Regular readers of my blog will have noticed that things have slowed down considerably for me here in recent months, so I thought I'd give a quick note of explanation for why that is, and what comes next.
- In addition to a new book on historical missiology coming out this December, my Evangeliad is now also on the road to publication! This is big news, because I never really knew for sure if my longstanding poetry project would ever be more than something I did for my own joy (and the enjoyment of a select few blog-readers). Poetry books do not command a large market at all these days, so it's rare to find a publisher or literary agent who will even give such a thing a glance. But I'm happy to report that I'll be putting out the completed text next year through Resource Publications (an imprint of the major Christian publisher Wipf & Stock). This means that I'll be able to get it out less than a decade after I started, which at this point feels like a real win.
- For this blog, that means that my regular posts from the Evangeliad will cease for the time being. I'm planning, however, to bring back a regular cycle of articles dealing with various topics of interest in culture and theology. In my midweek Bible study at my church, I'll shortly be shifting over to soliciting questions from my parishioners on any matter they would like an answer on (probably starting in less than a month), and my intent is to answer worthwhile questions both here, in writing, as well as in the Bible study sessions themselves. Hopefully some good fruit will come of that. Even if no substantial questions are forthcoming, I have a few of my own that I'll be bringing out on the blog in the next few weeks: reflections on how to approach the culture of skepticism in some circles of New Testament studies (e.g., Bart Ehrman and his ilk), and an exploration of the hiddenness of God, especially with regard to the lived experience of Christians.
Anyway, that's what's coming. I've been told by some that perhaps I should switch over to one of the sleek new blogging venues like Substack ("blogging" is itself, I'm told, too old-school of a term), but I think I'll stick it out here in the pre-2010 corner of the Internet for awhile yet, if only because most of online life after that point has not been worth keeping up with. Besides, if readers come away with the sense that I'm some sort of Luddite dinosaur because I'm clinging to an antiquarian way of presenting my writing to the world, well...they'd probably be right, so there's no harm in properly representing myself. So for the faithful few that keep wandering over to this dusty old corner of cyberspace, keep the faith: at the very least, you'll still have randomly infrequent articles to look forward to.