The Week in Review (December 2, 2023)

So we enter the final month of 2023. This week blew by. I find myself looking back and wondering where it went. Such it would seem is most of life for many of us. We wake up one morning and we are old, and we can't quite figure out where our lives went. I am not 60, but I do find myself feeling old on several counts.

The main event of my week was a quick trip to Dallas to ACSI headquarters. My organization and ACSI have been working together for a couple years now. We are doing a lot of work currently with Christian high schools, so an ongoing relationship seems appropriate. 

I'm effectively the chief academic officer for Campus Edu, so there was a lot of "make sure everyone and every course gets across the finish line" work this week. Checking in on students, checking in on professors. A little teaching here and there. Not a lot of time for my own projects. We are on a deadline to get dozens of micro-courses launched for Kingswood University by the first of the year, so that is consuming a lot of time. I'm working on several higher ed courses for spring too. A lot to do.

My daughter Sophie is doing a quick once around Europe this week. She's been through Amsterdam and is now in Germany. Strikes and snow are messing with her nicely laid-out plan a bit. She's bringing back memories. On this score, she's reliving some of my life.

AI is coming. It's only here in a taste. I know new millionaires are in the making. I won't be one of them. I suppose AGI might make that money meaningless anyway. We'll see. I wouldn't mind AI taking over the world. Just as long as I could convince it of the right values. :-)

That's it for this week in review. This weekend? Hopefully a couple more chapters of AI translation. A bit of work on a biology course and a missional ministry microcourse. Probably should slip a run in there. Grading would be responsible. Blessings to you all.

Two Weeks in Review (November 25, 2023)

I missed last week's review because I was in Scotland for my daughter's master's graduation from the University of Edinburgh. I also missed SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), although I doubt I would have gone anyway this year.  

A lot of scholarly banter is the process of sorting through ideas, so I suppose much of the process of this sort of scholarship does not end up going anywhere. Probably most papers at SBL, IBR (Institute for Biblical Research), or ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) end up unhelpful to anyone but the presenter.

There are some works each year that stand out, and the book hall is always a highlight. This year, Nijay Gupta's Tell Her Story has sold so many copies that it has already gone through several printings. It is of course scholarship written for a more general audience. 

The divide between the academy and the grassroots church seems larger than ever. The academy has a tendency to be dismissive because it knows stuff, but the popular church has its own interests and is making itself heard. I have long mourned the seeming inability of the two to communicate with each other. They both need each other.

2. Scotland was enjoyable. Very proud of my daughter. Made me want to write a book summarizing my twelfth-grade humanities class. It was a mixture of history, art, philosophy, and literature. We went to several museums, including the Kelvingrove in Glasgow. We saw El Grecos, Picasso, van Gogh, Renoir, Raphael, etc. Plenty of history too. John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, St. Giles. Good food as well -- Italian, Greek, Korean, Scottish breakfasts, etc.

I finished the church history micro-course the week prior to departure. I was told the material was very good, perhaps even publishable. Now finishing up a How to Study the Bible micro-course featuring some videos from David Smith.

Not much else to say. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Life goes on.

The Week in Review (November 11, 2023)

1. Quite a significant week for Campus Edu and perhaps for higher education. Our partner, Oklahoma Baptist University, launched Raley College at OBU with us. The concept is fairly simple:

• You live in the dorm and participate in campus life. You go to chapel. You eat in the cafeteria. You can't play intercollegiate sports, however, because you're in an associate degree program (AA in Interdisciplinary Studies).
• You take one face-to-face class, but the other four are online classes partnered with Campus. They are, in effect, OBU classes with OBU professors in OBU's catalog. Campus Edu is like a really fancy textbook with a professor inside.
• The tuition is $10,000, making this the least expensive tuition of any CCCU school. The goal is to serve as a junior college. Why go to a secular community college, sometimes with less equipped instructors?
• Someone could of course commute. Room and board is $8400.

This is like a Priceline model. Sell the empty rooms in your dorms at a special rate. Why let them sit empty? Most students will still want the classroom experience if they can afford it. But this just might get some to come who can't. And they get a Christian perspective with courses designed for digital natives. Then you can try to upsell them into your bachelor's programs.

OBU has been a model partner. They are motivated, willing to take calculated risks, willing to change when it is reasonable. They have really helped us refine the model. Rarely have we found such a nimble partner. We have talked to other potential partners whose fear of cannibalizing students who might pay full price undermined the project. 

The key is that virtually no student actually pays full sticker price at any private college. By the time scholarships and such are added, the average tuition a student pays is usually about half of the sticker price. It's a game. And the amount a college wants to make on a student from tuition is perhaps half of that. In the end, colleges won't actually make much less on a student with this program. And if it gets or retains students who wouldn't otherwise have attended, it's gold.

2. The rest of my week was spent working on church history courses. On Wednesday, Bud Bence and I met on the campus of Anderson University where the Wesleyan Church was founded. We did some bantering about the merger. This will become a Wesleyan Church History and Discipline course toward ordination, largely with Kingswood, with some other surprises in store. Kingswood has also proved to be a model partner.

The rest of the week I was putting together the micro-course version of Bud Bence's full church history course. A Bud Bence legacy course already exists through Kingswood. As part of the Kingswood Learn project, we will be rolling out over fifty free micro-courses for the Wesleyan Church. One of them is a crash five Lesson course in church history, featuring some videos from Bud's broader class.

The church is going to love what Kingswood is providing as a service, for free. What an incredible discipleship tool for the church!

The Week in Review (November 4, 2023)

1. The week started in Oklahoma with the Campus team. We were visiting a great university that I may post about on Linkedin in the near future. This is a scrappy college that is not only willing to think outside the box, but they know how to navigate the landmines. This one might make the papers.

We have only encountered a few colleges with this kind of growth mindset. Some just don't see it. Some can't get out of their own way. Some think they're God's gift to academia.  

2. Kingswood is another scrappy college that is seizing the moment. Almost all of the video for the upcoming free micro-courses is shot and now we are busy assembling the courses themselves. Really shaping up to be quite a contribution to the church. Look for the primary launch at the first of the year.

