Author Q&A: What chickens can teach us about creativity

Architects, surgeons, sculptors, poets, chefs, and knitters all practice creativity in their fields of interest and expertise. Historians, novelists, landscapers, and nurses find creative ways to put their skills into action. Creativity lives in all of us and reveals itself in uncountable variations and configurations.

For my friend Ann Byle, it was a flock of chickens that set her on a path of creative discovery. Her book Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens(Broadleaf) launches today! This little, accessible hardback book offers a link between backyard hens and the God-given creative impulses we all hold. My older sis raises chickens, and she tells me they have distinct personalities. Ann apparently sees the same phenomenon and connects the world of chickens with creativity—one of my favorite subjects. You don’t have to be “a creative” to qualify as creative. Here Ann answers questions about creativity, chickens, and living a creative life. 

Q: Chickens? Really? What about chickens sparked your creativity to write this book?

A: One day I was working on my laptop at a table on my deck. Up popped a chicken who stared at me over my laptop and seemed to ask, “What are you doing, Ann? Can I help? Got any snacks?” I started posting pictures of them on Instagram and people liked it. Pretty soon I was discovering how creative chickens really are, and how we would all do well to mirror that creativity in our lives. It was an odd and funny juxtaposition—chickens and creativity—but it worked. I had originally planned to do the book just for writers, but my publisher asked to expand its audience to all creatives. A creative and brilliant idea. 

Q: What are some of the characteristics of a creative person?

A: Creatives are curious about the world around them and, particularly, about the field they work or play in. Knitters are curious about new yarns and patterns. Bible scholars are interested in the newest research and archaeological discoveries that impact Scripture. Architects are curious about new design tools or materials. Gardeners are curious about new types of flowers or vegetables.

Creatives are also courageous explorers, willing to step outside boundaries to find new ways to work and live. With that comes the ability to say no to negative self-talk and to ignore what others say about their art, plans, dreams, and goals. Their ultimate authority is God, not others; they move forward with God’s pleasure in mind. Another thing creatives do is nurture their creativity through things like reading widely, exploring outdoor places, visiting museums, going on retreats, unplugging tech, tasting new foods or going new places. Creative people are always looking at new ways to do things, asking new questions, trying new things.

Q: In February I ate a grasshopper. For sure that was a new thing. What do you mean when you say that all people are creative in some way?

A: I’m convinced that God has gifted everyone to be creative in their own way. I have a friend who makes the most glorious purses, totes, and wallets with leftover fabric and a sewing machine. Another is an entrepreneur who can see the big picture and moves forward to change our community for the better. Whether we are bankers or elder care workers, therapists or builders, each of us has a level of creativity that we can nurture and explore in our jobs or our personal lives. Whether we choose to develop that creativity is another story. So many people think they aren’t creative, but we all are if we can find our creative niche and get over our fear. 

Q: What did you learn about yourself as you wrote this book? 

A: I learned that my inherent nosiness about life and people is about being curious, and that my role as a journalist and writer is part of that. It’s okay to be a little nosy—despite what my kids used to say about not talking to any of their friends. Also, creativity is fun. I loved learning how to play the ukulele, decorate a cake, knit, and draw chickens as part of writing this book. Being creative is about living life fully and using all of our gifts well.

Q: Random: Tell us some trivia about chickens that we can use at parties?

A: Chickens are smart animals! They can learn and remember things, communicate, and express their opinions. Also, who knew that the color of the egg is most often determined by the color of a chicken’s ear lobes? Our hens have red/brown ear lobes and lay brown eggs. White ear lobes? White eggs. 

Yup. Definitely did not know about chicken earlobes. 

Ann Byle is a freelance writer and book author who lives in West Michigan with her family and a variety of animals including three chickens. Find her at annbylewriter.com.

Podcast: Hear my thoughts on Artemis of Ephesus

Recently, Dr. Preston Sprinkle hosted me on his popular "Theology in the Raw" podcast. We talked about my forthcoming book, Nobody's Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament (IVP Academic), which is about, well, Artemis (the book is due out in October and available now for pre-order). We also talked about Amazon women. And what the apostle Paul means when he talks about a woman/wife being "saved through childbearing." Plus the probable meaning of those breast-y appendages on the goddess's front in the Ephesus-specific images of her. Also, hermeneutics and cultural backgrounds. Grab a coffee or sit in the carpool line and have a listen!

3 Book Recommendations for Ministry Leaders

I am here to commend to you three new ministry resources that belong on your reading (or listening) list. All three are available on Audible and read by the authors themselves:

Released this week:

Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church (IVP Academic), by Nijay Gupta

Matthew. Mark. Luke. John. Jesus. Paul. When most of us learn about the early church, we hear stories of prominent men. But ample evidence exists in the New Testament that women were actively involved on the front lines of the gospel mission, too. And not just baking cookies. They were respected leaders. Mary Magdalene supported Jesus and the male disciples from her income (Luke 8:1-2). Nympha led a house church (Col. 4:15). And Phoebe was a deacon and benefactor (Rom. 16:1). 

Northern Seminary New Testament professor Nijay Gupta brings these women—and many more—out of the shadows as he shines light on their contributions. Before reading Tell Her Story, I had never imagined Junia the apostle in jail (see Rom. 16:7), nor considered how dangerous it would have been for her to suffer for her faith in a dark, dank place where men and women coexisted without protection. Gupta brings out these details. 

Last year I conducted an informal poll among my Twitter followers who went to seminary asking them if they’d ever studied the sixteenth chapter of Romans. Forty percent of them had never translated it nor heard a lecture or message on its contents. One person even took two separate classes on the Book of Romans in which students were never required to read Romans 16. In contrast, Gupta explores it. In depth. My favorite section of Tell Her Story is the work he has done here—exploring the multiple women named and described by Paul in this oft-overlooked chapter—boldly going where few men have gone before. 

