Unsettled Christianity

I am in the process of editing – and as those who have read the unfinished work can attest – I am swamped.

No worries though, because the book I started out with is not necessarily the book I am drawing to a close. I’ve learned a few things along the way – including things about verbs, sentence structures, and not repeating myself. I’ve also learned to use a thesaurus, but the most important thing is to conserve words like they are breathes left in a scuba tank when you are too far from the surface to make it home. That means that I do not need to repeat myself.

Also, considering that some of the submitted SBL paper (rejected) is in the book, I am now very thankful that the paper was not accepted. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not a good self-editor on the fly. So, I print the chapters out, use a red pen or three, and then edit back into the electronic copy. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed that I was rejected for the SBL paper on Mark, but most likely, if they did accept it, I would not have touched it until the day before the meeting. Oh well, maybe next year.

I’ve changed focus on a few areas. Instead of narrative criticism, I am leaning more to form criticism as the natural home for mimetic criticism. Narrative helps, but it seems too focused on the modern audience. Maybe I am wrong here, but I am in doubt that the ancient author worried about character development; I am convinced that the ancient author worried about audience development. The story is not internal, but external, or at least in Mark’s case.

I have come to appreciate the Classics more in this process. If I had all the time and money I needed, I would seek out degrees in that field as well as New Testament.

As this is my first book, I am trying my best to make sure it is as near perfect as I can make it. I think the premise is sound and it I can prove it. But, the writing is what worries me. I once could write in beautiful poetic prose, but I did not use it; I lost it. Now, I find my writing dry, barren, depressed. I want words and sentence structures that whip the audience into an emotional delight, but maybe that is only for fiction.

Oh well…

Post By Joel (9,255 Posts)

Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).

Website: → Unsettled Christianity

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