Doug Wilson Behind The Paywall
A review of 3 uncontroversial books by a controversial author
Many people have mixed feelings about the controversial figure of Douglas Wilson; his sharp wit and polemical style certainly garner a lot of clicks, and he distributes his social critiques broadly wherever and whenever he sees them. But while this outward facing dimension of his social media persona has certainly ruffled a lot of feathers, the greater substance of his career has been pointed towards the laudable goals of building healthy Christian institutions, including grade schools, Colleges, businesses and Churches.
The vast majority of Wilson’s work is much less controversial once you get behind the paywall. I’ve been listening to many different resources on the Canon+ app, not only by Wilson, but by a plethora of different authors, not only the reformed restorationists thinkers that people usually associate with Wilson, but others like G.K. Chesterton to Alastair Roberts & Peter Leithart. There are diverse categories of content with everything from cooking to investment advice, as well as quite a bit of classic literature.
Despite the focused aim of his social media posts, the greater majority of Wilson’s content reflects the eclectic nature of his platform, in both his writing and the guests he interviews. Far from being a tribalist, Wilson is someone who knows how to glean wisdom from almost anyone he comes in contact with.
So I have compiled here my thoughts on a few books that I have enjoyed and plan to revisit in the future. This post contains not one, but three book reviews. One was about a book that I knew would be applicable to the Tectonic School project, and two others that surprised me with their insights. All of them are available in audiobook format with a monthly subscription to Canon+
Ploductivity: A Practical Theology of Work & Wealth
This book is probably most directly relevant to the purpose and goals of Tectonic School, since it’s about our relationship with work, tools and technology. In a typical rhetorical move, Wilson justifiably criticizes the sort of capitalist exploitation that occurs when cheap grace is factored into a marketing strategy. There are kindhearted people out there who will gladly pay a 10% premium for an inferior product labeled as “Christian”. But the sad thing is that this is the approach genuine Christians sometimes take towards work; just because we are forgiven of our sins, we should not expect to be excused from shoddy craftsmanship.
I can attest to the fact that within a single church, multiple auto mechanics can operate quite differently. One will overcharge people in the church because he sees them as easy marks. He sees the customer as God’s blessing and a car that needs constant upkeep is an even greater blessing. Another will undercharge people because he thinks it’s the right thing to do, but if something goes wrong, he will expect to be let off the hook - he’s working as if he should be paid less. Another will offer a fair price and excellent work. In Wilson’s thinking, the churchgoers should hire the third man, and Christian charity would compel them to pay more generously than what he asked for.
A teaching like this is really important for a whole community to thrive. My own past fault would have been to fall into the second category. It’s not fair to price your work against the output of an overseas furniture factory, but unlike an auto mechanic, my work often fell into the subjective realm of aesthetics, a squishy realm of subjectivity.
I am a harsh critic of my own work in the quality of construction, reliability and longevity, but those are less important to someone whose chief end in having furniture made is to impress their tiny Instagram following; expecting someone to revise this kind of work for free can eliminate any profitability very quickly. I would be very glad for “regular folk” to read a book like this, so they can become the kind of client and consumer that craftsmen love to work for.
Wilson also makes the rare insight that Cain and his descendants, despite being the “bad guys” of Genesis 4, are responsible for the advancement of tools and technologies without which Noah would never have been able to build the Ark; nor would later generations have been able to build the tabernacle or the temple without honing those same skills further.
Having a consistent view on tools, technique and media frees us from superstition. It helps us avoid the blindspots that cause one group to view a pipe organ as too technologically advanced, while another group views it as a part of sacred tradition. This approach should help us realize that the way we live in fear of AI now, is not dissimilar to the way that many previous technologies were viewed as harbingers of doom decades and centuries ago. This doesn’t mean that technology isn’t dangerous - it is; but that is because it amplifies our reach and influence. The danger comes from within. The sword and the plowshare are two uses of the same piece of iron, and both can be used for good or ill.
As the name denotes, Wilson’s strategy for advancing goals is all about the “plod” - the consistent, reliable advancement towards future goals, step by step. Much of this wisdom can be found in other places, as many writers, musicians and other experts will tell you that 15 minutes a day of consistent practice will get you much farther than a sporadic session of inspired effort that only comes about as often as a solar eclipse.
