DET

Any of you, gentle readers, who have been hanging around DET for even a few weeks are surely aware that I published a book toward the end of 2017 on Helmut Gollwitzer entitled, Our God Loves Justice: An Introduction to Helmut Gollwitzer (Fortress) (OGLJ). You also, no doubt, have noticed that I've been trying to get the word out to folks about this book in an effort to, well, introduce folks to Gollwitzer. The bottom line is that I think Gollwitzer has something important to say to those of us who come from the white Protestant theological tradition but have questions concerning how that tradition has become so nakedly aligned with political figures and policies of--let us say--questionable Christlike-ness. It is also currently about the time of year when the thoughts of faculty turn to what they will be teaching in the upcoming Fall semester, and such thoughts necessarily include reflection on what books to require in their classes. I hope you don't mind if I make so bold ...

So I was not around the last couple weeks. My family and I were on vacation in St. Louis where we got to spend a lot of time with family and our parents got to spend a lot of time with the kids, my parents got to meet my daughter, Oakley, for the first time. It was really wonderful And, you know, the last time my parents saw the kids, my son, Boston, was a newborn. So this was really the first time I was going to get to show them who I am as a parent, especially as a parent of two, one being a toddler. This was kind of intimidating, but I was excited about it. I mean, I'm like... a responsible adult now. I've been living on my own for several years. I'm successfully keeping two humans alive. And my wife and I have both worked really hard at instilling good habits and manners in our kids thus far. I felt ready for this. However, my kids apparently had other plans. You know what, it's easier if I just give you some examples. So one night we were over at my parents hou...

It’s that time again, gentle reader, to cast our memory over the past year, assess where we’ve been and what we’ve accomplished, and then begin once again moving forward. Part of this process here at DET has long been the compiling of a list of the top 10 blog posts – that is, a list of the posts that most resonated with you, our beloved readers, as indicated by traffic received. Before moving on to 2017’s lists, some of you might want to revisit the top posts from 2016 . I know that I always enjoying seeing which posts hang around these lists year after year, and some certainly do. You might also refresh your memory concerning the DET contributors list . Now, without further ado, the list: #1 had the most traffic and #10 had the least. DET 2017 Top 10 Abortion, Authoritarian Self-Deception, Evangelicals, and Trump: a collected Twitter essay from Christopher Stroop - This post, which I borrowed from Stroop after seeing him post the tweets on Twitter one night, has received som...

I'm pretty sure that most of y'all have gotten the memo: my book on Helmut Gollwitzer is out and available for purchase! W. Travis McMaken, Our God Loves Justice: An Introduction to Helmut Gollwitzer (Fortress, 2017). A number of folks have been very generous in writing detailed (and highly positive!) reviews of the book on Amazon. You'd be surprised -- at least, I've always been -- at how much this can help sales, which ultimately means reaching people with Gollwitzer's legacy. And that's a good thing. Anyway, the most recent example of this generous Amazon reviewing comes from Evan Hershman ( @erhershman ) and since Evan didn't have anywhere else to post his review, he agreed to let me post it for you here. If you want to read the review on Amazon, click here . Perhaps the part of Evan's review that cheers me the most is his last paragraph, where he suggests that the book might have something to say both to Christians who are awakening to more le...

…or, Something to keep you busy over the weekend… …or, The Past Fortnight in the Theoblogosphere. *taps mic* Is this thing on? *taps mic again* *stage whisper from Scott in the wings* “Who cares? Just get on with it, already.” *clears throat* Welcome to 2018, folks! DET is awakening from its holiday slumber, and we’re looking forward to another great year of blogging! What will that year hold? What exciting new highs or lows with DET achieve? Only time will tell! One thing I do want to apprise you of, gentle readers, is that Scott and I are a little uncertain about this year. It has become increasingly difficult for us to keep up our usual posting pace as other demands mercilessly encroach upon our time. So, sadly, I must tell you that DET blogging this year is likely to be much more of an ad hoc sort of thing. But, we’re not dead yet (*chuckles*), so make sure you’re subscribed whether through email or in some other way (like Facebook ), follow us on Twitter ( WTM / S...