3. Work on spring courses is also in full swing. Here is an example of a high school landing page we have set up for Houghton Academy. We have almost twenty Christian high schools now taking these courses. Another university in Missouri has just signed up as another option to transcribe the credit, with more colleges on the way. Momentum!

4. That doesn't leave a lot of time for personal goals. Nevertheless, I continue working on AI translations of John and Revelation. I did some outlining for a book on Science and Scripture. Hopefully I'll live long enough to finish some of these projects.

Week in Review (October 28, 2023)

1. A good work week. I am working a lot with content, which suits my skills as a writer. I built the content for a micro-course called "Theology of the Body" featuring Jonathan Morgan. This is the Kingswood Learn project where Kingswood will soon be offering to the church over fifty free courses on topics relevant to Christian life and the church. We also set in motion a new dual enrollment course in Psychology and set up the process for others to move forward for spring.

I have long recognized that capitalism generally rewards those who mechanize content rather than those who create it. It is not the screenwriters that make the big bucks in Hollywood but the actors and especially the producers. Jeff Bezos isn't a billionaire because he writes books but because he sells them. This is just the way the world is. I am a content provider.

2. I have been moving forward with "Project One-Two Punch." This is to have a free e-book to get people to sign up for my book distribution list. Then I will offer a three-book bundle as a follow-up. If you've read these posts, you might remember that I've been debating which books to feature. I've played a little with the idea of an AI paraphrase of the Bible.

A night ago, I was having trouble sleeping and edited AI paraphrases of John 1 and Revelation 1. Then I added study notes to Revelation 1 in study Bible format (biblical text at top, study notes at bottom). I was actually pretty pleased with the combination of using ChatGPT to create a raw translation/paraphrase and then for me to use my knowledge and skills to edit it. Tonight I did John 2 and Revelation 2.

I don't know if anyone will buy it, but that's how I'm proceeding. The current plan is to give the "AI Living Paraphrase" of the Gospel of John away for free in exchange for signing up for my emails. Then the bundle will include Study Notes on an AI paraphrase of Revelation and two other books for $19.99 plus shipping. For the other two books, I'm currently thinking Gabriel's Diary: The Incarnation and Chats About God: A Novel Seeking Faith. We'll see.

3. I am fascinated by the reaction of so many younger Americans against Israel and for the Palestinians. Clearly, the situation is complicated. Hamas committed horrible atrocities and the guilty parties should be eliminated. At the same time, the response sometimes seems to hit the wrong target in a disproportionate way. I'm curious how these events will play themselves out in the next presidential election.

4. A new speaker of the House. I read an interesting interview about the speaker here. Another shooter in Maine. No will to change anything as usual.

The Week in Review (October 21, 2023)

1. My work continues to go well. Very excited about current and emerging products and partnerships. For example, you will be able to take a cybersecurity class through Campus Edu in the Spring.

2. Today I had my first stint on a DBMD (District Board of Ministerial Development). I consider it a sacred task. Our job is both to mentor and assess candidates for ordination. I was very pleased with all the candidates we saw today.

The process reflected the organizational genius of Carla Working and Kalina Carlson. It was SO well run. It was by light years a more efficient and helpful process than when I went through over 30 years ago. One could also see continued signs of the "Alan Hirschification" of the denomination, particularly on the subject of baptism.

3. As last weekend came to an end, I finished evaluating a paraphrase (not The Passion translation). In a little shy of a month, I had plowed through the 260 chapters and 7,959 verses in the NT one by one noting significant paraphrases, paraphrase and interpretive additions, omissions, and general errors. Quite a task.

One thing led to another, and at the end of the week, I ended up experimenting a little with using AI to "translate" some chapters of the Bible with a relatively young reader in view. I liked the result. I know someone will publish an AI "translation" of the Bible. Why not me? We'll see.

4. The House still hasn't elected a speaker. The Republican Party seems like a complete mess. After January 6, it is befuddling to me that Donald Trump could be a candidate for President again.  

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict continues. As it turns out, the bombing of a hospital was probably an errant jihadist missile. It is a reminder of our knowledge predicament. Much of the time, you and I are not in a position to know what's really going on. We're just sitting somewhere on our phones or laptops being fed stuff. We should have a "hermeneutics of suspicion" toward the voices out there, especially the ones we like the most. 

The Week in Review (October 14, 2023)

I write my weekly entry with a lovely night pitter-patter of rain on the roof in the background.

1. The big world news this week is the attack of Hamas on Israel. My first thought was what in the world were they thinking. Israel generally smashes them after this sort of thing. They seem to have no chance of success. One difference this time is hostages. Hamas has hostages, which makes this a somewhat different situation. Nevertheless, the smashing has begun. 

Having said that, what has happened consistently in the past with major conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians is that Israel ends up with more land. Israel telling the Palestinians to vacate the northern Gaza Strip has the possible markings of another land expansion. Lots of thoughts about these things, but my thoughts will have no impact on the situation. 

Lots of people talking prophecy. God of course can fulfill the words of Scripture however he wants. In context, however, I doubt there is any passage in the Bible that had the current conflict in mind. My grandfather would have a different approach if you want to read his book.

2. Lots of great things happening with Campus Edu. I expect a string of partnership announcements and ventures over the next weeks. With regard to the micro-courses for Kingswood Learn, I was privileged to work on J. L. Miller's micro-course on "Healthy Spiritual Practices" this week. I think you're going to love what he has to say!

3. I've been filling every extra moment with my translation evaluation work. Even now I hope to work quite a bit in the night. Did you know the New Testament has 260 chapters and almost 8000 verses? I will have read through the whole New Testament with an eye to the Greek hopefully in two or three more days. For the record, I'm not liking the particular translation I'm working through much at all (it's not the Passion). 

I keep wishing I could be working on my own Explanatory Notes as I go verse by verse through the NT. I hope I can before I die. What I wouldn't mind some help pondering is whether the verse-by-verse format is actually desirable. I've wondered if people might enjoy more a selective commentary--verses where there is something striking. I was getting at something like that with my "Ten Surprising Things about Romans" idea. Your thoughts always welcome.

Well, back to Acts...

The Week in Review (October 7, 2023)

I have high hopes to get well into Acts today in my translation evaluation work, so I'll try to make quick work of this post.