Wilson really breaks it down in many useful ways, explaining how small, achievable goals can lead to remarkable accomplishments. A similar line of thinking can be found in the book “Finish” by Jon Acuff. Wilson takes this wisdom and applies it to the troubles of the current day, many of which center around the impish little tempters in our pockets - the smartphone. Many of us have found ourselves picking up our phones and having pockets of time (sometimes embarrassingly large ones) simply vanish without a trace.
The remedy espoused by many is to put the phone away, go outside and “touch grass”. But this merely sidesteps the problem; the phone is not going away, and if you are going to pretend it’s just a phone, you might as well join the Amish. Wilson’s solution is to recognize what the smartphone really is - an incredibly valuable tool that puts vast resources at our fingertips. If we put it in the context of Jesus’ parable of the talents, we have an awful lot of people telling us to bury the thing. Instead, we can be purposeful about what we do on these devices, and they can become powerful tools to expand our “ploductivity”.
Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life
This book is quite different from the previous one, as it pertains mostly to writers and speakers. Some of the same thinking from the previous book applies here; Wilson seems to have different types of books scattered all over the physical and digital space, and applies small doses of diligent effort to reading them throughout the day. Some things are more applicable to those who aspire to become writers especially, such as reading various types of dictionaries.
Even if you are not particularly interested in becoming an author, it’s very insightful to get a glimpse behind the scenes in the process of someone so prolific and well known for his clever use of words. The fact that he has written this book and distributed it so cheaply reflects Wilson’s beliefs about the generous nature of the kingdom - we all benefit when any one of us benefits.
This generous attitude extendeds to the way in which Wilson employs his large vocabulary; in all his books, he challenges readers to expand their knowledge through the use of uncommon words and phrases. But unlike someone like David Bently Hart, whose use of language creates a high barrier which people must climb to gain a seat at the discussion table, Wilson fosters enough context to direct the gist of understanding, and invites you to crack open the dictionary by engendering curiosity on the part of the reader.
The advice to read various types of fiction, poetry and prose, in English and in classical languages is perhaps most valuable to future authors, teachers and preachers, but the general wisdom to expand your current digest of books is certainly applicable to all.
Conversely, he takes a slightly different approach to the way in which we consume the written word in this book. While he does say there is value to the “plod” that gets us through thick tomes over great spans of time, he also suggests that the best thing to do with a boring book might be to put it down, while something that grips your attention fully is probably worth staying up past bedtime to finish. I’ve learned the second part after realizing that it’s impossible to sleep when you are desperate to find out how a story ends, but the first part was the type of advice I really needed to hear.
Currently I’m in a space where books are regularly suggested (and I’m contributing to the problem right now) - and there is a feeling of pressure to have read and understood the important books of the moment, lest you fall behind in the discussion of important ideas. But the reality is that I can’t care about everything, and there are good reasons not to. Sometimes my presuppositions get in the way; is it worth it to slog through Jordan Peterson’s “Maps of Meaning” when I already know he’s not going to arrive at an orthodox Christian worldview by the end of the book? Maybe someday, but not right now. Similarly, do I need to read Bill Johnson’s book “God is Good” to come to the conclusion that He’s better than I think? Probably not.
This realization is very freeing; and while I love both reading and writing, the reality is that most people are building their worldviews off of large quantities of video content. Paul VanderKlay has made a compelling case for Christians to pour their resources into new formats like YouTube because that’s where the people’s attention is fixed.
This does not mean the written word is going away. For every word published on a blog like this, there’s probably a dozen more that will never be read. But because I’ve written them, I can clearly articulate my ideas without notes; whether in class, on a video, or in conversation.
I actually listened to this audiobook in two big chunks, several months apart, so the later half is a bit fresher than the earlier part; I think the advice about taking notes and keeping them systematically was fairly vague and open to interpretation - something like “figure out what works for you”.
I remember hearing about someone’s system of highlighting quotes, writing an index of quotes in the back of the book, and then keeping a system of index cards with topics up to date. When I heard this, I thought “well; that would have been a good idea back when I started reading books - too late to start now.” Systems are great for systems people - but reading badly is far better than not reading at all.