My friend Cynthia Hester recently reviewed this book on her blog. I was honored to be one of Tell Her Story‘s pre-publication endorsers, and yes, I read the book in its entirety. Here’s what I wrote:

In Tell Her Story Nijay Gupta brings to the topic of early Christian women (and some of their foremothers) a mastery of New Testament texts and backgrounds. Combining academic expertise with approachable prose, Gupta takes a fresh look at stories, people, and contexts—from judge Deborah leading Israel to deacon/patron Phoebe delivering “Romans” to apostle Junia doing prison time. In exploring the prominent place of women in the history of our faith, the author recovers lost meanings and casts a vision for men and women partnering to serve God’s people.  

Get it. 

Women and the Gender of God (Eerdmans), by Amy Peeler

Over the 22/23 winter school break, I co-taught a course in Italy with Dr. Lynn Cohick on Early Church Women in the Visual Record. That is, art. In the van returning to the Rome airport at the end of our sixteen days, I asked the students in the vehicle with me what they saw emphasized in churches that they don’t see emphasized in the US. They unanimously agreed that art of the Annunciation—the scene where Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary to announce God’s plan for her to bear the Messiah—surprised them. It appeared in just about every church, sometimes twice. The scene pointed largely preliterate people to the incarnation. And we acknowledged that in our Protestant de-emphasis on Mary, we have lost something important.

Rev. Dr. Amy Peeler’s work Women and the Gender of God helps readers recover some of what we’ve lost.

Does God like men more than women? Of course not. We know better. And yet some things make us wonder…. Isn’t God male? After all, we refer to God as “he” and “him,” and “Father.” And certainly the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was embodied as male. John Piper famously said that Christianity is meant to have a masculine feel to it. Some even wonder, Did God violate Mary’s agency in the incarnation? Did she even have a choice—who can say no to God? 

Some of my readers will recognize Amy Peeler as the name of the scholar who contributed the chapter on Junia for Vindicating the Vixens. This time she’s the sole author, and she takes a deep dive into incarnation narratives in the New Testament—along with some other relevant biblical texts—to address the questions cited above and more. Peeler makes a compelling argument for how God both empowers women and honors women’s agency. She also explores from a theological perspective how the virgin birth of the second Adam reverses the power struggle introduced in the Garden of Eden. One of her strengths is that she is familiar with the works of both conservative and feminist theologians and demonstrates she is conversant with their questions before providing what I found to be compelling answers. 

In the publisher’s description of Women and the Gender of God they write, “While acknowledging the significance of the Bible’s frequent use of ‘Father’ language to represent God as a caring parent, Peeler goes beneath the surface of this metaphor to show how God is never sexualized by biblical writers or described as being physically involved in procreation—making the concept of a masculine God dubious, at best. From these doctrinal centers of Christianity, Peeler leads the way in reasserting the value of women in the church and prophetically speaking out against the destructive idolatry of masculinity.” 

My colleague John Dyer, a theology professor whose syllabus includes works by both male and female scholars, has written insightful analysis of Peeler’s book here and here.

I highly recommend Women and the Gender of God. In it Peeler answers a few questions I had and others I did not even realize stood hovering in the corner waiting for permission to come out. 

All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir (Tyndale House), by Beth Moore

Best memoir I’ve ever read.

And I’ve read a few, because I teach writers to tell their stories. If you can get the audio version, all the better, because Moore reads it herself. I laughed and cried, partly because of how she told her story.

Moore’s work is brilliant, wise, raw, witty, honest, riveting, heartbreaking, inspiring, devastating, and true. It ranges from Vacation Bible school to mental illness to sexual abuse to infidelity to church potlucks to salsa at Pappadeaux. One of my Instagram followers said this after reading it: “I so appreciate her care in the art of storytelling without triggering or exhibitionism of graphic details. Her word choice and narrative style are lovely.” Agree.

The woman can write. Her chapter ending with “And you can bet your toy poodle on that” is one of the funniest “stuck landings” you will find in any memoir. All the funnier if you can hear her punctuate it with that deep Arkansas drawl.

Announcing the 2023 San Miguel de Allende Writers Workshop

Join hostess Debora Annino and me, along with other writers, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a Spanish Colonial town that has served as a gathering place for artists and writers since the 1930s. The enchantment of San Miguel delights with its charming colonial architecture, iconic Parroquia, award-winning restaurants, Latin music, and lively literary and arts community. The fourth annual five-day, four-night retreat includes the following:

• Writing Workshops led by yours truly

• One-on-One Writing Consultation

• Transportation to/from airport

• Shared room accommodations in private home and local B&B

• Breakfasts, lunches and dinners

• Walking tour of San Miguel de Allende

• Mexican Art Tour

• Shopping in Mercado de Artesanias

• Latin-music dinner

• Volunteer opportunity with Little Things Matter Foundation to serve local community

* private room $350 additional fee

Airfare not included

5 Trends in the Self-Publishing Book Market

I just finished teaching a week-long course in self-publishing for ministry. As I teach it every year, I watch for trends, and here’s what stuck out this year: 

• The continuing rise of audio. As demand continues for audiobooks, it also gets ever easier to produce audio versions. Writer’s Digest says “Audiobooks are the fastest growing format in publishing.” By 2027, projected income is in the billions. Creating an audio version of your book means more listeners, from commuters back on the road to parents scrubbing floors needing free hands to the visually impaired. Podcasts are up; so are audio books.

• More iterations. We used to think of self-publishing in terms of either print-heavy e-books or stacks in the garage of print-heavy print books. Now we have gift books. Workbooks. Print-on-demand books. Books with black-and-white photos. Books with color photos. Audio books. And so many more.... And let’s not forget comic books and graphic novels. In fact, let’s talk about the latter. 

A graphic novel is a narrative or collection of comic stories, often hand-drawn and separated into panels. Maus (Pulitzer and American Book award honors) and American-Born Chinese (National Book Award and Printz Award honors, plus a Disney+ series) are both excellent works that have helped take the graphic-novel genre mainstream—along with some help from Manga, once a niche genre. Newsy.com says the sub-genre of graphic novels saw a growth of 171 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, and that amounts to a little more than 24 million books sold last year. The self-publishing market has continued to expand to accommodate writers and visual artists who, in the past, had a tougher time publishing. Demand has driven invention.