Good work week. Contracts a'flying. New initiatives a'baking. Students a'cookin. Campus Edu is on a flywheel that, I predict next year at this time, will be spinnin' like crazy.

I'll cryptically say that I continue to watch events at Christian colleges with interest. Change is often an opportunity for improvement, but it can also reflect disintegration. Wondering if anyone is noticing and what their sense of the direction is.

I'm using every drop of extra time to work on this translation evaluation. I didn't advance hardly at all on my book-selling schemes.

US politics is more of the same, same old same old. Conservatives in the House take us to the brink on keeping the government open. The unhinged element in the "Republican" party ousts the Speaker of the House. Now we're in chaos. I don't know if the Democrats will end up liking this play or not. They participated in it no doubt hoping for something more moderate. Will they get it? "The grass is always greener..."

I waiver between disgust and despair.

The Week in Review (September 30, 2023)

I always start these posts feeling like not much has happened this week, but then the posts seem to fill out as I start writing.

1. In my work, I have been working extensively with putting together what we are calling "micro-courses" with Kingswood University. I do believe these are going to turn out to be a major resource for the Wesleyan Church. This week I focused on finishing Steve Lennox's micro-course on the Old Testament and Abson Joseph's similar course on the New Testament. Previously, I put together two leadership courses by Laurel Buckingham.

2. Our partnership with Oklahoma Baptist continues to be incredibly fruitful in relation to dual enrollment and a dorm-filling initiative, and other schools are lining up. I continue to mourn the fact that we couldn't get any Wesleyan school in the US to partner on some of these initiatives. I do think history will shake its head at this fact. So many missed opportunities handed on a plate and shunned. Our last-minute dual enrollment venture this fall so far has accrued over 50 students from a dozen high schools. Imagine what this initiative will become when it has lead time and grows. 

3. I've tried to continue inching forward with my book-selling project. I will aim to market a Gabriel's Diaries sequence in early December. In the meantime, I may try mid-October to launch another bundle. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Give away an e-book version of Who Decides What the Bible Means? for free to generate an email list of interested readers.
• Then offer at a discounted rate a "God bundle" of 1) Chats about God,  2) The Problem of Evil and Suffering, and 3) God and Creation for about $19.99 (a savings of about $11)

I'll redo the covers of three of these and give the content another edit. Thoughts?

4. Little by little, I've been evaluating another translation. I'm less impressed with this one. It does give one a vision for what an exciting paraphrase might look like. I always think of the Jewish targumim when I'm reading paraphrases. These were interpretive renderings and expansions of Old Testament texts. They indicate that at least some Jews felt free to do Message and Passion type ventures with the biblical texts. What could a hyper-interpretive paraphrase look like that was somewhere between a study Bible and a more formal translation?

As an example of what I'm thinking, take Galatians 2:16. Let me give first a formal translation and then a "targumic" paraphrase:

• "knowing that a person is not justified by works of Law except through faith of Jesus Christ, even we have put faith in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith of Christ and not from works of Law, because from works of Law no flesh will be justified."
• "Since we know that you cannot come to be in right standing with God by paying close attention to aspects of the Jewish Law like circumcision, the food and purity rules, or Sabbath observance. Many in the Jesus movement think that will get you a long way toward a right standing, but everyone in the movement would agree that you must also trust in the faithful death of Jesus our Messiah. For that reason, everyone in this debate has trusted in Messiah Jesus so that we can be in right standing with God, as it were, by "the faith of Christ." I'm using a double entendre here. I mean both the faithfulness that Jesus showed in going to the cross and dying and the fact that we have put our faith, our trust, in Jesus as well. Notice that we all agree that Jesus is essential to this right standing. Everyone agrees that the particulars of the Jewish Law--especially those that separate Jew from non-Jew, will not get you there by themselves alone. This reality is indicated even in Psalm 143:2, which implies that no Jew is inherently right with God just by being a good Jew and keeping the Law."

Imagine doing that with the whole New Testament!

I will leave these notes at that. Thoughts welcome!

The Week in Review (September 23, 2023)

1. The big news this past week is the official publication of Explanatory Notes on the Sermon of Hebrews. This was with Cascade Publishing, an imprint of Wipf & Stock Publishers. It is my first time publishing with them, although I do have a second contract for an inductive Bible study textbook with them that is 3/4 done.

It is aimed at a church audience so it doesn't have a lot of footnotes. Thanks to Amy Peeler for writing a little blurb for the back. I did a little book for Seedbed on Hebrews and did the notes for the CEB Study Bible on Hebrews, but this book would capture my understandings the best so far in one place.

2. It was also my birthday this past week. I repeat what everyone says in this stretch of life and beyond. "How did I get this old?" Even since high school, the passage of time has always been a mystery to me. Every morning as I walked across the breezeway at Fort Lauderdale High School, I wondered how I managed to get from the previous day to the next one. Now I seem to have tunneled to the future in my late 50s.

I don't feel mature enough to be this old.

3. I have been providing feedback for a revision of The Passion Translation. This last week and some change, I compared its Gospel of Mark to the Greek. I find this version of Mark to do a pretty good job of making clear what is happening in the text. Matthew seemed a little more out there than Mark. My biggest critique is the assumption that the Syriac translation of the Gospels somehow has a more direct route to the original. Rather, the Syriac is probably a translation from the Greek.

When I put my marketing hat on, however, this is a great advantage. I think Brian Simmons genuinely thinks that the Peshitta is a window to Jesus and the original wording. This not only gives readers a sense of uncovering secrets to the text, but it also validates the added material that is in the King James Version. That makes the paraphrase very marketable to a certain audience, I would say.

4. I've mentioned that am exploring a new writing journey. Last week's catalog of my self-published books was getting ready. What I think I need to launch the new project, perhaps, is a bundle of my books to sell. One would be a free e-book. Then the other three would be a special deal. If you want to give me advice, I'll take it!

I'm currently playing with the idea of a Christmas special:

• Give away for free as an e-book: God with Ten Words
• Revise, update the cover, and use The Incarnation: Gabriel's Diaries as an anchor.

