My book, From the Garden to the City comes out on August 1, 2011, so I’ll be posting about it a few times in the coming weeks. If you’re interested you can see some sample chapters on http://fromthegardenttothecity.com/, and you can get more sample chapters if you help me publicize it through social media.
Endorsements
After the hard work of writing it was done, I came to the even tougher part of sending it off to people I deeply admire to ask them if they’d consider endorsing it. I’d like to offer a small thank you to them by telling you a little bit about each of them and what they mean to me.
Darrell Bock
Every scholar studying Luke/Acts knows Dr. Bock’s work, but those of us who’ve been around him know that his true power comes from his laugh which, on an open Texas plain, can be heard for almost a mile. He is an esteemed scholar, but he is also a clear, concise, and helpful communicator which has led to him appearing on just about every TV special that with a title along the lines of “Who was Jesus, really?” Dr. Bock is currently in Germany studying something awesome, but he took time from his sabbatical to read my manuscript and give me a very kind endorsement.
David T. Gordon
I first encountered Dr. Gordon when I came across his book Why Johnny Can’t Preach. I hadn’t yet found many Christians writing from the perspective of media ecology and it was only 112 pages so I figured it would be interesting and not too challenging. I was right on the first part, but quite mistaken on the second. Dr. Gordon provides searing insight into the ways media can shape our thinking and communication, and I think young preachers would do well to weigh his words. I sent him my manuscript to see what he thought and in the midst of writing several new books himself, he offered not only to endorse it, but to write a generous forward.
Albert Borgmann
We’ve been warned not to meet our heroes, but I’m so glad I had the chance to meet Dr. Borgmann. It’s exceedingly rare to find someone who is thoroughly Christian in his writing and thinking, and yet whose philosophical work is so groundbreaking that scholars are already writing about him and his work. Wired magazine reviews his books, he has his own Wikipedia page covering his ideas, and several chapters devoted to him in Blackwell’s Philosophy of Technology. In his opening talk at a small gathering this spring, he talked about how it was “the arrogance of youth” that led him to first start writing abouttechnology. The next day at breakfast, I told him I think I might be doing the same. Still, he was kind enough to read by book and offer his thoughts.
Jack Swearengen
The previous men are scholars of the biblical and theological kind, but Dr. Swearengen is more like a real like “rocket scientist.” During the Cold War, he actually built nuclear weapons, and afterward he helped create the technology to dismantle them. Today he’s a professor of engineering, and he combines his technical experience with his Christian perspective on technology to the classroom and in gatherings like like Veritas Forum and his book Beyond Paradise. After I wrote an article for Christianity Today, he took the time out of his busy schedule to reach out to me and we quickly became email friends. We were finally able to meet this spring, and he helped me hammer out a few rough spots in my manuscript.
Andy McQuitty
Dr. McQuitty has been my pastor for about 10 years, and each year I grow to respect him more and more deeply appreciate his fiery Irish heritage. He loves to pepper his sermons with fun words like “hoosegow” (which I think means “jail” in American-Irish) and “indefatigable” (which probably means the opposite of what you think). His honorable battle with cancer in 2009 and 2010 even found its way into my book. When I wanted a pastor’s perspective on whether or not what I had written was help, he was the first person to whom I turned.
You can read the actual endorsements at From the Garden to the City.