• More data journalism. One of our speakers, Brandon Giella of Giella Media is an expert on data journalism. He showed us this holy-moly graphic on five megatrends in data journalism. Visual storytelling is hot. And it’ll reach boiling as we continue to shift away from words toward visuals. The graphs in this blog post tell stories at a glance. People love sidebars and graphs, narratives in visual form. Even a Bible study can include a graph—like the number of times the apostle Paul uses gunh to mean "wife" instead of “woman” (more often). I’d love to see a Bible study that includes a word cloud showing how often the word “love” shows up in Ephesians 5.    

• Continually growing global reach. Here are the number of internet users in a sampling of five countries with large English-speaking populations: 

1. Australia, 21 million

2. Canada, 33 million 

3. Kenya,  46 million 

4. USA, 288 million

5. India, 749 million 

Internet use means demand for downloadable information. E-books can go where it would take months to deliver a physical book, even if people could afford to order them. So e-book publishing companies increasingly pitch their international reach as a reason to publish with them. 

• More library distribution. In a New Yorker article last September, “The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books,” author Daniel Gross said, “Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do.” Instead of selling e-books and audio books to libraries, publishers sell digital distribution rights to third-party venders like OverDrive, which sells lending rights to libraries. Often expiration dates accompany those rights, making e-books more expensive than print books for libraries. But that development is great for writers, because it gives our publishers more power over prices. That higher price tag has actually not discouraged libraries from buying, as they see such demand for e-books. According to Gross’s research, in 2020, the Denver Public Library increased its digital checkouts by more than sixty per cent, to 2.3 million, and spent about a third of its collections budget on digital content, up from 20 percent the previous year. Libraries now join an elite group when their "borrows" reach the benchmark of more than a million e-book downloads. What that means for my students: When considering which self-publishing companies to select, writers are more apt to look for distributors such as Overdrive on a list of publisher’s partners before committing. And often they find it.  

At one time, people said e-books were dead. They also said that about print books. Want to self-publish a book? What are you waiting for? 

Kat Armstrong: The In-Between Place

Today one of my favorite authors, Kat Armstrong, launches her latest book, The In-Between Place. Kat is a powerful voice in our generation. She's an innovative ministry leader and sought-after communicator who holds a master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is the author of No More Holding Back and The In-Between Place. She and her husband, Aaron, have been married for eighteen years and live in Dallas, Texas, with their son, Caleb. They attend Dallas Bible Church, where Aaron serves as the lead pastor.

I read her most recent book, The In-Between Place, and wrote this endorsement: Sometimes a place in the Bible’s narrative becomes like a character with a voice of its own. Shechem/Sychar is such a place. Dinah was raped in Shechem, and Jesus met “the woman at the well” there. In Kat's new book she takes readers to this city in Samaria and guides them through a literary, religious, and geographical look at how God has used this locale and its people to reveal his sovereignty and grace. Armstrong’s book is full of amusing anecdotes, astute observations, and life-changing applications.

Here's an interview with Kat, who was born in Houston, Texas, where she says the humidity ruins her curls.

Kat, welcome back! Let’s talk about your newest book, The In-Between Place. What inspired you to write it?

The In-Between Place was born when Ronnie (my Holy Land tour guide) said, “We are standing in modern-day Samaria. You’ll remember, it’s the setting for the story of the woman at the well. And now we’ll hear from Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese about Dinah’s story from Genesis 34.” One casual transition statement from our Israel tour guide, Ronnie, about the Holy Land site visit for the day to our Bible teacher, Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese, reoriented the way I read the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus in John 4. How did I not see it sooner? Both women’s stories have Samaria as their setting, and I think there is divine purpose in the places and spaces God revisits in the Scriptures. I believe God redeems broken places into sacred spaces. I have this wild, audacious dream that people will read The In-Between Place and be filled with hope that Jesus is in our messy middle places.

In the book you compare and contrast Dinah’s story (Genesis 34) with the woman at the Well’s story (John 4). Can you share some observations you make in the book about these two women’s stories? 

I take the whole book to answer this question, but here are just a few of my observations. 

1. While Dinah is the first named daughter in the Bible, and her experience represents evil’s accessibility to even the most prestigious of women, the nameless woman at the well in John 4 represents all women, all Gentiles, and ultimately, all people. 

2. In Dinah’s story we meet her father’s landlord, Hamor the Hivite, who was the “region’s chieftain” (Gen. 34:2); and second we meet Hamor’s son, Shechem. The saying “like father, like son” rings true for these two. Hamor and Shechem, both princes of terror, stand in sharp contrast with the main man in John 4, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Whereas Hamor and Shechem gave their town a bad name with their intimidation, Jesus, the one who knows all our names, ushers in harmony and safety with his presence. 

3. When Dinah casually ventured out to connect with her friends, the mood was easy and laid back. Just another day in the neighborhood. But while Dinah was minding her own business, Shechem was hunting his prey. We get the sense from the story that we need to hide from his wandering eye and protect ourselves from his looming presence. Compare that to the nameless Samaritan woman at the well who encountered the Prince of Peace. The Samaritan woman was also minding her own business, but when Jesus sat down near the well, his posture spoke to his vulnerability. Our Savior was a safe stranger to approach. Unlike Shechem, Jesus just wanted to talk. 

4. Dinah’s voice was never heard in all of the Scriptures. Never. Her perspective was never acknowledged. On the other hand, Jesus not only gave the Samaritan woman a voice, he also then gave her an audience to proclaim her truth—and the eternal truth that Jesus is the Savior of the world. 

5. Dinah’s story ends with genocide, and we can’t help but close the chapter disappointed that there was no redemption in the ending. In sharp contrast, the Samaritan woman’s story ends with joy and many in the town being saved. 

What would you say to someone struggling to find hope in their in-between place?

If you don’t have the energy, hope, or faith to follow Jesus, take heart: he comes to you. Maybe you are working your very first job, restarting school to finish your degree, becoming a first-time mom, or beginning a new life after a major loss. Although you might not be able to see your way out, and your determination might have been knocked out of you in your fall, Jesus can climb into that pit with you and lift you up with his mighty power. You don’t even have to make the first move; he will. I know this because of Jesus’s conversation recorded in John 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well.  

Anything else you want to tell my readers?

Friends, it's excellent. Order from Amazon.

