A Sacred Denouement

The last Sacred Chain story

Well, we have arrived at the goal of this journey. Yesterday was publication day for The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to Deeper Faith. I was kind of expecting to wake up with the world feeling different somehow. Maybe there would be streamers coming down from the sky? But instead I had to get up early and drive to Grand Rapids with rain coming down from the sky.

My destination in Grand Rapids was the offices for BioLogos, where the staff gathers once a week. During our staff meeting there was a little celebration (though no streamers) and kind words about the book. Fortuitously (or perhaps providentially?), a box of the books arrived at the office just before the meeting. So everybody got one and I convinced a few of them to pose for a photo op:

Of course the book is available for purchase on Amazon now, and I’m very relieved they’ve discounted it from the list price. $22.37 sounds a lot better than $30. I hope all of you who pre-ordered from there got in on the low price guarantee.

Speaking of Amazon, I’ve been told that reviews on their website are pretty important for their algorithms that spread the word, and evidently lots of book buyers are influenced by these. If you’ve had a look at the book and find it worthwhile, I’d be very appreciative if you’d leave a review there. Just a few lines saying what you like is sufficient. Or you could be like one of the power-readers of this blog, Sy Garte, who left a very nice epistle there today! (Check out one of Sy’s very nice books while you’re at it. And listen to the podcast interview I did with him to hear his story of growing up communist and converting to Christianity as an adult; it includes a very moving reading of a prayer that he wrote).

To all my readers in the Goshen area, I’ll be at our lovely independent bookstore, Fables, this Friday night from 6-8pm signing books. They posted this picture today on their Facebook page, giving evidence that they have books in stock. Even if you’re not coming to buy a book from them, stop by to say hi and help give the feel that something exciting is happening!

For those of you who don’t want to spend your money on books (I’m trying hard to understand your priorities!), I’ll donate one to the libraries at church and the college. There’s also a giveaway happening on the BioLogos Instagram channel. And many public libraries have a mechanism by which you can request that they add books to their collections.

Well, that’s about all for me. I think I’ll take a break from writing here for a bit. The next book is brewing in my mind, so perhaps eventually I’ll have something to say about that. And hopefully there will be more adventures to chronicle at some point.

Let me say that I’m deeply honored that you seem to find something interesting and worthwhile in reading what I write. Blessings to you all.