She’s here! Thank you to those who voted in my various online polls!
The book is now in active editorial. My editor at Zondervan Reflective, Dale, is almost done working through on an initial pass. I’m going to have some work to do, which I don’t mind at all (though my schedule does…). It’s such a delight and privilege to be edited by competent judges of theology, argument, and prose.
I’m neither an established author nor a newbie, and I have a feeling I’m going to stay that way. This is, by my best count, my eleventh book—though a number were textbooks at BJU Press. And every book has been so, so different. This one has felt, in so many ways, like my first “real” book. It’s the first book which was solicited by an acquisitions editor, was shopped out to multiple publishers, and got the full treatment Christian books from beginning to (soon?) end. We signed a contract; we set a due date (and then I reset it to give me two more weeks); I met the due date at 4:56 pm Pacific on the due date; I got to write in markdown and then move the book to Google Docs for editing; I got to consult with Zondervan on the cover; it’s a real book.
I’m just too niche and nerdy to become a megaseller. I really don’t have my sights set super high. I just want to help Bible readers with some material I don’t see packaged for them anywhere else. Also I like to tell arcane jokes that make only certain people laugh. Some of my great pleasures in life are hearing from readers/viewers who learned something and almost spit out their coffee.
This book went in directions I didn’t quite expect; it was a journey of discovery. It still is. I had some things on my mind and heart to say to Bible teachers and students about the use of Hebrew and Greek. The critiques came most easily; the constructive suggestions were a little harder to put together, though I joyfully put in the time and did the work. Oh—and you have to say this now: I let AI style my footnotes in Turabian format, but it wrote nary a syllable of my text. That’s all old school.
Another random, personal note: I’ve always really liked the popularizing mojo of linguist John McWhorter and felt it could be applied to linguistically sensitive Bible study. I also like Don Carson mojo and purchased some of it at the last ETS annual meeting. This book is kind of a cross between a couple of John McWhorter’s books, Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies, and occasional (attempted) witticisms in the vein of poet Billy Collins. I did not structure it at all like Carson’s legendary book (recently updated by Andy Naselli in what, I presume, will be its final form). I self-consciously avoided following Carson. But late in the process, I did check him to see if I was missing anything big. I feel I hit, in my own McWarderian way, the major exegetical fallacies that advanced Bible students and expository preachers in my experience tend to flirt with.
Release: 2027. Look for it wherever church book stores reserve small corners for titles no one remembers ordering.