Why Write?

Why Write?

Back before I’d ever published anything, I used to think about all the books in the Library of Congress or even just look at all the books on the market. And I'd think, “Do we really need another novel?” “Why yet another book on marriage,” or “Why would someone want to publish another Bible study on Sermon on the Mount?”

What I came to know years later was that each author has a unique perspective on his or her own era. It was said of the men from Issachar that they “understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron. 12:32).

Each author also has a unique sphere of influence, which provides a platform through which some readers are more apt to hear from that author than from others—even if the others are more eloquent. So, there will always be a need for more books, new books, even on “old” topics. Richard Baxter wrote wonderful stuff about spiritual formation for Puritan audiences, and it stirs me when I read his words today. Yet, I still love reading about the same topics covered by Eugene Peterson, Calvin Miller, and Ruth Haley Barton. Not only have these people lived in my own time, but I have also had the honor of interviewing both men and, well—Ruth painted my toenails on my wedding day before slipping into her bridesmaid dress. 

My mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Inrig, now living in Redlands, California, is someone whose name I might never have heard had she not served our church in Dallas. Yet having sat under her teaching and seen the way she and her husband, Gary, live out their faith—and cared for me through some difficult days—I approach her written works with a particular openness to learn.

Because of this, every year I exhort my students to go ahead and write on topics that interest them or in the genres they love, even if someone else has already written something better. 

Several years ago, after hearing me talk about this, one of my students showed up the next week with a quote that I have since cherished. It’s from St. Augustine in his De Trinitate (On the Trinity), translated by Edmund Hill: 

Not everything … that is written by anybody comes into the hands of everybody, and it is possible that some who are in fact capable of understanding even what I write may not come across those more intelligible writings, while they do at least happen upon these of mine. That is why it is useful to have several books by several authors, even on the same subjects, differing in style though not in faith, so that the matter itself may reach as many as possible, some in this way others in that.

My advice, then, if you are at all inclined to write, is this: Do it. Don’t let that voice telling you someone else has “already done it better” hold you back. Perhaps that better-written book will never make it into the hands of one of your readers, and you will get to be the fortunate soul through whom someone’s life is forever changed.

We Still Need Sinai: An interview with Carmen Joy Imes

Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament and program coordinator for Bible and Theology at Prairie College in Alberta, Canada. Today her book Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters releases from IVP. Here we talk about her work.

Welcome! So let's dive right in. Why did you write this book?

The church today desperately needs to understand what to do with the Old Testament (OT). We vacillate between two extremes—either neglecting the OT entirely or fixating on it in unhelpful ways. With my book I'm trying to address the need for Christians to recover the OT and read it well.

What's the big idea you want to get across?

We cannot fully understand our vocation as Christians without understanding what happened at Sinai. We tend to think of the OT law as a negative thing that didn't work, but if we read it in context, we discover what a gift it was for the Israelites. The law was not their means of salvation, but rather defined the parameters of a life of freedom meant to demonstrate God's character to a watching world. At Sinai, Israel learned what it looked like to bear God's name among the nations. By placing our faith in Jesus, we become part of the people who bear God's name. Sinai tutors us in what matters to God and prompts us to consider how we can bring him honor in our cultural context.

Who is this book for?

Bearing God's Name is for everyone. For individual readers as well as small church groups. It's also suitable as supplementary reading for undergraduates or seminary students. Each chapter includes discussion questions, suggested Bible passages to read, and QR codes that link to videos from The Bible Project. I've already heard from a wide range of readers—from teenagers to seminary professors—who say that they thoroughly enjoyed reading it and found it helpful.

Have you had any surprises in the process of producing this book?

Yes! So many. First, it was the easiest writing project I have ever attempted. I wrote it in one summer, and the words just flowed out of me. It was an absolute joy to write. Second, I expected that non-scholars would appreciate it, but I didn't anticipate the glowing reception from academics. Watching the sales stats on my Amazon author page is my new hobby. Third, so many doors are opening to talk about these concepts with audiences around North America. I'm thrilled to have a small part in reigniting people's passion for the Scriptures.

Where can people buy your book, and in what formats?

It's available directly from InterVarsity Press (ivpress.com) or on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. Christian Audio is also producing an audiobook.

Women with a Past?

Recently, I was a featured guest on the Journeywoman podcast. The topic was women in the Bible with a past. But in this case, they had a clean past but got labeled otherwise. Have a listen.

On Narratives and Central Propositions

Someone asked me this question recently: "Do authors (of classic literature, broadly, and the Bible, specifically) have an agenda/thesis/big idea/etc. in mind before/when they write? Or do they start writing and let an agenda emerge?"

And I said I think it depends on the genre.

If someone picked up a modern hymn book and tried to find a thesis, they’d be hard pressed to do so. Yet they would find a certain organization. I think the same is true with the Psalms. The psalms are a collection. Same with Proverbs. People look for outlines and central ideas on those books and…nada. That may even be the case with Song of Songs. For sure I think those who see a beginning-middle-end structure to Song of Solomon are pressing a later Greek storytelling structure on a 10th-century-BC book that was more likely chiastic if there is actually even a story to it.

I think the apostle Paul did have an organization in mind with the Book of Ephesians. In that book we see such a clear difference between the first half and the second. There's almost no application in the beginning; but it flips and then there's almost no theory at the end. Rather, application (second half) seems to flow from theory (first half).

The Book of Job seems to answer whether there is a clear cause/effect relationship between sin and suffering. (Often not.) But the work addresses a whole lot of other stuff too. Who knows how mountain goats calve? Who names the stars? Who keeps the ocean within its border? Whether the author set out to demonstrate that God is beyond us or whether he wanted to demonstrate how stupid our arguments can be when we accuse the suffering, there does seem to be an argument going, but not a sole argument.

Luke seems really into the insider/outsider emphasis, preparing his readers starting with Gentile women in Jesus's genealogy to accept that the Gentiles are “in.” Then he tells us about Jesus's encounter with the Syrophoenician woman. And the Roman centurion. He emphasizes believing Gentiles in a way we don’t see in other Gospel writers. But I’m not sure that means he set out only to do that when he puts together his history for Theophilus.

