My Writing...
An Ongoing Journey
When I think about my calling, I believe I am called to write, preach, and teach. I have struggled with how to balance all of that, because time and finances do not exactly work that way!
As a writer, my vocation is governed by two different kinds of work. My main goal is to serve Christ in my writing by offering the church deep reflections on life with God that points people to him. To do this well, however, I do academic writing as a way to train my mind in a space that has more accountability and depth.
Moving between a more popular-readership and an academic one is difficult but, I think, important. Both can be done in service to the church, but nothing guarantees that. The academy is often governed by ideals and values that are antithetical to the cross. Nonetheless, academic writing is important in service to a call to be a teacher of the church, because it has accountability found in few other places.
Below I list the books I’ve published, as well as a video about prayer from my co-authored book Where Prayer Becomes Real. They are in three different categories that fall into different registers in my own mind about my publishing: Popular-level books, Academic Books, and The Jonathan Edwards Project. I hope my work can be meaningful to you!
Popular-Level Books
When God Seems Distant: Surprising Ways God Deepens Our Faith and Draws Us Near (Baker Books). This is the sequel to Where Prayer Becomes Real, and helps us understand what God is doing in seasons of joy and abundance and seasons of struggle, dryness, and even despair. This is a practical guide to walking with God in every season of the soul.
Where Prayer Becomes Real: How Honesty with God Transforms Your Soul (Baker Books, 2021). Ever wonder why prayer can be so confusing? A practical and spiritual guide to drawing near to God in the truth of your heart, and discovering God’s kindness exactly where you need it - your brokenness.
The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that has Abandoned It (Thomas Nelson, 2017). One of the biggest issues in the church today is toxic power infiltrating the church. We’ve seen legions of pastors and other leaders prove to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. In this book we seek to name what has gone wrong and how Jesus offers a different way.
Beloved Dust: Drawing Close to God by Discovering the Truth About Yourself co-authored with Jamin Goggin (Thomas Nelson, 2014). This is a call to be a creature, because that is the only thing you can actually be. Find freedom in the truth of how you were created and what you were created for.
Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards (IVP, 2013). What did Edwards think about spiritual formation? How did early evangelicals understand the Christian life? This is an introduction to our own spiritual history, which we still have much to learn from.
Academic Books
Important to my vocation is the call to write academically as well. This includes articles as well as written books and edited volumes.
Sanctification co-authored with Kent Eilers (Baker Academic, forthcoming). This is a part of a series of books called the Soteriology and Doxology Series that I am co-editing with Kent Eilers.
Virtue Ethics, Grace, and a Protestant Doctrine of Infusion edited with Lucy Peppiatt (Routledge, forthcoming).
Reformed Dogmatics in Dialogue: The Theology of Karl Barth and Jonathan Edwards co-edited with Uche Anizor (Lexham Press, 2022).
Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice co-edited with John Coe (IVP Academic, 2019).
Sanctified in Grace: A Theology of the Christian Life co-edited with Kent Eilers (T&T Clark, 2014).
Reading the Christian Spiritual Classics: A Guide for Evangelicals co-edited with Jamin Goggin (IVP Academic, 2013).
The Jonathan Edwards Project
I started something I call “The Jonathan Edwards Project” years ago as an attempt to make the writings of Jonathan Edwards more accessible. Edwards is an important figure in all sorts of ways, but he is often misread or commandeered to agendas that are foreign to his thinking. To understand evangelical theology, it is important to know Edwards’s thinking, but also critique it when needed. Here is a developmental list of resources I’ve published and edited for that end.
101 - Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God’s Love, edited and introduced by Kyle Strobel (Crossway, 2012). This is the best place to start reading Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards: Spiritual Writings Classics of Western Spirituality Series edited with Ken Minkema and Adriaan Neele (Paulist Press, 2019). This is a collection of key texts on Edwards’s spirituality. This is a great volume for key selections from across Edwards’s writings.
201 - Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards (IVP, 2013). This tries to capture the vision of early evangelical spirituality.
301 - I’m working on this right now, and I’m really excited about it. More to come.
401 - Jonathan Edwards: An Introduction to His Thought co-authored with Oliver Crisp (Eerdmans, 2018). This introduction to Edwards’s thought is used in graduate school courses on Edwards. It is an introduction, and so it does not assume knowledge of Edwards’s thought specifically, but it does assume an academic background.
501 - Jonathan Edwards’s Theology: A Reinterpretation (T&T Clark, 2013). This is a re-worked version of my dissertation on how to read Edwards’s theology. It serves as a methodological work on reading Edwards as a Reformed theologian.
Other works:
Reformed Dogmatics in Dialogue: The Theology of Karl Barth and Jonathan Edwards co-edited with Uche Anizor (Lexham Press, 2022).
Regeneration, Revival, & Creation: Religious Experience and the Purposes of God in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards with Chris Chun (Pickwick Publications, 2020).
The Ecumenical Edwards: Jonathan Edwards and the Theologians (Ashgate Publishing, 2015).