Category: Books and editing
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Provincials
I was honored to copyedit a book coming out in spring 2024—Provincials by Indian writer, poet, and scholar Sumana Roy. This is a fascinating book and a difficult one to summarize, but the publisher’s description does it admirably: An enchanting and joyous exploration of life and creativity at the geographical edges of the modern world Who…
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On Editing and Reading the Dead
Last year I had the unique experience of editing a book by an author who is no longer living on earth. I was tasked with copyediting a second edition of Clark Pinnock’s celebrated work Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. In this case “copyediting” meant updating the book to the press’s current…
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A Question about Language for the Trinity
A question has been growing in my mind for a while now: Should theologians abandon the terms “First/Second/Third Person of the Trinity”? Arguably, the terms imply a hierarchy that cannot be said to be orthodox Christian theology, and yet we still use them. At what cost? One could justify, on biblical and theological grounds, calling God…
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Three Books, Three Sentences
Copies of three books I worked on arrived at my house. Here they are, along with a fine sentence from each: Sentence (actually just a chapter title): “Hospitality beyond Martha Stewart.” (What a great title!) Sentence: “If we are to read the Bible in context, to let the Bible be prima scriptura, and to do so…
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Refreshing the Brain
After a few straight hours of editing, my brain can start to feel a bit mushy—and that is where a good break and some fresh air come in. Today I went down to the beach for a mile walk in the last hour or so of daylight. It was blustery and about 37 degrees. The snow-covered Olympic Mountains were…
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Pneumatology
I’m happy to be rounding out the year with a project of personal interest: copyediting the second edition of Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in Ecumenical, International, and Contextual Perspective by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen. This year I’ve explored the Spirit through a number of works: Jack Levison’s Inspired, Clark Pinnock’s Flame of Love, and Gordon Fee’s Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God—all…
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ETS, Texas, and Books
Gazalle and I had a great time at the 2016 annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). The three days felt more like three weeks, and we enjoyed attending numerous sessions, meeting in person a few authors whose books I have worked on, and talking with publishers and fellow editors. Plus, the people of San Antonio…
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Word Lists, Signposts to God
A big part of a copyeditor’s (and proofreader’s) job is to bring consistency to a manuscript. I don’t think authors can be faulted for not being entirely consistent in their treatment of words across hundreds of pages. They have the important task of writing—that is, creating content. Editors play a key secondary role in refining what…
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You Are What You Love
A while back, I had the opportunity to proofread James K. A. Smith’s book You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Brazos, 2016). Smith’s argument is compelling. (The book is a simplified and engaging version—written from scratch, to be sure—of Smith’s more academic work Desiring the Kingdom.) In the book, Smith urges us to see life through a…
Davis Editing 