I think in Genesis, we’ve missed the boat by going with an "Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Joseph" outline. If we replaced Joseph with Judah, we’d see that the author following the Messianic line from Genesis 3, and we’d no longer view Tamar’s story as a weird interruption to the Joseph narrative. Instead, that story serves as a pivot point between Judah selling a brother and Judah offering his life for a brother. Wow. Something has changed! This Gentile woman ("outsider") who was not supposed to give a rip about the Messianic line apparently values it more than he ("insider") does. He is ready to do an honor killing when she is actually the righteous one and he is the one deserving death. And in a O'Connor-misfit-like moment, Judah sees himself. Joseph's story then fits how God is preserving that Messianic line, but the focus is on the line. So yeah, I think Moses was going somewhere and not just telling a general history of humanity and then switching to follow Jacob’s family. From the beginning he seems to be tracing God's hand as he keeps his promise to save humanity through the seed of the woman.

Some classic texts have a concept. Tale of Two Cities…tells the story of a substitutionary death for love.  But that does not mean every chapter has that idea.

Even J. K. Rowling said early on that she was a member of the Church of Scotland, and that if people knew that about her, they might figure out where her series was “going.” But not every chapter has a central idea/thesis.

Many writers also sit down with some characters in mind, and they don’t know where the story will take them. I didn’t write my novels with a central idea in mind. I wanted to “explore” some “themes.” Most stories are wrecked with too much of a didactic thrust.

I do think we do something bad to great texts when we dissect them to find only the ONE thing. When we re-read the Bible in different seasons, different truths jump out. Okay, I do think it’s doing violence to the text to make the stones in the Goliath story = faith, hope, and love or something that has nothing to do with the actual story. Or to make the story of Lydia only a treatise on women in the business world—which is not how her story functions at all in the Book of Acts.  But still, I might identify with the Prodigal’s older brother in one season and with the father in another. And with the prodigal himself in yet another. Jesus told that story to tell listeners something about God and grace, but he also did it in the presence of Pharisees. So the point of view we bring to a story might give us a different take-away from what someone else takes, or even what we ourselves take away in a different season. That is part of the beauty of story.

The beauty of a “Who is my neighbor, Good Samaritan” narrative is that it does way more than provide a dictionary definition of "neighbor." If Jesus was so set on the one thing, a Webster’s definition would have done a better job of closing the gap of potential for “missing IT.”

What do you think? How would you have answered?

How the Tamar Narrative Functions in the Judah and Joseph Narratives

I'm happy to have Carolyn Custis James as my guest today. In Vindicating the Vixens, she contributed the chapter on Tamar. In November she served on a panel of contributors who talked about narrative analysis at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island. Here are some quotes from her remarks: [In the Genesis narrative] just as the Joseph story reaches a fever pitch and readers are on the edge of their seats, instead of following Joseph into Egypt, the narrator follows Judah away from his family into Canaanite territory and into a salacious R-rated story involving prostitution with his daughter-in-law Tamar. From a literary perspective, the narrator’s choice seems counterproductive. From a pastoral perspective, this sordid story is problematic, unsuitable for a G audience, and devoid of any spiritual value. Pastors often skip it....Far from being a literary gaffe, the narrator’s decision to include this “enigmatic” episode is strategic;  Genesis 38 is actually the hinge that holds the Joseph story together. It bridges Jacob’s destructive favoritism and the searing father wound Judah suffers with the climactic meeting between Judah and Joseph in Egypt where warring brothers finally make peace.Here are a few suggestions for pastors to connect this ancient story with twenty-first century congregants:

• God’s love for the unloved and his power to rescue, redeem, and radically transform prodigals

  1. The power of wounds to destroy or make us.

  2. God calls his daughters to be bold agents for his purposes

  3. The self-sacrificing brand of masculinity the gospel produces and Judah ultimately embodies.

  4. In the current #MeToo epidemic, Tamar’s story gives pastors a call to courageously engage domestic abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, and violence against women. This is a #MeToo chapter.

Listen to Carolyn talk about this story on KCBI radio.

Fathom Magazine interview w/ me about Vixens

This interview with me ran in the latest issue of Fathom Magazine.  Today we’re happy to have as our guest Dr. Sandra Glahn. Sandi earned her ThM at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and her PhD at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in Humanities–Aesthetic Studies. A professor in the Media Arts and Worship department at DTS, she teaches courses in writing, medieval art/spirituality, gender, and sexual ethics. She is the author of more than twenty books, including the Coffee Cup Bible Study series. But today we want to talk with her about her latest book Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting the Sexualized, Vilified, Marginalized Women of the Bible (Kregel Academic), which just came out.

Tell us about Vindicating the Vixens.

Vindicating the Vixens has been on my heart and mind for more than a decade. As I studied history and cultural backgrounds at the doctoral level, I ended up revisiting some of our Western-influenced interpretations of the biblical text.For example, the woman Jesus met at the well in Samaria had five husbands, true enough (see John 4). But why do most people assume that means she was faithless and immoral? Women in her time and place did not divorce husbands five times. The man with the most recorded divorces had only three. If a woman did initiate legal proceedings, she had to do so through a male. Women could not simply walk into a court of law and speak on their own behalf. So, it’s unlikely that “the Samaritan woman” had divorced five husbands.Additionally, when we read that this woman’s current man was not her own, we assume she was living with some guy. Because that’s what it would mean in the West. But in her world, it is far more likely that she had to share a husband in a polygamous relationship in order to eat.Put these factors together, and you realize this person was probably not a beautiful young woman with loose morals. More likely, she was an older woman who had endured the death of a husband several times (war was the number one cause of death for men), been dumped a time or two, and consequently having to share a husband in order to survive. Additionally, the text says she was waiting for, looking with hope for, the Jewish Messiah (4:25).So we have, probably wrongly, assumed this woman was guilty of sexual promiscuity, and that Jesus was confronting her about her sin. More likely, Jesus was bringing up her greatest point of pain before revealing to her that he is the very Messiah for whom she has been waiting. For everyone else in Jesus’ world, the Lord seems to subtly veil who he is. But with this broken woman hanging on to hope, he comes right out with it.This woman is one of many whom the contributors to Vindicating the Vixens reconsider in light of what we know about cultural backgrounds, not only from new data but also from having more varied “eyes on the text.”