Then in the next two months, I would write two more in the Gabriel's Diaries series with somewhat of an affinity to Christmas:

• The Intertestament: Gabriel's Diaries -- In this novel, Gabriel would narrate the intertestamental period in preparation for Jesus. It would speculate on the origins of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and tell a story of the origins of the Apocrypha. 
• The Book of Daniel: Gabriel's Diaries -- I have some wild stuff in mind for this one!

What do you think? Would you get on a mailing list for this sort of bundle?

5. Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a good week!

My Independently Published Book Catalog

I have two sets of books that I have written. First, there are the books I have published with established publishers. These range from Cambridge to Westminster John Knox. I have a book coming out soon with Cascade. My general goal is to publish a book a year the old-fashioned way. These are the ones I put on my C.V. and that have the more extensive footnotes. I think I'm around 31 books in this category.

Then there are the self-published ones. Unless you're N.T. Wright or a small handful of authors, you can't always get a publisher. And normal publishing is slow. I'm sure it has hurt my reputation, but woe is me if I publish not my thoughts.

I also wanted to see if they could be a revenue source. Only a few select individuals can make significant amounts on officially published books. And I did make a little money when my NT Survey was part of the adult program at IWU in the 2000s. Over 10,000 copies sold. In the heyday, IWU automatically shipped new copies to students. It was a nice check every year. At its peak, it was maybe a seventh of what I was earning with my day job. 

I have yet to make more than a few hundred dollars a year on self-published books. I am strategizing and learning. Stay tuned. At the same time, I'm not sure I've ever cataloged my "independently published" books. That is a significant failing on my part. They are not widely known. I hope to have a Shopify store up in the next month or two. 

But for the moment, here is a catalog of the books I have self-published.

1. Who Decides What the Bible Means? (2006, 2018)
This was my first self-published book, back before CreateSpace and KDP. Keith Drury put me on to Lulu Publishing. I had first submitted it as a part of a contest to WJK. Got an interesting eyebrow-raised response. Waited a year on Abingdon to respond. In the meantime, they published a similar book by a more famous author. I always found that sequence suspicious. I think the book would have done well with Abingdon if they had gone with it.

"Walk down the typical city street in America and you will see church after church, all with different beliefs. What is even more intriguing is the fact that most of them claim to get their beliefs from the Bible. Who decides which interpretation is right In this book, Ken Schenck explores why Christians believe so many different things about the Bible and suggests the best way for Christians to use the Bible with integrity."

2. The Problem of Evil and Suffering: Why Does God Allow It? (2012)
This was my first with CreateSpace when it was a distinct element in Amazon's network. This was exciting--to be able to publish directly to Amazon. Since I don't have a silver bullet on the problem of evil, not least, this book never made the rounds.

"Those who believe God is loving and good have always wrestled with the question of why he allows evil and suffering to continue in the world. This short book presents some of the best suggestions."

3. The True Wesleyan (2012)
Named after an early Wesleyan Methodist magazine, my goal in this short work was to capture what was distinctive about the Wesleyan Church's identity. I was Dean of Wesley Seminary at the time and still had hopes to see the Wesleyan Church be a thought leader. I saw such great potential.

I suspect some of this book would be more controversial now than it was then since the frog has been boiling in the kettle in the broader culture. But I still think it is a good presentation of some of the strongest potential contributions of the Wesleyan Church to the church and world today.

"A brief overview of the historic strengths of the Wesleyan tradition, including its optimism about what God wants to do in the world and its focus on the heart."

4. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology I: The Word of God: Summary and Evaluation (2013)
I thought I might catch some spillover traffic from individuals going to buy his infamous theology book. I do still get a regular trickle on this one, although it's hard to beat Amazon's algorithmic filters.

"Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology is widely influential. It is well laid out, easy to understand, and has components that make working through it a spiritual experience. The problem is that it is wrong at a number of fundamental points. This is the first of seven booklets summarizing and evaluating Grudem's theology. This first booklet evaluates his theology of Scripture, whose underlying problem is that it is riddled with anachronistic thinking. Grudem neither fully knows how to read the books of the Bible in context, nor is aware of how fundamentalist Reformed influences have skewed his interpretations of Scripture."

5. Explanatory Notes on Galatians (2013)
The next month after I self-published the book on Grudem, I self-published the first in my "Explanatory Notes" series. I had long been inspired by Wesley's Explanatory Notes that he wrote during a year when he was sick. I have all sorts of fragments of these on this blog. My goal was and I suppose still is eventually to publish these notes on the whole Bible. The thought was to keep myself motivated by doing it in atoms, then molecules. I have several of these in various stages of production, now linked to my weekly podcast, "Through the Bible in Ten+ Years."

6. God and Creation: Wesleyan-Arminian Reflections (2015)
As I was finishing up as Dean of Wesley, I blogged through Wesleyan (Church) theology systematically. I used short articles with one-sentence theses to capture our shortened spans of attention. I tried to make it fit what I take to be the pragmatic potential of our tradition. And of course, I engaged Scripture extensively. It was not until this year (2023) that I finally published all the pieces of what was originally a blog series.

"This book explores the classical topics of Christian theology in relation to God and creation from a Wesleyan-Arminian perspective."

7. Six Years a Dean: Reflections on the Founding of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University (2017)
I wrote this about a year after I left the seminary to go back to the undergraduate school of ministry. The historian in me wanted to preserve the founding of Wesley Seminary because I thought God had done something pretty spectacular and exciting. It still has a strong Hispanic MDIV program going, but it seems to me that it has generally lost its original flavor.  

"The founding of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University was an adventure in academic innovation and entrepreneurship. This book gives over six years' worth of reflections by the founding Dean."

8. Gabriel's Diary: The Incarnation (2017)

This was the very first novel I ever finished. I have over fifty more that I started over the years, going back even to before my England days. The goal was to tell the story of the Bible from Gabriel's perspective. Writing in novel form allows not only speculation but going well beyond. The goal was eventually to have a compilation volume going from creation to Revelation. I did three of five proposed volumes, but lack of interest killed my motivation.

"Gabriel is the archangel God uses more than any other to communicate with the universe. In this first of several entries into his diary, Gabriel recounts the coming of the Logos to the Earth as Jesus the Christ."

