A number of years ago I told my wife Cathy I had a crazy idea. I wanted to write a theology book. I was either silly enough or bold enough to think I should “take God’s side” in this wild, wild world.
In my mind, the first thing you do when you want to write a book is to go searching to see if someone has already written it. I borrowed and bought a lot of books. I read dutifully. My favorite was The Prophets by Abraham Heschel, the late professor and social activist from the Jewish Theological Seminary. I love Heschel’s book because he hears the prophets’ sympathy for God!
Besides enjoying the entire process (now you really think I’m crazy!), you know what I found out? There are more theology books than I would ever be able to read! A lot of them are really, really dusty.
But I was also getting surer and surer the book I had in mind was not out there. Besides wanting to explain to my audience why they can trust God, I wanted to write a theology book that is anchored in the Bible, makes sense, touches the heart and moves its readers to be responsible children of the Lord. The last thing I wanted to do was write another dust-collector. As a matter of fact, I wanted to write a theology book that readers might not even realize is a theology book. Probably the book closest to what I had in mind is William P. Young’s The Shack (see review on main page), except that it’s a fantasy. I’m not a big fan of the fantasy genre.
The trouble was, I knew I couldn’t write what I had set my heart on. No way.
I stalled for a while and prayed about it often. And that’s why I turned to my friends. Somewhere–I think it was one of those heaven-sent ideas–I got the idea that my friends’ stories could teach theology about as well as Heschel. I knew it was so after I started giving my friends the time they needed to tell me those stories.
So the book Not Even God was born when the Bible and the stories of my friends came together. The biggest challenge for me was to keep it simple. How’d I do?
