Happy I Love To Write Day!

While “I Love To Write Day” sounds like a recently made up holiday, one for which I’m guessing there aren’t even Hallmark cards available, as someone who loves to write, this seemed like a good opportunity to talk about what keeps me doing it. I’m long past the point where my job security depends on producing the level of output that I do. So why do I keep writing? Because I enjoy it, and it is part of the learning process, but more than that, because so many other people tell me that they find what I write meaningful to them. I found this to be true at recent speaking engagements such as those at Theology Beer Camp and Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. I also get to hear from people online. I don’t visit them that often, but I like other authors peek at places like Goodreads and Amazon occasionally to see what people are saying about my books. Here are some highlights.

About What Jesus Learned from Women:

Pearl Lowen writes, “What a delightful, enjoyable book! It’s got to be one of my favourite reads in a while of any genre. Although my reading of Scripture isn’t ultra-conservative, seeing how a historian interprets the Gospels and traditions was so valuable. Add to that the highly imaginative, at times speculative approach left me wondering if I don’t need to go back to the Gospels and re-read them with different lenses. The narrative historical stories introducing each chapter and woman were also valuable in taking the reader back in time, and envisioning how the women may have told their own stories.

I don’t give many books five stars, but this one deserved it. McGrath is right: there ought to be more men writing about women. I look forward to his next book on John the Baptist’s impact on Jesus.”

Gloria Marie wrote, “I loved this book so much I hardly know how to begin to talk about it. I found it to be a profoundly different way of viewing Jesus and his relationships with women and all the other disciples. I appreciated the way Dr. McGrath contextualized his comments within the framework of culture, history, language, and society.

At long last here is an explanation about Mary and Martha of Bethany that truly made sense to me. I have long been puzzled by the esteem in which Martha was held in the early and medieval church and the very short shrift she gets after the Reformation.

Must admit, there were times when I thought he repeated himself too often, making the same point over and over again within the same chapter.

I suspect that this book might be as close to the historical Jesus as it might be possible to get. So often we put so much emphasis on his divinity that we overlook the He is also fully human and this work reminds us of that and shows us what that might have looked like.”

Wendy wrote, “Oh my fellow readers… I was given this most deliciously wonderful book a friend met the author! It is truly heart healing and happiness inducing. I’m a readaholic and rarely make time to write reviews. This book is GOLD! I spent my morning writing notes to friends and asking them what version they’d prefer as a gift. About a dozen sent so far! �”

On The A to Z of the New Testament:

“The book is perfect for those who want to go beyond simple answers and Bible trivia and invigorate their Bible study.”

On John of History, Baptist of Faith:

Charles Meadows wrote, “Ground-breaking! This is the best biblical studies book I’ve read in several years! McGrath suggests that the influence of John the Baptist is far greater than we tend to assume. If Jesus started out under John’s influence how much of Jesus’s teaching echoes what John had said? How much of Jesus’s discussion of the Son of Man, and the parousia should be seen though the lens of John? Is that how Jesus’s followers would have seen it? McGrath’s work on the John tradition as well as his expertise on the Mandaeans puts him in a good position to ask these questions. He perhaps goes a bit farther than many conservative Christians would think to go (suggesting that the Q source might originally have been ABOUT John the Baptist) there is much to consider. Highly recommended!”

About Christmaker:

Luke M. wrote, “This book is a great read. The author has a really interesting and, as far as I am aware novel, theory on the origins of Gnosticism included in the book. In addition, the serious treatment of Mandaean texts within a historical look at John the Baptist is long overdue. If you have any interest in John the Baptist or any Abrahamic tradition, this book is worth a read.”

For my most recent books, I will also include the endorsements.

I love to write. Each of these books has meant a lot to me and taken me on a journey in the process of writing them, but none of them would mean as much as they do to me if I had not heard from others that they made a positive impact in their lives. Thank you for encouraging me!