable, and, if you can believe it, restful. Yes, I had time to watch TV (while working on the stamps and crossword puzzles), to sit in the sunroom and read, to get full nights’ sleep, and to gather with God’s people in worship and study on Sunday.

Whether every weekend will be so enjoyable and productive remains to be seen. This one was, and I thank God for it.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Bible study, Christianity, Documenting America, History

We Interrupt this Book Review to…Write

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This is close to the cover I want to use for “Adam Of Jerusalem”, but I can’t find the copyright holder of the photo. I’m probably wrong in even posting it here.

In my last post I wrote part 1 of a two-part review of John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government. I said I would do the next part soon. However, soon is not today. Instead, I’m going to write about what I’m writing, and what I’m preparing to write.

I have two books in progress, one complete and being edited, one being written. The first is Adam Of Jerusalem. I finished this in mid-December 2018, let it sit a few weeks over the holidays, then began editing in mid-January. I think those dates are right; it’s all kind of blurry without looking at my diary. I’ve made three editorial passes, and given the book to three beta-readers. I have figured I would publish it then.

But, in January I joined a newly-formed writers critique group. I decided to run AOJ by them. They didn’t like chapter 1 in January or chapter 2 in February. Not enough description they said. Too much getting from point A to point B without flourishes. Alas, that must be the engineer in me.

So I went through these two chapters looking for places to add some description, some of what I call extraneous information that gives the reader a better experience, that makes them feel like they were there when the action was taking place. It caused chapter 2 to increase in length 25 percent. If I did that for the entire book, the novel would go from 72,000 words to 90,000 words. That’s not awful, but I would have to think about that.

Still, I decided to go on with this for a few more chapters at least. Last night I re-edited chapter 5, having completed 3 and 4, and found a number of places to add those flourishes. I’ll type these last edits sometime today and step back and see how it looks to me. I imagine I’ll go on with this while waiting on beta-readers to get back to me.

And, perhaps, a fourth to this one? Yes: Making The Constitution Edition, hopefully in 2019. Update: It will come in 2019!

Then, my current writing project is Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition. I’ve written about this series before many times, and this particular volume. At some point, around February 12, I began gathering source documents and completed the editing and writing of one chapter on February 18. Yesterday I completed the twelfth chapter (out of 31 or 32) and edited the source document for the thirteenth. I did that in the evening in manuscript, so will be typing that today.

Meanwhile, as I work on DA:MCE, I’m coming across material I realize I can use in a future edition. I don’t know what I’ll do next. The choices are many. I read some inspiring, early abolition works, and thought that a volume on the abolition movement might be good. So I created folders on my computer and began seeking out source documents for that. I’m a long way from doing anything with this book, but maybe, just maybe, I’m starting it the right way. Except, I should start a writing diary for it, even if it will have major time gaps in it.

One other project that I’m (somewhat) actively working on is a Bible study I developed and taught some years ago called Sacred Moments. It’s a study of the sacraments and the importance of them in the life of the Christian. They are sacred moments. I had a little trouble finding the files I created on that years ago. On a shelf in my closet, in an unmarked, green three-ring binder, I found the paper copies—preserved in sheet protectors, no less. Digging around in files transferred from an old computer, I found the computer files. I transferred them into my cloud storage.

I have no schedule for working on Sacred Moments. I feel I must do more research if I’m to publish it as a Bible study. It will be the first of those critters for me, and I would want to do it right. I did lots of research before, and even some after, but too many years have passed since I developed and taught it, so I’ll have to re-do some of that research.

That’s pretty much it. One other, more minor, task I want to work on soon is to get my ideas notebook in shape. I found it this week, on that closet shelf. I can’t remember the last time I looked at it. I’m thinking that may be a Sunday task, with a mug of coffee, in the sunroom.

 

 

Adam Of Jerusalem, America, Christianity, Church History Novels, Documenting America, research, Writing

Researching on Two Tracks

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At the moment, I’m not doing any writing, though I might write some over the weekend. While waiting for the proof copy of The Gutter Chronicles, Volume 2 to arrive, and while I do a small amount of marketing on that, I’m researching. And, I’m researching two different things.

