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!