Q&A with John Bowen, an Ontario author of six books including Evangelism for "Normal" People and The Spirituality of Narnia, who just published two new books.
Congrats on having two new books this past year. Tell us about God is Always Bigger: Reflections by a Hopeful Critic (Wipf and Stock).
It’s a collection of my best sermons and articles. I felt a little self-indulgent doing it, but hopefully it’s helpful.
I see chapters in it like "The Spiritual Quality of Craziness" and "Vacuum Cleaner Church." Tell me about one our readers might enjoy.
[Anglican] Bishop Susan Bell, who wrote the foreword, suggests starting with the essay we took the book title from. I hope this idea of the bigness of God – bigger than our questions and our problems, our reason and our imaginations – underlies much of the collection.
Then there’s The Unfolding Gospel: How the Good News Makes Sense of Discipleship, Church, Mission and Everything Else (Augsburg Fortress). You told me it reveals the secret of life, the universe and everything – oh, and church renewal. Do tell.
Words like discipleship, mission and evangelism – even church – are frequently thrown around, but without any clear definition or connection to one another. My argument is that if we understand the fullness of the gospel all these things orbit harmoniously around it.
Any more writing projects on the go?
I write a monthly column for an Anglican newspaper. And I’m just diving into some research on why Canadians become Christians, which could turn into a book.
John Bowen is author of six books including Evangelism for "Normal" People (Augsburg Fortress, 2002) and The Spirituality of Narnia (Regent College, 2007). He’s a retired evangelism professor from Wycliffe College, Toronto. Editor's note: Faith Today earns a small commission when people make purchases using our links to Amazon.ca.