My novel-in-progress, Adam of Jerusalem, will be the first in my church history novel series. I already have #2 and #4 written; about time I went backwards and wrote the prequel. It will be about a man named Adam, who is from Jerusalem, who wants badly to be a scribe in Israel. He came to that career choice somewhat late, and is ten years older than his fellow scribes-in-training. He receives an assignment to gather the teachings of the recently crucified Jesus, with the intent of using them to discredit His followers. He does this with diligence.

What Adam is preparing will become what has become known as the source document for the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the so called quelle, or “Q”. Scholars since the 1820s have theorized that there was some kind of written document that both Matthew and Luke relied on, in addition to the earlier gospel of Mark, to write their gospels. The trouble is, no copy of Q has ever been found. That, and for various technical/textural reasons, a large fraction of biblical scholars believe Q never existed. My reading has convinced me that more scholars think it did exist than think it didn’t exist.

I read a lot about this over a year ago, as I was beginning to program the novel. But, that was somewhat long ago. I felt that I needed to re-read some of that, and look at a few other scholarly thoughts about Q. That’s one thing I’m doing now, in preparation of getting back to my writing.

The other thing I’m doing is reading source documents for my next non-fiction book, Documenting America – Making the Constitution Edition. In past years I’ve read some of the Federalist Papers, those wonderful articles by Jay, Hamilton, and Madison defending the then-as-yet not adopted Constitution. I’m sure I’ll be making good use of them in my book, but I wanted to expand from there.

My intent for the book is to cover the period from the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1778 (or was it 1781? Gotta lock that down) to 1789 when the Constitution was ratified and became the law of the land. In the appropriate volume of The Annals of America I have found some excellent excerpts of related documents, and lists of additional sources I can track down and use, many of them out of copyright and thus easier for me to find and use.

My problem with research, especially the type I’m doing on DA-MCE, is that it can become a nightmare of over-researching, of trying to find that one more document when I already have four of five, of just reading on for enjoyment instead of stopping when I find what I need.

Yes, research is enjoyable to me. It’s like unfettered learning; improving my mind because I want to, not because I have to.

Tonight, my main task is to document what reading I’ve done in the Annals and begin to plan chapters of the book. I’ve already read six to ten documents, and made decisions on what to use or not; time to get that documented. Then, tomorrow night, I get back to reading.

Unless, of course, I get another case of Sideline Syndrome, and just have to get back to writing again.

Christianity

Misstatements On Television

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I don’t have a lot of time to write my post today. My workday was busy before I got to the office, and it’s become hectic since then.

I was going to give an interim report on the book I’m reading, but thought of a different, shorter topic. Yesterday was a leisurely day for me, as the Lord’s Day should be, especially one so important. I even was able to watch a little television. In that watching I heard some incredible misstatements.

First, on a morning news program, when the commentator at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City talked about what the pope was doing, he said, “The pope is giving mass right now.” No, the celebrant doesn’t “give” mass, he/she “celebrates” mass. Okay, that’s somewhat minor. I’m not in a denomination that celebrates mass (thought I grew up in one), so this didn’t offend me. I found it amusing, though possibly some people around the world would be offended by this reporter’s ignorance.

The second one was on a show on the History Channel in the evening, about the search for Jesus’ DNA and determining if any relatives to Him could be found. It was a 2-hour program, kind of interesting (different than the usual Easter program of the Bible story). At the start of the program, they made it clear that the Bible said Jesus had no descendants, and that they were looking for relatives. That is, they said that in the program. In the various trailers leading up to it, they acted like they were looking for Jesus’ DNA descendants.

Right at the end of the program, they actually said that. I didn’t write it down, so can’t give you the exact quote, but it was essentially, “With this DNA research, we hope to be able to find Jesus’ descendants.” The entire program they made it clear they were looking for relatives of Jesus—i.e. people descended from a common ancestor with Jesus.  Then, at the end, they resorted to yellow journalism.

Very disappointing. I may write the History Channel and tell them so.

Christianity, Doctor Luke's Assistant, Preserve The Revelation, Writing

My Church History Fiction Series

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Kindle Cover - DLA 3
“Doctor Luke’s Assistant” is available for most e-reader devices

My first novel—and book—was Doctor Luke’s Assistant. Begun December 2000 and finished January 2003, I intended for this to be a stand-alone book. I had a story to tell, a story that came to me as a result of years of Bible study and a couple of years of daydreaming. Never did I think I would someday try to have a writing career. I had a story to tell, nothing more.

