Return of the Pocket Guides

I’ve been avoiding this until the time was right — by which I mean the contracts are signed and everything’s a go — but here’s the big announcement: my Pocket Guide series of books has a new home! Having finalized everything over the last few weeks, I’m now officially obligated to write and deliver three books in the series to Jossey-Bass by this time next year, aiming for a summer 2009 pub date.

I’m thrilled to have moved the series from RELEVANT (which is no longer publishing books) to Jossey-Bass. Jossey-Bass is an imprint of Wiley, a huge international publishing group that puts out a bunch of well-known reference series, including the …For Dummies brand of books and Cliffs Notes. They think the snarky, religious-themed Pocket Guides will be a good, pocket-sized addition to the family. I happen to agree.

The first title — the book I should be working on instead of blogging — is Pocket Guide to Sainthood. It’s actually a book I proposed before writing Pocket Guide to the Bible, but for various reasons the project never came together. I’m excited about it, because 1) it’s been stewing around in my brain for three years now; and 2) there’s some seriously good content in the world of sainthood. Great characters (St. Francis of Assisi), crazy stories (check out the life and times of Christina the Astonishing), and thought-provoking religious content (mortification, anyone?). All the perfect ingredients for a good Pocket Guide book.

That said, you can start expecting some sainthood-related stuff from time-to-time in this blog, as well as regular updates about the writing process. More to come…

January 30, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Vote Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

Just a friendly reminder: The final day to vote for my story in the ChangeEffect contest is tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan. 30). Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Go here to cast your vote for Jason (“The Day I Met Paw-Paw”). Thanks.

Meanwhile, my 5-year-old son Owen cracks me up on a regular basis. Here’s what got me laughing tonight.

Check back sometime Wednesday for a big Pocket Guide announcement.

January 29, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

World Time Clock

I love photography, and I also love things that are cool, so when you can combine “coolness” and “photography” into a single site, I am generally interested in it.

Which means this site caught my attention:

The World Time Clock. Here’s a website that’s pretty much just a collection of photos…but each photo is of a clock showing a specific time. The guys who run it (Shawn Liu & Danny Wen of Iridesco) are trying to collect enough photos of clocks from all over the world to be able to fill every minute of every day with a new clock photo. (Total: 720 minutes — there’s no am/pm distinction.)

Why? Because “these pictures of unfamiliar clocks take us to a different place and remind us of the vastness of the world.” Good enough for me. You can submit your own photo via email (here are the instructions) or through the World Clock Project Flickr group.

January 28, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Which Bible? Part 7 (The New King James)

Back to our series on recycled content from Pocket Guide to the Bible. Earlier entries: the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the Jerusalem Bible, the New American Bible, The Living Bible, the NIV. Today? The NKJV.

The New King James Version (NKJV)

First published in: 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Translation style: Formal Equivalence

Quick description: A brand-new translation made to keep the same phrasing and feel of the old King James. By keeping that pedigreed name on the cover, the publishers hoped to attract any loyal KJV readers looking for something a little less stuffy. Or, in the case of the NIV haters, something a little less demonic.

[Update: Apparently, the NKJV may now be considered just as demonic as the heretical NIV. Sigh.]

Why you should read it: The NKJV is a good, solid, accurate translation with familiar phrasing and wordplay. It sticks closely to the original languages, which is why serious Bible scholars tend to like it.

Not so fast: But because it’s more concerned with accuracy than with readability, it ends up jamming modern words into archaic sentence structure, which is kinda weird. Also, it translates from the same documents available to the original King James translators — notably Erasmus’ Textus Receptus — rather than more trustworthy earlier documents and texts (though it does indicate where some manuscripts differ).

Example:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

January 25, 2008 | Jason Boyett | 1 Comment »

ChangeEffect Last Round


Update: I made the Top 5 in the ChangeEffect story contest, in which the winner gets a 3-day, 2-night trip to Chicago (and a Cubs game). For some background, I’ve written about it already here and here.

Since this is the final round, all previous votes have been cleared and the whole thing starts over. So if you’re inclined to vote for me again — and I sincerely hope you are so inclined — head back over there for one last vote. You get one vote per computer and email address.

Click here to read the story I submitted, about my grandfather.

Go here to read all the stories… if you have, like, a half-day to waste. Seriously, it would take awhile. Your best bet is to trust me when I tell you that mine should win. While we’re at it, you should also trust me when I tell you that I am humble, generous, ruggedly handsome, and a fantastic dancer.

And here is where you go to vote for my story. I appreciate it.

(And while we’re on the topic, if you’re interested, you can visit our family blog to see a picture of my granddad. He’s the older gentleman in the white shirt and suspenders. As you might expect.)

OK. Carry on…

January 24, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Valentine’s Day

February 14 is in three weeks. I’m writing an article about it for TrueU.org, the premise of which is that I don’t like Valentine’s Day because it’s a mandatory romance day. Guys (and girls) are required to be romantic on that day because, if they don’t, they will face serious, serious consequences.