9. Gabriel's Diary: The Enthronement (2018)
The second installment looked at Jesus' earthly ministry, death, and resurrection.

"In the first installment of his diary, the archangel Gabriel shared his reflections on Jesus' incarnation as a child. In this second volume, he shares the story of Jesus' earthly ministry, death, and resurrection."

10. Gabriel's Diary: The Creation (2018)
I sensed a little interest in the first two volumes. There didn't seem any interest at all in this third volume, although I was very excited about it. I thought this might be an experimental niche volume for nerds interested in cosmological physics and science. It also was a chance to explore whether it was possible to integrate evolution with the biblical narrative and Christian theology. The result had a C.S. Lewis feel of a sort. But the book has been a dud so far as far as sales. The cover didn't help.

What I've realized is that it is almost impossible anymore to sell books on Amazon without a lot of work and investment. I'm currently studying how to do it. I may resurrect this series in a new form. For example, "The Story of Romans: Gabriel's Diaries."

"This third novella in the Gabriel series has Gabriel recount the creation of the universe up to the fall of humanity in the rainforest of Eden. The account implicitly speculates how the perspectives of modern science might cohere with Scripture and Christian theology."

11. Paul Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory: Schenck Notes (2018)
Similar to the book on Grudem, I thought I might capture a niche of people trying to understand this classic philosophical, hermeneutical work. I thought I might do my own "Cliff Notes" on key biblical and philosophical writings. I had blogged through this book, so it also fits in the category of taking material I had blogged and translating it into book form."

"Paul Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory is a classic in hermeneutics. These Schenck notes walk through the text, breaking it down so it can be understood and connected to related works."

12. A Horse Strangely Warmed: The Life of John Wesley as Told by His Horses (2019)
I don't know what I was thinking. I just had a funny thought one day. Tell the story of Wesley from the standpoint of his horses. This is my fourth novel finished. How one laugh sustained me to finish this book I don't know. Very unusual. It took a bit of research, since I'm not a Wesley expert. I have memories of writing it in my office at IWU in the library. I thought it might be popular with Methodists and Wesley fans. It does have a prancing of sales from time to time but never a gallop.

"See the ministry of John Wesley as seen through his horses--Maggot, Holey, Sophy, Grace, Georgy, and Charlie."

13. Explanatory Notes on 1 and 2 Thessalonians (2020)
After a seven-year hiatus, I took some of the explanatory notes from my blog and published another volume of the Explanatory Notes series. Three out of Paul's 13 down, 10 to go. I have plenty of fragments wanting to be filled out. For example, I think I have all of Philippians lying here on this blog somewhere.

"In the spirit of John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, Ken Schenck translates 1 and 2 Thessalonians verse by verse. The book gives general insights into the original meaning of Paul's earliest letter, as well as plenty of speculation about the setting of Paul's most mysterious letter."

14. God with Ten Words (2021)
I was also excited about this one. It attempted to capture some key insights into Christian beliefs about God in ten words. Simple, I thought. What I have learned is that, as much of a reach as I have, I will never be able to make substantial revenue off of my current social media network. Self-published authors have to market to 10,000s and spend $100s a day to find and maintain an audience.

"It is common to speak of the attributes or characteristics of God. This book picks ten key characteristics of God and explores them both biblically and theologically. God is mystery, love, power, knowledge, presence, Immanuel, good, parent, justice, and savior."

15. Profound Spiritual Reflections (or not) (2022)

I did make a good first round of sales on this one. Many of my students from the 2000s bought this compilation of Deep Thoughts as a good memory from their time at IWU. Dave Mason brought them back by having me give them at Silver Lake camp in Ontario.

"Life is serious. These thoughts are not. Amid the insanity of life and current events, these thoughts will hopefully brighten your day."

16. Profound Halloween/Reformation Day Reflections (or not) (2022)
I wondered if a follow-up edition focused on Halloween and Reformation Day might be a hit as well. Not so much. It was the memory of earlier days that sold the first more than the jokes themselves, it seems. Volumes I pondered on Christmas, July 4, and beyond have not materialized.

"The Reformation was serious. Halloween and these (not so) profound reflections are not. Amid the frivolity of Halloween and the never-ending splintering of Christianity, these thoughts are meant to brighten your day."

17. Christ and Salvation: Wesleyan-Arminian Reflections (2022)
In 2022 I resolved to finish editing the systematic theology I had blogged through several years previous and publish it. After God and Creation, the next block of material was on Christology and soteriology. Seven years later.

"This book explores the classical topics of Christian theology in relation to Christ and salvation from a Wesleyan-Arminian perspective."

18. Explanatory Notes on Jesus' Birth (2022)
Following the same idea I had used for Gabriel's Diaries a few years earlier, I resolved to have Explanatory Notes on key passages in the Gospels ready for Christmas and Easter. I needed to be a little earlier, but managed to publish this one December 16, barely in time for Christmas.

"This book is part of a number of "Explanatory Notes" I have published on the New Testament. This one looks at the birth stories in Matthew and Luke, as well as the Prologue in the Gospel of John. We go verse by verse through the biblical text, with a special view to the original meaning, but also to theological and practical significance."

19. The Spirit and the Church: Wesleyan-Arminian Reflections (2022)
The third and final volume of the systematic theology portion of my blogging was done, published on Christmas Day. Since this is the area where I think Wesleyans are the most distinctive theologically, I was especially proud of this one. 

"This book explores classical topics of Christian theology in relation to the Holy Spirit and the Church from a Wesleyan-Arminian perspective."

20. Christian Ethics: Wesleyan-Arminian Reflections (2023)

The fourth part of the theology series was on ethics. I published it as a separate volume. It uses the Ten Commandments as the framework and, again, I was very happy to see this volume get into print. In these volatile times, I tried to represent the current sense of the Wesleyan Church while engaging in broader dialogs.

"This book explores the key topics of Christian ethics from a Wesleyan-Arminian perspective. The basic structure of the book follows the Ten Commandments but views them through the lens of the New Testament, especially the twin commands to love God and love neighbor."

21. Wesleyan-Arminian Reflections on Christian Theology and Ethics (2023)
This is the only hardback I have ever self-published. It is the compilation of all four theology and ethics volumes in one. It's a big book, the longest I've ever self-published, well over 700 pages.