You’ve been known to talk about the importance of having varied eyes on the text. What do you mean by that?

Scholars from underrepresented groups looking at the Bible see what many of us in privileged positions have missed. They have brought to the text observations from a powerless perspective, which is the perspective of the typical person to whom Jesus ministers. (Like this great message from the perspective of those who are hearing impaired.) The body of Christ is made up of many parts that need each other to function as a healthy whole. But we’ve missed out on what some of those parts have to offer.In our book the contributors look afresh at Eve, Hagar, Sarah, Tamar, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Huldah, Bathsheba, Vashti, Mary Magdalene, The Samaritan Woman, Junia, and even the Virgin Mary—who gets marginalized by Protestants. And we look at them through the eyes of sixteen biblical scholars, each of whom hold a high view of scripture. And they all hold at least one advanced degree in Bible and theology. They are men and women; complementarian and egalitarian; American and Australian; black, white, Arab, and authors of books like Discipleship for Hispanic Introverts. Their varied backgrounds mean they bring insights in the text that the majority culture in North American has often missed—and exported. And as a result, the authors’ combined efforts provide a fresh look at the kindness of God and his heart for the vulnerable. (You can watch some of them talking about this book.)

What made you decide to do this project?

First, I believe men and women—not just husbands and wives—are supposed to partner in ministry. The church father Jerome had Paula partnering with him, though many think theologically trained women are a recent innovation. They are not. A greater emphasis on social history (as opposed to studying only troop movements, kings, and empires) has come from the academy due to women’s greater involvement in higher education in the past half-century. Trained social historians bring new ways of culling out data from the text—like what I just said about marriage practices in the Near East.But also, my deep friendship with some international students, especially those from Mexico, combined with travels to several continents told me we needed more than a Western perspective when doing observation, interpretation, and application.Additionally, part of my job used to involve serving as editor-in-chief of DTS Magazine for Dallas Theological Seminary, and I also teach theologically trained writers. So not only have I spotted some great writers, but I learned of projects people were doing that needed greater audiences. Sometimes the great writers were those doing this work.As a sampling, there was the student doing a thesis on Bathsheba (Sarah Bowler); a scholar who wrote a book on Arabs in the Bible that changed how I saw Hagar (Tony Maalouf); and a whole corpus of work on Bible stories that included women and men in need of vindication (Carolyn Custis James). For ten years or more I’ve been keeping a mental note of how these all fit together, and I could hardly wait to coordinate it.

What do you hope to accomplish?

Originally, I hoped only to help us read the Bible more accurately as we read about these women. But a happy result of the project was that the team of scholars went beyond simply exonerating those wrongly vilified or marginalized to explore what we have missed in the larger story by misunderstanding the smaller stories and how they fit into the whole. Now I see how the Tamar-posing-as-a-professional-sex-worker narrative fits into Joseph’s story in Genesis—which scholars have often assumed she merely interrupted. What emerged from all these micro-narratives was and is a clearer vision of God’s heart for the vulnerable in the meta-narrative.Before even writing, all of the authors agreed to donate profits to the International Justice Mission. So in a tangible way, we also hope our scholarship will lead to lives changed for the better for “the least of these.”

Read the chapter on Rahab by Eva Bleeker.

You can read an excerpt from Vindicating the Vixens about the context and cues from one of these heroines, Rahab.

In terms of ramifications for scholarship, I hope readers will see the absolute necessity of inviting to the table a more diverse group doing translation and interpretation than what we have typically had. I hope that we will never again see a translation of the Bible published that has only men or only women or only people from one “camp” looking at the text, but that we will instead celebrate our differences and seek diligently to include a variety of people due to our belief in God’s love for unity in difference.

Where can we find Vindicating the Vixens?

You can find the book at Amazon, Christianbook.com, and at the Dallas Seminary Book Center

Life Is Hard, but God Is Good

In the past two months, I have buried my father and walked my daughter through open-heart surgery. The “windsock in her heart,” as her surgeon described it, that had blood flowing the wrong way, was apparently congenital, but we didn’t discover it till this past July. She is still in the hospital, but she made it great through surgery on Tuesday. So now, in my great relief, I have some time to reflect on the whirlwind that has been my life for the past two months.My overwhelming sense is that I’ve been covered in the love of God. The Almighty works with precise timing that may not always thrill us in the moment (surgery the day before my first day of classes!?), but in retrospect is always perfect, and designed for our greatest good. That my father died during the summer meant Oregon was beautiful (such beauty heals me), and I could stay as long as Mom needed me and work remotely. As for Alex’s surgery, I wanted it on Thursday instead of Tuesday, but now I’m thankful she will be stronger going into the holiday weekend, when hospital staff may not be the A Team.My second observation is that I’ve been covered in the love of Christ’s people. I spent a long time last night writing thank-you notes, and I’m sure I’ve failed to remember some folks who have helped us out. . . . And some of the people who have helped don’t even know me or that they helped. They are writers whose books have encouraged me. Three authors of two books especially come to mind.First is Dave Furman and his new work, Being There: How to Love Those Who Are Hurting (Crossway). Dave, a DTS grad, serves as the senior pastor of Redeemer Church of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. His wife, Gloria, is a former student of mine.In 2006, Dave developed a nerve disorder in his arms that renders both of them nearly disabled—to the point where he can count on one hand the number of times he has held his four kids. In fact, they have to button his shirts for him. So he speaks with serious credibility about what does and doesn’t help. His chapter on what not to do is worth the price of the book. Our family has just come out of a season of care-giving for my Dad, and then we have been on the receiving end with our daughter. And I heartily agree with all his advice. Plus, he has a great perspective on suffering.The other two authors wrote a work that is actually not coming out till October 4 (I received an advance review copy). It’s a B&H release by Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible [yes, that's really her name] Williams titled She Reads Truth: Holding Tight to Permanent in a World That’s Passing Away. “She Reads Truth” was a community before it became a book. Four years ago, some strangers started reading Scripture daily, staying connected through the hashtag #SheReadsTruth. That gave way to a web site that led to an app. And today thousands open their Bibles and find Jesus in its pages every day.In the book by the same title, the founders share their stories about everyday life living in light of God’s permanence as the world passes away. Fathers die. Miscarriages happen. (Two stories with which I totally identify.) But God is with us, and he never changes. Nor does his love fade.What are you going through today? Christ promises, “I will be with you.” And if he is for you, who and what can prevail against you?

