My Next Book

On the far wall of my office, directly across from my desk is a framed publisher’s catalog with my book on the cover.

A book that never made it to press.

The cover of my book is right there centerstage on the cover and the first pages of the catalogue highlight my book that was never to be. Why was it never to be? Because of a blog post I wrote.

The post had nothing to do whatsoever with the content of my book. My book was about holiness and the post was about the Bible, but my post said the Bible isn’t perfect and questioning the perfection of the Bible is, it turned out, not something my publisher and I could agree to disagree about.

So, after some back and forth and a scathing Ken Ham post about why I’m a false teacher leading people to hell, we parted ways.

But thanks to a good friend who happened to have a copy of that catalogue with my book that was never to be on the cover, that memory and the motivation that comes with it now greets me every time I sit down at my desk to write.

I tell you that story because I have some really exciting news to share.

I just signed a new book deal with Herald Press!!

And the subject of the book I’m writing just so happens to be the very subject that cost me my first book deal.

Tentatively titled Godbreathed, the elevator pitch is pretty simple and straightforward: the Bible isn’t perfect and that’s ok.

In fact, that lack of perfection might actually be a good thing because it reveals and reminds of us of the reality that God really does work through ordinary people; that the story of the people of God is written by the people of God and people aren’t perfect - and God’s ok with that because perfection isn’t a precondition for sharing the truth.

Of course there’s nothing particularly new about pointing out the obvious imperfections of the Bible. Which is why in Godbreathed, I’m going deeper. Or least in a different direction, one you may not have considered before.

The question I’m asking is this: What if the imperfections and contradictions in scripture aren’t there by accident? 

What if they were allowed to be there by the Holy Spirit in order to draw us beyond the literal words on the page and deeper into the spiritual truth God is trying to teach us?

As provocative or unorthodox as that might sound, it is actually a very ancient way of reading and understanding the Bible, as old as Christianity itself. As the Bible was first coming into the form we know now, the earliest Church fathers understood it as a guide, inspired to be sure, but written by their fellow believers as a guide for following the way of Jesus, not God bound in leather and paper.

Of course, I don’t have to tell you how much has changed since then or how the Bible has become an idol in the Church.

In Godbreathed, I want to deconstruct how the tragedy of biblical idolatry came about and in doing so work to rebuild the Church’s relationship with the Bible from a new, healthier, and more intellectually honest foundation that will offer folks a practical and easily accessible approach to reading and understanding the Bible that doesn’t require a PhD in biblical languages.

I don’t have a secret formula for resolving all of the problems, contradictions, and inconsistencies in scripture. Instead, I’m hoping to offer a radically different understanding of divine inspiration that doesn't simply live with the tension of biblical imperfection, but finds in that imperfection the path towards a healthier, hopeful, and more dynamic relationship between the Church and scripture.

Whether you’re in the midst of deconstructing your faith, simply have questions about a book you’ve wrestled with your entire life, or have never even picked up a Bible, my hope is that Godbreathed (or whatever it ends up being called) will you permission to ask questions, doubt, criticize, or even pushback against the Bible in ways you may never have felt free to do before.

Most of all, I hope Godbreathed will blow a fresh wind through the stuffy and rigid dogmatism that has plagued the Church for so long causing irreparable damage to countless lives in the name of being “biblical.” Guided by honesty and the call to truly love one another, I hope together we can begin to reclaim the idea of biblical truth and reveal it to be not a list of beliefs to affirm or laws to beat over the heads of sinners doomed to hell, but an invitation into a new way of living and loving on earth as it is in heaven. 

If all goes according to plan, Godbreathed will be released in the spring of 2023.

If you’d like to follow along with me as I write the book and I genuinely hope you will, make sure to subscribe to my Substack (it’s totally free).

My plan is to post any interesting insights I discover that just can’t wait for publication as well as regular updates on the progress of the book, when preorders begin, and how you can help me launch this book out into the world where Ken Ham will surely get a hold of it and damn me to hell again.

Until then, please subscribe or follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram before Elon Musk buys them all up and turns them into his private meme factory.