An update on where I am right now

by Phil Johnson



Not to complain, but . . .

My life is alternatively either very hectic or completely focused on one extremely stressful project to the exclusion of everything else. Deadlines determine which phase I am in at any given time.

For most of my adult life I have been a book editor. It's been my joy for the past 25 years to edit most of John MacArthur's major books, starting with The Ultimate Priority, which I began in 1981 and took about a year to assemble and edit.

People often ask about the process. I start with sermon transcripts—verbatim records of what John said in a sermon (or a series of sermons, or a collection of various sermons that are topically cross-linked). I translate that material from spoken English to written English. This involves a rather exhaustive process of rewriting—mainly to shorten sentences, simplify and clarify sermonic expressions, make the logic and readability as smooth as possible, and remove the kind of redundancies that are fine (and even crucial for proper stress) in a sermon but bad form in writing. Sometimes I rearrange material or borrow bits and pieces from multiple sermons—which necessitates lots of new transitions. I also remove extraneous material, such as recapitulations of material from last week's sermon; unusual rabbit trails; digressions into related but different topics; comments and exhortations that apply to the local congregation but aren't necessarily appropriate for a reading audience, and things like that. I check the accuracy of all quotations and find precise documentation for them. I substantiate and document all facts. And I get statistics and other specifics to eliminate generalizations.

Oh, and I also try to make sure grammar and spelling are spotless, conforming everything as much as possible to the guidelines in the Chicago Manual of Style (the authoritative style guide used by most American book publishers).

John MacArthur takes the manuscript I produce from his sermons, and he edits it exhaustively. Sometimes, he'll supply new illustrations. Sometimes, he'll totally reorganize material. He might rewrite a few transitions, tone down an expression here and there, turn up the volume on a salient point, delete anything that strikes him as redundant, or whatever. (He does all this by hand with a classy fountain pen in a nearly-illegible kind of printing. I have never known him to use a computer.) His marked-up copy comes back to me and I insert his changes into the electronic manuscript and do a final polish and edit. We normally exchange several chapters at a time this way, so I'm constantly working on two or three sections of the book all at once.

It's a long and exacting process, much more labor-intensive than simply writing a book from scratch would be. But if I wrote my own book, it would be nowhere as good. MacArthur's material is thorough, rich, and always fresh. He has an impeccable instinct for knowing what to say and how much stress to give this or that point. The biggest problem I usually face is deciding what to eliminate from the original sermons. Because the publisher usually wants a 250-page book, and I'll typically start with something close to 1600 pages of sermon transcripts.

So you get an idea of the magnitude of the task.

After the first three or four books I helped assemble like that in the 1980s, I became pretty efficient with the process, and for several years running, I was usually able to get a major book from sermon transcripts to final manuscript in about 3 months' time. But that was back when I had the mental acuity to work 18-hour days with no problem. Nowadays, in addition to keeping an eye on my duties at Grace to You, I'm co-pastoring a group of 500 people at Grace Church and occasionally speaking at conferences and whatnot. I wasn't doing those things in the 1990s.

Longtime readers might remember that the original PyroManiac blog was launched last year just days after I finished editing Twelve Extraordinary Women. Then I took a blogbreak in October to edit The Quest for Character. The cycle never ends.

When I made the shift to a group blog back in January, it was largely in anticipation of a coming deadline for John MacArthur's next major book, The Truth War. At the time, I assumed I'd be finished with the book by April 15 at the very outside.

It turned out to be a much more difficult project than I anticipated, and I just sent the final manuscript off to the publisher last night. So that's a major source of stress off my shoulders. I have several urgent things to do now. (Lots of stuff backed up while I was focused on the book. It'll take at least a week to do them all.) But after that, I'll be back in a more normal routine and blogging like old times, I hope.

About the book . . .

The Truth War is going to be a powerful, and very controversial, book.

Actually that may be a huge understatement. It is without question the most provocative book John MacArthur has written since The Gospel According to Jesus. It deals in no-holds-barred fashion with "postmodern evangelicalism," the Emerging Church, the deliberate dumbing-down of theology, and the trivialization of everything sacred.

The book's starting point is Jude's famous mandate to contend earnestly for the faith because false teachers have crept into the church unnoticed. MacArthur traces the history of the long war against the truth and shows why the threat is so serious at this particular juncture. He says some things that might shock readers accustomed to the milder and more genteel tone of this blog. 'Nuff said.

The book is scheduled for release from Thomas Nelson next spring. When we get closer to the release date, I'm going to start posting short excerpts at the PulpitLive blog. Brace yourself.

Meanwhile...

As I said, I have let a few things back up that now require my urgent attention. I hope to be back on schedule within a week or two, and back to blogging in earnest shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, I've added to the sidebar clutter by putting a box that I can update every few days or so to keep my friends perpetually updated on the vital question of Where I Am Right Now®. I'll usually make updates without comment, but I wanted to make an all-purpose disclaimer that covers everything you'll ever see in that box: The fact that I read a book, listen to something on my iPod, or otherwise link to any source in that space is not to be construed as an unconditional endorsement of anyone or anything. The sidebar box just tells you what I'm reading, listening to, watching, or being bemused by.

For example, Ann Coulter. The girl clearly has serious issues, and one of them has to do with the credibility of her "profession of faith." I'm not sure she is the best qualified person to take the American left to task about their spiritual shortcomings. I find her trademark trenchant style alternatively amusing and annoying. But she does make some valid observations in an always-interesting way, so I am reading the book. What I read and what I endorse are not always equipollent.

So just in case the next book I read is Richard Foster's latest, something by Lesslie Newbigin, the sequel to Blue Like Jazz, Mein Kampf, or whatever, I'm not going to add another more emphatic disclaimer every time. If you see I'm reading a book or listening to something you think I ought to disagree with, chances are I do disagree with it. I read lots of stuff I disagree with. If I disagree strongly enough, and if circumstances seem to warrant it, I may blog about why I disagree. But if I don't, please assume that this all-purpose disclaimer covers it.

Maybe one of these days I'll devise a color scheme to signify which books I hate, but until I have actually read them, I can't really say if or how much I hate them anyway, can I?

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