Mark Your Calendar

The great theologian N. T. Wright is coming to Dallas this fall, and you're invited to a free event.SMU-Perkins is hosting him for "Simply Wright" on the SMU campus November 15–17, and they've extended the invitation to friends in the community.Dr. Wright is professor of NT and Early Christianity at University of St. Andrews, as well as being a prolific author and a retired Anglican bishop. The topic is related to his book, Simply Good News: Why the Gospel is News and What Makes it Good. Go to smu.edu/perkins-simply-wright to sign up as well as receive discussion materials.The three public evening lectures, Nov 15–17, begin at 7:30 and will take place in this order: 15th in McFarlin Auditorium, 16th and 17th at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

Learn to Learn

I'm now a regular blogger for Geek Embassy. Here's my latest post, Learn to Learn: Not the "I love you" song but this most often got stuck in my head.

“I love you, you love me….” These lyrics played in my head for years as I worked with one of my clients, the then music producer for Barney and Friends. (Please don’t hold this against me.) I served both as his publicist and as the “studio mom” who booked kid singers for rehearsals and entertained them during breaks. And if I discovered one thing during that gig, it was this: I needed to revise my stereotypical view of home-schooled kids. Maybe some youngsters end up socially inept due to lack of interpersonal contact from learning at home, but I sure didn’t meet any of them. No, I met kids who could commit to acting and singing and creating because they had flexible class schedules and spent zero time lining up and waiting their turn for bathroom trips. These kids knew storylines from Gulliver’s Travels to Robin Hood (they even knew there was a version of the latter before the one with tights). And the biggest surprise: they had serious social skills like saying “please” and “thank you” to each other and looking grown-ups in the eye while conversing about how Maid Marian roamed through the woods dressed as a page.As part of my job, I also met the brilliant home educators behind the kids, parents deeply committed to teaching their children about botany by taking them to real forests and history by actual walking tours of Boston and panning for gold in California. Before long, I developed radar for super-geek home educators; I always loved asking what they were learning.Although I’ve long since changed careers, I’ve continued to pick the brains of home educators. And one of my favorites is Erin Teske. If I could have attended any schools in the world, I would have gone to Erin Teske Elementary, Erin Teske Middle School, and Erin Teske High School. Her kids did the. coolest. stuff.A few years ago, Rhonda, Erin (mother of Ellie), and I embarked on an Art-geek trip through Italy. From our base in Vicenza, we explored Florence, Padua/Milan, and Venice—with each of us responsible for one city. Rhonda took Milan, I took Venice, and Erin took Florence. And holy cow! Erin found us a hotel on the river’s edge near the city center with a terrace on the roof. (When Rhonda discovered the terrace and announced it with some exuberance, we thought she was saying there was a terrorist on the roof—but that’s another story.) In that city, thanks to Erin’s lesson plan, we “learned by seeing” about the transition from medieval to Renaissance art by observing our way through Giotto in the Brancucci Chapel, the Uffizi, and the Pitti Palace.I give you all this background to say this: when Erin recommends a book about self-education, I listen. And recently she give two thumbs up to one: Teaching How to Learn in a What-to-Learn Culture, by Kathleen Ricards Hopkins. Hopkins draws on up-to-date research about how people learn and provides how-tos for helping students develop as readers, writers, and mathematicians. But it’s not just for people seeking to educate geeklet spawns. Geeks themselves can benefit from learning how to help themselves learn.

My latest novel: Lethal Harvest Remix

Sixteen years ago, a couple of wannabe novelists saw stem cell research on the horizon and launched our first narrative that explored the ethical side of such complex medical issues. Completely apart from our planning, the book launch happened the same week leaders at the Human Genome Project announced they had a rough draft of the human genome. And that announcement thrust our subject into the headlines, so books flew off the shelves.The characters in our story used landlines. And they could receive email only when using desktop computers. No smartphones, no texting. And acting according to what is now outdated medical procedure.So this month, Lethal Harvest re-released with a makeover. In the 15+ years since we wrote the story, I've grown as a writer and spinner of yarns. So when Kregel asked for an update, I jumped at the chance to improve on the dialogue, characterization, and general storyline—while, of course, updating the tech. My beloved coauthor passed suddenly three years ago, so the new book also includes a preface I wrote about him.So now...voila! The new and improved Lethal Harvest about a rogue doc at an IVF clinic.

My Latest Book: A Short History of Ephesus

The city of Ephesus had great significance in the ancient world from its beginnings in the eighth century BC through the fall of Rome. Books of scripture were written to people in this city and from people residing there, as well. Cleopatra and Mark Antony killed off her sister here. And the temple of the Ephesian Artemis here was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The apostle Paul left after an uproar in Ephesus having to do with idols and money. And Shakespeare later made the city his setting for "A Comedy of Errors." (Ironically, Ephesus's history reads more like a tragedy than a comedy, considering that its inhabitants consistently sided with the losers.)For all these reasons I chose "The city of Ephesus from 100 BCE to CE 100" as one of my PhD examination fields. And having done all that research, I wanted to make accessible my summary of the city's history and ethos, especially for teachers and preachers seeking to understand biblical backgrounds and contexts for their messages.Voila! I have finally published my work as  The City of Ephesus: A Short History. It's a Kindle book in which I devote special emphasis to Ephesus’s prominence in the first centuries as a center of religious activity.The biblical Book of Ephesians was probably written to more than the church at Ephesus—perhaps also to the church at Laodicea and other nearby churches. But the apostle Paul's protégé Timothy was in Ephesus when Paul wrote him the letter known to us as 1 Timothy (1 Tim. 1:3). My work is, therefore, I believe, of greatest benefit to people teaching through that book. But hopefully it will be of help to anyone interested in the Acts of the Apostles (esp. Acts 19), the world of the earliest Christians, and biblical and historical backgrounds.