But, as I started to shop DLA for publication, I soon learned that publishers didn’t want to publish a book. They really want to publish a writer who wants a career as a published author. That meant I had to have another book. And then another, and another, till infinity, death, or the apocalypse. I went back to brainstorming.

The next books that came to me were my first baseball novel and my poetry book. Nothing came to mind concerning a follow-up to DLA. Nothing at first, that is. Eventually the brainstorming came back to it, and I thought of another book, a sequel. Thus Preserve The Revelation was born. The idea came to me probably around 2009-2010; I don’t remember exactly. For sure it was by 2012. PTR would feature Augustus, the point-of-view character from DLA. He would be called to help the apostle John write his gospel, then later The Revelation. It would involve his sons in kind of a torch-passing event. This sequel was on my radar and in my mind for those several years. Finally the circumstances were right to write it, beginning last October and ending January 14th. It’s currently waiting for me to come back to it and edit it, then publish it.

As I thought about PTR, and the need to have a constant supply of books for the publishing mill (even though by this time I had decided to go the self-publishing route), and, as I read various documents preserved from early church history—something I do for enjoyment and edification, other possible books in the series came to me. To explain exactly what I mean by this, I need to briefly describe a little more about DLA for those who haven’t read it.

The premise behind DLA is that Luke goes to Judea to write a biography of Jesus. He hires Augustus, a Jew from a family that has given up on Judaism and embraced Roman ways, to assist in the research. The story is told from Augustus’ point of view: the research, the writing, the troubles with both Jewish and Roman authorities. In the end the gospel of Luke is written, though it’s nothing like what was originally intended.

So the story is how a lowly clerk/scribe, called an amanuensis back then, should have a big impact in telling Jesus’ story. That’s the same theme carried into PTR, with Augustus and his sons playing the same role, with similar results. As I brainstormed more books, I realized the number of documents in early Christianity, documents which survive in whole or in part, or which are referenced by just slightly later documents, is large. How large? In just the First Century and the first half of the Second Century, potentially eight to ten over and above the scripture. To the end of the Second Century might add that many more, and more and more as each century progresses. In the first four centuries I would probably have 100-200 documents to choose from.

I eventually developed a plan for the series from this. At present, the plan is for only eight books, taking it from the early New Testament era to the middle of the First Century. Here’s a list of the books in chronological order. Given that the first book is a prequel, I’m obviously not planning on writing these in that order.

  • Adam Of Jerusalem: Backstory for Augustus’ family. The document(s) in question will be those thought to be the sources for Matthew and Luke in writing their gospels, the Passion Narrative and “Q” (Jesus’ sayings/teachings). Time frame: 39-40 A.D. Main character: Adam, Augustus’ father. His decision to leave Judaism and embrace Roman ways will be part of the story.
  • Doctor Luke’s Assistant: Explained above. Time frame: 63-66 A.D. Main character: Augustus
  • The Sayings: The writing of the Didiche, the sayings of the apostles. Time frame: 70 A.D. Main character: Augustus
  • Preserve The Revelation: Explained above. Time frame: 95 A.D. Main characters: Augustus and his sons
  • The Corinthian Problem (tentative title): The writing of “1st Clement”, an epistle written in Rome to the church in Corinth. Time frame: about 100 A.D. Main characters: Augustus’ sons, Adam and Daniel.
  • Ignatius of Antioch: The story of Ignatius being marched from Antioch to Rome, to his martyrdom, and the epistles he wrote during this trip. Time frame: 111 or 112 A.D. Main character: Augustus’ son Daniel
  • The Heretic: The story of Marcion, a Christian of the day whose views were eventually determined to be heresy. Time frame: 140 A.D. Main character: uncertain at this time. It may be one of Augustus’ descendants, or may be another family of scribes—or both.
  • The Martyr: The story of Polycarp, especially his being martyred. This story will actually tie in with Preserve The Revelation. Time frame: 150 A.D. Main character: uncertain, but one of Augustus’ descendants.

Some of the dates above are approximate. I’m writing this blog post from memory of past research. Oh, and a ninth book from this era might be The Shepherd.

So eight (or nine) novels planned at the moment. One written and published; one written and awaiting publication. Four I’ve been thinking of for at least three years. And three that came to mind in the last six months. That ought to keep me busy for a while, especially when all my planned books in other genres are factored in. If I get most of these eight or nine written and published, I’ll have time enough to extend the series to the next hundred years of church history.