What I think. What I know. What I think I know.
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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…
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Be Wiersbe
Warren Wiersbe died last week. He spoke at my college’s missionary conference during my senior year, and I was privileged to pick him and his wife up from the airport. It was surreal hearing his voice from the backseat. I usually heard his voice from the radio, and now it was in my car with…
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Can You Enjoy Creation Too Much?
Last month I was speaking to a seminary faculty about the themes in Becoming Worldly Saints when a professor shared that he had pondered the pleasures of creation on his walk into work that morning. He had thanked God for the rising sun, the singing birds, but then wondered whether he might be enjoying God’s…
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A Parable
Faith and Christian were teenagers when their parents split in an acrimonious divorce. Their father had been cheating on their mother for years, and made no effort to hide it. He often bragged about it in public, and in the most inappropriate ways. He openly mocked others who were different, whether by race, gender, or…
Mike Wittmer 