What Are You Worth?

Today I'm delighted to feature a guest post from my friend Mary DeMuth, who has a new book out:

I’ve been thinking a lot about my childhood lately. I saw a Netflix show where drug abuse was rampant, and I had to shield my eyes. I simply couldn’t see people snorting and drinking and shooting up. It brought back memories of my early life where my life was anything but safe.I was five, then. And the adults around me had parties. They would get stoned and unsafe. I would try to hide in my room, but the only route to the bathroom was through my bedroom, so they would parade through on unsteady legs, eyes red, hands flailing to keep balance.I turned my head to the wall, trying to escape into the well made between my twin bed and the wall. I fit like a snake into that skinny place, wanting to be so small no one would notice me. If you’re unnoticed, you can’t be hurt, at least that's what I hoped.This trauma affected me throughout my growing up years. I constantly found myself running—away from strangers, adult friends, and anyone who smacked of substance abuse.I couldn’t articulate it then, but deep down I felt my worth was tied to either being so small no one would notice or being noticed and finding out some people in the world liked to steal innocence from children.Worth has been a titanic struggle in light of that.So it’s strange that I would write a book about it. I’m not 100% healed of this little girl afraid of druggie parties. I literally shielded my eyes, hand in front of my face, when I watched the Netflix show.But I’m growing.I’m realizing that I’m not alone in this battle for worth. Most of you struggle too. We may have different reasons as to why, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that we desperately want to know we’re worthy.My worth, I realized, was tied to lies I believed about myself. I tackle ten of those lies in Worth Living: How God’s Wild Love Makes You Worthy.One of the lies is one that’s tied to my past: I deserve to be overlooked. The problem when you try to make yourself small and unnoticed is that eventually, you are. And then you feel unworthy of attention. What has helped me is healthy theology. The truth is God has chosen me (and you!). Before the foundation of the world, He has noticed you. He sent His son to die for you. And because of that love, you can live knowing that the Almighty God sees you. His love ushers in worth.I don't know when I’ll be able to watch drug parties on TV (or if I would ever want to). The nausea is real. But I’m grateful for bedrock truth: God saw me even then, and He set in motion a plan to save me before I even knew I needed saving.What about you? In what ways do you struggle with worth? How has God healed your understanding of who you are? Want to uncover the 10 lies and 10 truths that inform your worth? Get them free today at http://www.marydemuth.com

Sampling of Book Titles Inspired by Bible Verses

My dissertation supervisor told me that the Bible and Shakespeare were the two most-used sources for book titles. How many of these biblical phrases do you recognize?

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner

2 Samuel 19:4

An Acceptable Time              

Madeleine L'Engle     

Psalms 66:13

A Time to Kill                        

John Grisham            

Ecclesiastes 3:3

Behold the Man                     

Michael Moorcock      

John 19:5

Butter In a Lordly Dish           

Agatha Christie        

Judges 5:25

I Sat Down and Wept            

Elizabeth Smart         

Psalm 137:1

Clouds of Witness                  

Dorothy L. Sayers       

Hebrews 12:1

Consider the Lilies                 

Iain Crichton Smith    

Matthew 6:28

East of Eden                           

John Steinbeck           

Genesis 4:16

Fear and Trembling             

Søren Kierkegaard    

Philippians 2:12

The Golden Bowl                   

Henry James                

Ecclesiastes 12:6

The House of Mirth                

Edith Wharton            

Ecclesiastes 7:4

I Will Fear No Evil                  

Robert A. Heinlein     

Psalms 23:4

If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem   

William Faulkner       

Psalms 137:5

In a Glass Darkly                    

Sheridan Le Fanu       

I Corinthians 13:12

Jacob Have I Loved                 

Katherine Paterson    

Romans 9:13

The Last Enemy                     

Richard Hillary            

I Corinthians 15:26

Lilies of the Field                   

William E.  Barrett    

Matthew 6:28

The Little Foxes                     

Lillian Hellman            

Song of Songs 2:15

Many Waters                         

Madeleine L'Engle     

Song of Songs 8:7

The Millstone                         

Margaret Drabble      

Matthew 18:6

Moab Is My Washpot            

Stephen Fry                

Psalms 60:8

The Moon by Night                

Madeleine L'Engle     

Psalms 121:6

The Needle's Eye                   

Margaret Drabble      

Matthew 19:24

Noli Me Tangere                    

José Rizal                   

John 20:17

Number the Stars                  

Lois Lowry                  

Psalms 147:4

Quo Vadis                             

Henryk Sienkiewicz    

John 13:36 (Vulgate translation)

A Scanner Darkly                    

Philip K. Dick              

I Corinthians 13:12

Stranger in a Strange Land    

Robert A. Heinlein     

Exodus 2:22

The Sun Also Rises                

Ernest Hemingway    

Ecclesiastes 1:5

The Violent Bear It Away      

Flannery O'Connor     

Matthew 11:12 (Douay translation)

The Way of All Flesh             

Samuel Butler            

Joshua 23:14 (Wesley's notes translation)

The Wealth of Nations          

Adam Smith               

Isaiah 61:6

The Wings of the Dove          

Henry James              

Psalms 55:6

Restore My Soul: A Coloring Book Devotional Journey

Meditate using this new coloring book by Ann-Margret Hovsepian.

A couple years ago, my employer sent me to the Frankfurt Book Fair to spot trends. We want to prepare our students for what's coming, not what's been. Frankfurt is the largest book fair in the world, so I spent hours walking the aisles, talking to venders, and scoping out products. And I came home with a couple of coloring books for adults. I had never heard of such a thing! It was like paint by number only using colored pencils instead of paint—and without the numbers. I got to choose what colors I liked best.And sure enough, now they're everywhere, these books. And my friend Ann-Margret Hovsepian has created a nice one especially for helping us think about what matters. She includes a devotional thought with a verse opposite each coloring page. And the pages are thick enough that I could use a small magic marker without having it bleed through. Even non-artists can pull away from the screen and create within boundaries. Check out Restore My Soul.