"This is a compilation volume bringing together in one place four smaller volumes that are already available in paperback. These were 1) God and Creation, 2) Christ and Salvation, 3) The Spirit and the Church, and 4) Christian Ethics. This hardback volume brings all four of those "Wesleyan-Arminian reflections" in one place."

22. A Wesleyan-Arminian Systematic Theology (2023)
It seemed to me that the big hardback was a bit cumbersome and that a more desirable package would be the three theology volumes together, so I published the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit pieces together soon thereafter. I might be most proud of this volume of any book I've self-published. The Wesleyan Church and its forebears have not produced much along these lines. Luther Lee wrote one in 1859. That's about it.

Now, whether it likes it or not, the Wesleyan Church has a systematic theology. I think the fact that it's self-published, along with the style in which it was written, fits some of the pioneering spirit of the Wesleyans this last century and a half. The style and spirit fits with the original founding of Wesley Seminary. It fits the spirit of IWU's ministry department in the 2000s, IMO.

"This volume brings together in one place the three theology volumes of the Wesleyan-Arminian theology series. These were 1) God and Creation, 2) Christ and Salvation, and 3) The Spirit and the Church."

23. Explanatory Notes on Jesus' Resurrection (2023)
Soon it was Lent, and I did my best to publish Explanatory Notes on the resurrection narratives before Easter. I had initially wanted to do all the passion narratives as well, but it was just too much. Perhaps before Easter next year.

"As part of the Explanatory on the New Testament series, this book provides Explanatory Notes on the Resurrection narratives in the Gospels, with some additional material from Acts and 1 Corinthians. We go verse by verse through the biblical texts, with a special view to the original meaning, but also to theological and practical significance.."

Much more of this series to come. I suspect that, when I have enough to start bundling, I will get more interest.

24. Chats about God: A Novel Seeking Faith (2023)

This was my first color book and my fifth novel. Late 2022 and early 2023 saw the advent of ChatGPT. I suppose our reactions to such things are somewhat predictable. As someone who likes innovation, I was excited. I actually used some early AI image generation in it. Midjourney would knock the socks off it now.

It actually gave me good motivation to write a novel idea I had toyed with for a few years--processing faith with an "objective" AI. I thought curiosity would get me sales on this one. But very little. 

"In this novel, a young college student works through his faith questions by dialoguing with "Chat," a voice-activated artificial intelligence, and a small group of friends that call themselves the Seekers. One by one, he looks at the various arguments and objections to the existence of God. In the end, he concludes that Christian faith is reasonable and that God reaches out to each one of us in the hope that we will move toward him."

25. Plato's Republic: with Condescending Remarks (2023)
Convinced AI was a path to crank out some things, I returned to the same genre as I had done with Grudem and Ricoeur. But now, I thought, Chat could instantly generate the summaries that I had painstakingly generated by blogging before. I had ChatGPT generate summaries of Plato's Republic, book by book. Then I "trashed" Plato thereafter. Not a single sale as far as I know.

One challenge is that Chat is not always right. Sometimes it just makes stuff up. I ended up doing a lot more checking and editing of its summaries than I had hoped. In the end, the absence of interest and my inability to pierce Amazon's algorithms killed my enthusiasm. On my hard drive is a half-finished expansion of this idea to Plato's other treatises. I still hope to do versions of this on Augustine and beyond.

"In this first of the "with condescending remarks" series, ChatGPT summarizes the ten books of Plato's Republic (as well as Plato's life and broader thinking). Then I provide condescending remarks of superior intelligence putting that Plato in his place. Yes, yes, I know, the Republic is allegedly the most influential book of philosophy of all time."

26. A Pastor's Brief Guide to Business (2023)
Again, I had what I thought was an exciting idea. Use ChatGPT to write brief guides to various topics. "A Pastor's Brief Guide to Science," "A Pastor's Brief Guide to Philosophy," etc. This book is spectacular, in my opinion. I sent some copies out. I took out some small paid ads on Facebook and Amazon. Nothing. I've come to realize the amount I spent was not nearly enough to pierce the odds.

"This book overviews the main topics of business in summary fashion as a potential help for pastors and churchpeople who may have little knowledge or training in this area."



27. Teología Sistemática: Reflexiones Arminiano-Wesleyanas (2023)

This is my first self-published work in another language. When I first published the systematic theology, one comment was to remember the need in Spanish. Indeed, after I published the Spanish version, someone reminded me about the frustration we had in the seminary when Grudem was mostly what was available for theology in Spanish. This one might have some legs. The question mark of course is how good the translation is. I used three different tools to translate it. These tools are clearly getting better and better, but they're not perfect.

"Este volumen es un tratamiento sistemático de la teología cristiana desde una perspectiva wesleyana-arminiana, lo que lo convierte en uno de los pocos tratamientos de este tipo en español. Bajo los títulos generales del estudio de Dios Padre, Cristo y el Espíritu Santo, este libro también presenta las doctrinas de la creación, el pecado, la expiación, la salvación, la Iglesia y los sacramentos.".

I've gotten better and better with the covers. I'd like to think I've become a better writer. I think all the reasoning behind the book ideas were sound. I think the product is good enough. I simply have lacked the right marketing approach and spend. Nevertheless, "a writer writes," whether she or he has an audience or not.

Much more in the works, both fragments on my drives and ideas in my head. There are whole books sitting here on this blog (e.g., the equivalent of a pastoral leadership book and almost an entire pastor's brief guide to biblical scholarship). We'll see what pops out over the next year.

The Week in Review (September 9, 2023)

Happy birthday to my son Thomas today! Stefanie's birthday was yesterday, and Sophie's birthday is tomorrow. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!

1. I self-published my systematic theology book in Spanish! It is the first book I have self-published in another language. It will be obvious that I used tools that are available. At first, I did copy and paste from a mix of Google Translate and ChatGPT. However, I soon realized that there was a much simpler way. After a couple months doing about 25% of the book with the tedious copy-paste method, the rest was translated in almost an instant. Duh.

