What I think. What I know. What I think I know.
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A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Preachers have the best job. People pay us to exegete the world’s best story and then retell it the best way we can. We learn to do this in seminary, from listening to each other, and from conferences and homiletics books. We also benefit from those who don’t have us in mind. I was inspired…
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Passersby
Mark 15 says two kinds of people happened to pass by Jesus on the morning of his crucifixion. The first was Simon of Cyrene, “the father of Alexander and Rufus,” who “was passing by on his way in from the country” (15:21). The Son of God who had urged his followers to take up their…
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Worship Watch Party
You knew it would come to this. Ignite Church of Plano, Texas is freeing up space for holiday visitors by inviting its members to host worship watch parties for its Easter service. If all goes well, the watch parties will become a routine part of the church’s body life. Pastor Dillon Roberts said the idea…
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John Adams
After finishing David McCullough’s book on The Wright Brothers, I remembered he had written a biography of John Adams that I hadn’t read. I don’t know as much about American history as I should, and since I like McCullough’s work, I decided to read that too. It’s long (650 pages) but informative and quite enjoyable.…
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The Meaning of Marriage
In two years I’ll have taught in seminary for half my life. Many professors who have taught for a while develop catch phrases or inspirational sayings that are suitable for framing. Here’s mine: “The sand of heresy in the oyster of orthodoxy produces the pearl of right doctrine.” I know, right? The point of this…
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The Wright Brothers
I love meticulously researched history books and last week I finally got around to reading David McCullough’s fascinating The Wright Brothers. Ten takeaways: 1. Wilbur and Orville were earnest, plain-spoken, celebrity-averse, hard-working engineers. They didn’t have flashy personalities that provide great material for a biography. They were simple bachelors who lived with their father and…
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The Meaning of Sex
Why did God make us male and female? This is the conclusion of my sermon last Sunday. My thought was helped by J. Budziszewski, On the Meaning of Sex and Abigail Favale, The Genesis of Gender. Both are excellent and provocative books. The world that God created requires hard and soft power. Life doesn’t work…
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Slavery in the Bible
If you’re interested in what the Bible teaches about slavery, here’s one of my entries from The Bible Explainer. I go on to the New Testament as well, but this may whet your appetite to read more. What does the Old Testament teach about slavery? Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world.…
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The Bible Explainer
Looking for a good book for Christmas or the long winter ahead? I just published The Bible Explainer, 460 pages of illustrated answers to 250 questions most often asked about the Bible. Its paintings and photographs make this an attractive book to leave on a coffee table. You can read a question or two when…
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The Art of Writing Non-Fiction
Historian Robert Caro’s new book, Working, suffers from redundancy (similar points, down to the phrasing, reappeared throughout the book), but I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who writes non-fiction. Here are a few of my takeaways. 1. Writing well is hard work. Caro explains his tedious research process—the travel and hundreds of interviews…
Mike Wittmer 