Why? Because you have to do something romantic on Valentine’s Day. You just have to, even if it’s the least you can do, like stopping by the supermarket on the way home from work and dashing through the gauntlet of nervous, sweaty men and grabbing a card without reading it (is it pink? OK, it’ll work) then snatching an overpriced bouquet of flowers and quick-stepping past some old lady so you can beat her to the Express Lane. There. You’ve done your duty. Yay! See how much you love your wife/girlfriend?

But showing love and being romantic out of obligation really isn’t true love or authentic romance.

Bringing home flowers that one day a year, giving chocolate that one day just because it’s tradition, hastily picking a card and scratching your name on it as a way to fulfill expectations…well, that’s just not romantic. At least not to me. Real romance is thoughtful. Real romance is unexpected. Real romance is creative. Valentine’s Day romance is none of these. (At least, it isn’t the way it’s usually celebrated. You can certainly make it meaningful by adding thoughtfulness and surprise and creativity to the romantic gesture. I’d tell you how to do it, but that’s sorta the gist of the article. So you’ll have to wait a few weeks.)

Anyway, am I off-base? Is Valentine’s Day just something that greeting card companies and chocolate-makers and flower shops have conspired to subject you to in order to drive sales during the slow part of February? Feels that way to me.

…and yet, if you ignore it, you’re toast. Better start thinking about it now. You’ve been warned.

So. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? What do you do to make it special and meaningful and not just a day you’re obligated to give a gift? What’s the best V-Day gift you’ve ever given (or received)?

January 22, 2008 | Jason Boyett | 2 Comments »

Martin Luther King, Jr.

My favorite MLK quote:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

[from Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (Beacon Press, 1968), p. 62.]

What’s funny about the above quote is that, when I first heard it, I didn’t know it was from MLK. Brad Corrigan threw that phrase into an interview we did sitting together on the floor of a tiny hotel room in Managua, Nicaragua, the day before the first Dia De Luz in March 2007. What a beautiful thing to say, I thought. That Braddigan sure can turn a phrase.

I’m such a dork. Such an uneducated, ignorant, socially unaware dork.

I got home later and was writing up some articles about Dia De Luz — which was a profound thing to have experienced, and if you don’t know anything about it you should at least read this recap of it and watch this video and, if you’re really interested, listen to this short sermon I gave about it at Easter — and I realized that Dr. King had first written those words. He repeated them, with a slight revision, in his address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1967.

Anyway. Thank you, Dr. King, for shining light in the darkness and injecting love into the hate. We could all use less darkness and hate. We could all use more light and love.

January 21, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Which Bible? Part 6 (The NIV)

Now for Part 6 of our survey of popular biblical translations, in which we turn to the Big One: The NIV. Previously appearing in this series: the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the Jerusalem Bible, the New American Bible, and The Living Bible.

New International Version (NIV)

First published in: 1978, by the International Bible Society and Zondervan Publishing House

Translation style: Dynamic Equivalence

Quick description: The 800-lb. gorilla of modern English translations. By far, the NIV has become the most popular translation in the world, having sold a staggering 150 million copies since being introduced. As a dynamic equivalence translation, the translators are more interested in hitting the original meanings of certain words and phrases than maintaining word-for-word accuracy. [Footnote: As an example, Mark 6:37 references “two hundred denarii” in the New American Standard Bible. The NIV translates this “eight months of a man’s wages,” then footnotes the literal meaning.]

Why you should read it: Everyone else reads it. The NIV is big among American Evangelicals for its high readability and accuracy.

Not so fast: You can’t get the NIV with any of the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books in it—it’s a Protestant-only translation. Plus, the NIV may be a perversion of scripture made by translators under demonic influence (!) with the intent of denying the deity of Christ and, besides that, pushing a homosexual agenda! No, really. Certain advocates of King James-only Bible reading actually believe this, so beware the NIV’s corrupting influence. [Footnote: For a clear-thinking, evenhanded evaluation of the whole KJV-is-infallible-and-everything-else-is-of-the-devil controversy, read The King James Only Controversy, by James R. White.]

Example:
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Exodus 20:4)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

As always, there’s lots more about this in Pocket Guide to the Bible.

| Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Best Criminal Ever

A robber broke into a flat in Berlin and found the 64-year-old owner of the home already inside. Except the owner was dead. He’d been that way for a couple of weeks. So the breaker-and-enterer called the police and left the place without stealing anything.

Thoughtful burglars are the best.

January 19, 2008 | Jason Boyett | No Comments »

Hi.

If you’re here as a result of this article in the Amarillo Globe-News, then welcome! Recent postings include this one, which links to a story about my grandfather, Amarillo’s John Boyett. Others of interest are this one about synesthesia and a series about Bible translations from my book Pocket Guide to the Bible.

Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment…

| Jason Boyett | No Comments »
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