My Interview at The Gospel Coalition
Theology nerds, you should be reading more fiction. That's what I told The Gospel Coalition in an interview published today. Fiction reading gets a bad rap sometimes because it's made up, and therefore presumed to be untrue. Once you understand that fiction is an attempt to make things up in order to tell the truth, your attitude may change. There are practical benefits, too:
Fiction will give you an appreciation of both storytelling and also the depth of human beings that might actually help you pass down your theology to people who aren't going to sign up for a lifetime of reading Puritan reprints.
If you wonder what I do when I'm not writing about Bibles, not to mention why I do it, this interview will give you some insight. The piece is titled "Christian Artists Tell the Truth About the World". Maybe that should read, they ought to tell the truth. Or ought to try, since we all know it isn't easy sometimes. Enjoy the interview, and let me know what you think.
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.