Despite the gap in time, I do remember a quote from Tolkien in the earlier half of the book about how ideas emerge “from the leaf-mould of the mind” - the gist of which was saying that if you consume books, and lots of them, those ideas get in there and start growing.
It was only at the end of the book that Wilson really gets his theological ideas going, specifically regarding the issue of translation. While it is possible that “something is lost in translation”, the inverse is more often the case - knowledge is gained in translation. This makes the most sense when you come to realize that God is a good father who knows what is best for His children.
At one time, the best thing for humanity was to confuse our languages (Genesis 11) - this was because it kept God’s children from harming themselves and each other. The struggle that resulted out of that experience was and is something to our benefit. God knows how humans will miss-use and warp His words, both intentionally and unintentionally. Yet He has chosen to communicate with us through human writers because the essential message cannot be ignored.
In this way, we all work to expand and increase God’s presence in our world when we use words to communicate and translate ideas from the Bible through the ears and into the hearts of other people. My belief is that we need craftsmen and farmers to do this work just as much, if not more than we need scholars and theologians.
Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World
This is the briefest of these three books, with the audiobook coming in at just under 90 minutes. For someone who sees 1 audible credit as a representation of a certain amount of work time, I want to pick the longest book I can get; but when paying a flat rate for a month of Canon+, it’s actually quite refreshing to feel the sense of accomplishment in finishing a whole book in such a short span of time.
The digital format really redefines the concept of what constitutes a book, but this fits with the Wilson ethos about work - why waste more time and paper to express an idea than necessary? After slogging through more than a few scholarly minded works on various subjects, you get the idea that the audience in mind is a pure skeptic. Everything must be laid out clearly and systematically enough to be acceptable (or at least unassailable) by the standards of Richard Dawkins or Bart Ehrman. People like Steven Meyer are up to that challenge, and we should be grateful for their work. But this book turns that premise on its head in both content and format.
If you asked the question “Who is Gashmu?” you’ve already made Wilson’s point for him. This title comes from Nehemiah chapter 6, and the “saith it” indicates the use of the King James Version, where a fellow that Nehemiah names “Geshem the Arabian” refers to himself by the name “Gashmu”. Here is the context in a more modern translation:
[When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah,Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem(Gashmu) says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”] Nehemiah 6:1-9, NIV
What is the point of referencing this passage? In a nutshell, Christians have received instructions to fulfill the great commission. That’s our job; but people who oppose Christ will continually come up and try to stop us through various tactics of threats, intimidation and distraction.
We ask the question “Who is Gashmu?” because outside of this reference in Nehemiah, there is no evidence of his existence. There is no Gashmu stele or tomb, no reference in Josephus or any histories of Greece, Rome or Persia. At that moment, Gashmu’s name added to a letter seemed to carry some kind of weight, but now it has been forgotten.
Gashmu’s come and go; some of them might be within the church, many more without. Dawkins and Ehrmen, Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Fauci, and many more, in a hundred years they might as well be named Gashmu, because people will be asking the same question.
This concept could be applied to the controversy around Wilson as well. If the author’s reputation is keeping you from reading a book, consider where that reputation is coming from? Is the spurious claims the work of Gashmu’s and Sanballats, or something more substantial? The best way to know is to judge the work for yourself, and if you disagree, won’t you be better off for knowing and articulating why?
If the world forgets the name of Doug Wilson in a hundred years, I really don’t think he would mind, so long as people celebrate the name of Jesus Christ. His legacy has endured far longer than any of His detractors, and will continue to do so. If we want a legacy that lasts, we should devote our time and effort to making His name famous, and let the Gashmu’s of our day recede into the obscurity of ancient history with the rest of their ilk.
Conclusion
These books are all valuable resources for provoking productive thinking; they are well written and entertaining, but also short and to the point. You could listen to all three in a single work day. It’s clear that despite how well known Wilson may be for lamenting the current state of affairs, he’s taken the question of “what went wrong?” quite seriously, and has looked far and wide in diverse fields of study to find some answers. But beyond that, he’s imagined some practical and implementable solutions that just might work - maybe not overnight, but if we keep plodding along, we may be surprised to look back and see how far we’ve come.