Is it any good? Great question, and I plan to give a few free copies to individuals who would want to check it out anyway. My spot checks tell me it isn't bad, although native speakers always say that these automated tools don't produce good translations. I initially had the title wrong I realized so that would have been embarrassing. I am a little worried about the first part, since I ran it through a translator after it had been through a translator. I am so slow sometimes. It drives me crazy.

Now that I know the process, I will probably translate the ethics part of this series in the next couple weeks. I now could do this into many languages, so speak up if you have a wish.

2. I started taking a marketing course for independent publishers. They marketed to me over a period of time. I explored. I watched. Their marketing to me was effective. What they said resonated both with my own experience and limited knowledge. We'll see what happens. I'm keeping my day job for the time being.

3. I continue to add materials to the Romans course I created on Udemy. This week I added a 30+ minute video on Romans 1 and Homosexuality. I was thinking perhaps I would add a "faith of Jesus Christ" video next. The whole of Romans is already there. These are supplemental. 

Not a lot of takers for that course. I have well over 100 takers for my Hebrew course using Jonah. It's always fascinating what sticks and what doesn't. My YouTube videos on the Hebrew of Ruth have gained a strong audience too. Hebrew is clearly popular! Meanwhile, my Greek videos on Philippians do not attract much attention. You just never know, it seems most of the time.

Thanks for feedback on titles for a Romans book. I'm still leaning toward something like, "Hidden Surprises in Romans" or "Hidden Nuggets in Romans" or "Surprised by Romans." What do you think?

I have a vision for a numbered list. Two- to three-page entries on topics like, "It's a real letter, not a theology textbook" and "Jesus had faith too." Feedback welcome. 

4. My wife Angie has been sick this week and missed most of work. Although the test was negative, we've wondered if she has had COVID. I had it a couple months ago. She seems to have lost her sense of smell. It went into her chest, and she has coughed a lot. In general, it followed the same path mine did. Thankfully, she seems to be coming out of it, and her oxygen is good.

5. I finished the raw version of another online course this week. This one is an introduction to the Bible and none other than Jim Lo is the featured professor. The trailer is on this page if you scroll down.

One of my co-workers created some awesome images for one assignment in the algebra course using Midjourney. The tools are amazing. I may try to create a video today using Pictory. We'll see how it turns out.

That's probably enough for now. I realize these are somewhat narcissistic. Think of it as my journal.

The Week in Review (September 2, 2023)

1. The weeks pass by one after the other. I regularly reflect on the fact that I have rarely stopped to enjoy them or "smell the roses." There's always a project I'm behind on, always something I feel like I should be working on. My wife Angie has occasionally helped with that, especially for our children growing up. I am a candidate for one of those people who wakes up one morning and realizes their whole life is gone and what have they really done to enjoy it?

This Labor Day weekend we will be socializing twice, once with family and once with friends. It pains me greatly. There's so much I want to do with this precious extra time. Stolen by extroverts! It feels like I am being robbed of my time off. But that is my personality and my issue.

I'm not opposed to a life of leisure. I would love to be such an accomplished writer that I could teach a couple classes a week on whatever subject I choose in whatever way I choose. Then spend much of my time at some coffee shop in Hilton Head writing whatever I choose. That's not a life I deserve nor am ever likely to have. 

2. I finished the first draft of a College Algebra course this week and handed it off to a real mathematician to proof, edit, and perfect. I created about 190 pages of course materials. It could be quite interesting for such a class. I'm very interested to see student response. It should be available to take September 18, especially but not exclusively for high school students, at a very good price.

I'd like to publish things on the side related to my course-creation work. I was thinking about something like Algebra: A Picture Book for this one. We'll see.

3. The fall college season has largely begun. There are winners and losers. Having once aspired to be a college president, I watch these things and try to analyze the reasons.

Asbury College and Seminary are way up. The college is very predictable. The revival was bound to push them up. The seminary apparently also has some great things going on behind the scenes. I think it may have its largest enrollment ever. I predicted they would go down because of the Global Methodist Church not requiring seminary, but they have found some very clever ways to counteract whatever impact that decision might have. One is to offer the third year free if you pay for the first two.

Taylor is a winner in enrollment for fall. They continue the formula of outstanding academics with solid orthodoxy. Warner is a winner in Florida. Don't know all the details, but the president is very entrepreneurial. He actually has an arm tattoo with Warner's logo on it, so I assume he plans to retire from there.

In Wesleyan circles, Houghton and OKWU would seem to be winners. I don't know if Houghton benefited much from Alliance closing. I understand that Tim Fuller had been helping them refine a PELL strategy before he died. When I was there, they had been at 260 incoming class for a couple years. They seem to have transcended that number by a smidge. 

I don't know if the crisis over pronouns in emails benefited them. It may have. They were actually in the New York Times over it. Without any details, my guess is that its enrollment impact was probably a wash. That is to say, I would guess the loss and gain from the publicity probably evened out. But I welcome correction by those who would actually know. I can imagine they received some donations from it and probably also lost some donors too.

I continue to mull over the reasons why other colleges are down. The answer that comes most to mind is an ambiguous brand proposition. What is the compelling reason that would lead someone to you? I posted that question on Facebook. Had a response I really liked: "Good friends, good teachers, good chapel, good God!"

There are several schools where I find myself asking, "Why would anyone come to you?" Let me translate the response above into questions:

• Is there a vibe of excitement from your students and alumni? Does the campus buzz when students step foot on it? Is the admissions office humming with smiling, positive students who love the school?
• Do alumni have such great memories that their kids will find it infectious? Do the kids of your alumni grow up thinking, "I want to go there too one day like Dad and Mom?"
• Do you have exciting teachers? This relates to the previous question. "Be sure you take a class with Wilbur Williams." Solid teachers are important but a dime a dozen. Do you have a great "faculty zoo," with lots of really interesting looking animals?
• For a Christian college, what is the spiritual atmosphere of the campus? Is the campus full of haters or lovers? Is the Holy Spirit palpable on campus?   

4. I have been slowly using tools to translate my systematic theology into Spanish. Imagine my surprise when I found a button in Word that does it instantaneously. Felt pretty stupid for as many weeks as I've been copying and pasting back and forth. The footnotes didn't pull over, but the end is now in sight. I may have it published by next weekend now.

