How do I write a book?
--
Crown Heart World Preface
I am trying to figure out how to write a book. It is a painful process so far. It is too much like when I try to record a video. I cannot talk to the camera. It is a camera. I don’t talk to things. I talk to people.
So how do I type out a book? I have to type it to people. Who am I going to write to? My book is about how I explain all of my theology, and life, using a one page pictograph. Why do I want to share it? I am honestly not sure. I will try to sort through some various motivations and see if I come up with my primary reason for writing.
I like my Crown-Heart-World sketch. I especially like it when it is combined with the Telos-Tree. Usually when I say “Crown-Heart-World” I mainly mean the 5 column story, but I also see the tree as embedded within that story. When I try to explain my views I think in the forms represented in those two diagrams. I am writing this book in part just to enjoy clarifying how I see life.
I teach. When I teach the Bible I tend to end up using the Crown-Heart-World as a framework of the big Story. That bigger framework helps to keep clarity of perspective when zooming in on a specific story or passage of teaching. By writing this book I will have a resource to share with people so that they can use these ideas on their own.
But as much as I enjoy teaching committed evangelical church going Christians, this book isn’t really written to them. People like that have loads of resources. This book would just be one more on a list. I think I keep coming back to another group that straddles the edges of this group and the broader world of the “nones”.
Q: What is your religious preference?
A: None.
Why do I write to those on the borders of Christianity & agnosticism? I write to them because I respect them and care for them. At times there are people who are against “the church” for petty reasons (personal or intellectual). That is not who I am talking about. That would be pushing unwelcomed pearls and provoking unproductive cycles of arguments.
The people I am talking about are genuinely appreciative of Jesus and his teachings. Their problem is that they do not know how to take Jesus seriously without becoming a religious weirdo. These people know religious weirdos and rightly cringe. I respect and share that concern (and reaction).
I have a few specific people in mind now. But what shall I call them? Theophilus has been taken by Dr. Luke, but what about Theodore? Close enough. I will write to Theodore Ish. That is clear enough to me, and thanks to this little exercise, clear enough to you as a reader regardless of your faith or doubts.
So, Theodore Ish, I am ready to write down my story. I hope it is interesting and helpful to you. I also hope it leads you to discuss, read, consider and seek more beyond this book. Let’s get started!
