"What Made Dagon Bow?" Read my essay in Comment and find out.
Ever found yourself at a fancy party, looked around at the impressive guests, and wondered, "How did I get invited to this thing?" That's how my month has gone. One day my byline is at First Things' On the Square blog, sandwiched between much more august contributors, and next thing you know, I have an essay in the latest print edition of Comment. The theme of this issue, edited by Peter Leithart, is "The Word of God and the City of Man," and it includes writing by Marilynne Robinson, Richard Mouw, Al Wolters, Calvin Seerveld, Makoto Fujimura ... and J. Mark Bertrand.
Just typing that sentence felt a little surreal.
A couple of points: First, if you care about Christian thought and its impact on worldview and culture, you should be subscribing to Comment. Every issue is a keeper.
Second, my essay for Comment, called "What Made Dagon Bow?" is one of the free sample articles from the latest issue, which means you can read it right now. Please do. I appreciate the support you show by reading Bible Design Blog, and would love for you to experience another side of my writing.
"What Made Dagon Bow?" by J. Mark Bertrand
Here's a taste to whet your appetite:
The ark had an agenda of its own. No Israelite army on its own strength could have penetrated deep into Philistine land to install the ark inside the temple of Dagon. Only God could do such a thing, and he could do it without their help. Later God would propagate the faith by sending his missionaries to the four corners of the earth as humbled captives, turning defeat and diaspora to good ends, and the Roman beast would draw the Gospel close to its breast by exercising its powers of arrest. Likewise, the ark needed no human strength, no protection from the threat of the outside world. If only the Israelites had realized, there was nowhere the ark could be taken where creation would not welcome it.
Now click over and read the whole thing and let me know what you think. And thank you for reading!
J. Mark Bertrand is a novelist and pastor whose writing on Bible design has helped spark a publishing revolution. Mark is the author of Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway, 2007), as well as the novels Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide—described as a “series worth getting attached to” (Christianity Today) by “a major crime fiction talent” (Weekly Standard) in the vein of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Henning Mankell.
Mark has a BA in English Literature from Union University, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an M.Div. from Heidelberg Theological Seminary. Through his influential Bible Design Blog, Mark has championed a new generation of readable Bibles. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Society of Bible Craftsmanship, and chairs the Society’s Award Committee. His work was featured in the November 2021 issue of FaithLife’s Bible Study Magazine.
Mark also serves on the board of Worldview Academy, where he has been a member of the faculty of theology since 2003. Since 2017, he has been an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife Laurie life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