5. I've only had three takers for my Romans course on Udemy. I took out a Facebook ad a couple days ago to promote it. I don't know if I've ever gotten a single sale from taking out a Facebook or Amazon ad. Seems pretty much like a waste of time. I am tempted to take a course by an organization called AMMO that's allegedly about optimizing the marketing and directly selling your books, but of course I'm afraid I'd just be throwing good money down the drain. Anyone heard of it?

6. My wife is tired of me product testing with her. "What do you think of this?" She did enjoy some writing I read to her this week on "Growing Up Wesleyan." It might offend some, however, so once again don't know if it will see the light of day until I die. And of course then it won't be relevant. :-)

She thinks "Stuff You Didn't Know about Romans" is more likely to sell than Explanatory Notes or "The Story of Romans." An alternative title might be, "Top Ten Surprises in Romans." What do you think?

Signing off from another week... 

The Week in Review (August 26, 2023)

I'm tempted to put "same old, same old" down for this week.

The main different thing that I did this week was to launch a course on Romans on Udemy. Following Scot McKnight, to a large extent, it moves backward from the end to the front. I will be holding live Q&A sessions roughly every other week for anyone in the course who is interested. The course costs no more than $24 for permanent access to the content, and I'll be adding more material over time. Udemy also has regular sales for anyone with patience.

I did buckle down to continue reading Matthew Thiessen's Jesus and the Forces of Death. I have a first blog post in mid-stream that I hoped to post this past Wednesday, but work has been keeping me quite busy. If you know anyone who wants one of these courses, including philosophy that I'm teaching, it's a rolling start they can sign up for at any time. I can probably get you a sweet deal for a high school student to pay $300 plus materials and maybe even for a college student just to pay $600.

I have a number of ongoing projects, as usual. If any of them sound interesting you could nudge me to focus more on one or the other. On Sundays, I focus on Bible and theology in one way or another. My Explanatory Notes haven't sold well, but they are also in bits and pieces. Just as my Systematic Theology is probably my best self-published book, I suspect if I ever finished the whole New Testament, it might sell. I continue to inch forward with a Spanish translation of the theology book, using tools. We'll see how good that turns out to be.

I've wondered if a different format might be more appealing rather than the old verse-by-verse approach. Some alternative formats (feel free to weigh in) are 1) Stuff You Didn't Know About Acts, 2) The Story of Romans, or 3) A Devotional Guide to Revelation. My YouTube post on "Top Ten Surprising Things About Romans" had more traffic than usual for me. Any thoughts?

Another project is, Growing Up Wesleyan. I've been trying to write something along these lines for decades. The goal is to reflect on my own pilgrimage. I've had other titles but this one has gone farther than others. At the very least, I want to leave it for my children.

I teach Science and Scripture for Houghton in late fall. I have a Udemy course in mid-progress for it. I also have a lingering contract for an Inductive Bible Study textbook. I have a Udemy course in mid-progress for it as well. I have about 10/14 chapters written. Since I'm not at a school, not sure how much use the book will get.

My YouTube watch time has gone down consistently over the last two months even though I have almost 11,000 subscribers. I wonder if I'm being eaten alive by AI-generated stuff. This is an area I need to grow in. I'm a master of ChatGPT, but not of visual AI. I need to find the time to learn more about how to generate AI videos.

Hebrew remains my strongest market. My Udemy course has had an additional 16 enrollments this month. I am going a verse through Ruth each week on YouTube, which also gets good viewing for me.

Well, that's a lot for not having anything to say. Have a great next week!

The Week in Review (August 19, 2023)

This week flew by. Four big moments. I preached last Sunday at College Wesleyan Church. I flew on a private plane to Missouri and back on Wednesday. I finished the draft of some algebra course materials for an algebra course. And by God's grace, I was able to check the box on a major stressor on Friday.

1. You can see the general outline of the sermon in the previous post. You can even watch one of the services here. Preaching is sometimes a surreal experience to me. Last week was that way. It was like I was hit by a car and was in shock. I wasn't quite sure what had happened afterward.

2. Flying to Missouri was fun. It was a business trip. Our Campus dual enrollment business is ramping up! Our first partner in this initiative is Oklahoma Baptist. Lots of Christian high schools are signing up and their students are signing up. Many of these students will only pay $300 for a 3-hour course.

This is flowing because we are more or less running it. Colleges are so inefficient, so full of friction, so un-business savvy, so unable to get out of their own way that they make things incredibly difficult. I was on the phone with a homeschool parent amazed at how easy it was to register. She couldn't believe it. A lot of this is a testament to our partnering school. 

This is going to snowball. We've always had a product the student wants. Colleges just don't want to give it to them. Now we've found a path to get it to them. I've predicted for two years that there will eventually be an Amazon tipping point. We're not there yet.

3. One of the courses that is getting a lot of traction is College Algebra. We have found an optimized formula for creating courses, and it seems to be working. I was excited at the subject matter expert who is teaching this class for us. For the moment, I am doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes grunt work to ramp up these sorts of classes more quickly. I actually created about 100 pages of raw material to be processed for this class. I'm looking forward to doing more, given my interest in just about any subject. 

Biology is on the docket this fall. If demand continues, I can see myself creating the raw material for calculus, chemistry, and physics online to be handed off to a subject matter expert for perfecting. What fun that would be! With algebra, I created "Conic Land," a section of a math amusement park where the rides are modeled on conic sections--parabolas, circles, ellipses, and hyperbolas. I thought about writing, Algebra: The Novel.

4. The Lord seems to get me through puzzles I don't always know how to solve. I used to trust that everything would work out. I used to trust in my own ability to come up with a solution. "I'll figure something out." But God doesn't rescue every situation. Romans 8:28 is about the eschaton and it's corporate, not necessarily about individual lives on earth. One of the hard even if obvious lessons of the last few years is that I'm not as smart as I'd like to think. I can't figure out a lot of important things.

Having said all that, hitherto hath the Lord helped. Yesterday was another day of thanksgiving, and I am grateful to the Lord yet again. 

5. I lay awake last night trying to figure out what project to work on. My problem is always that I have too many. Hardly anyone buys the books I self-publish. Which book that no one reads should I finish next? 

I should launch a Romans course on Udemy later today.