NEW BOOK COMING SOON

An update on what I've been up to and what to expect in the near future.

At some point over the past year, I kept thinking about how I had arrived at the conclusion to start this project. What went into the ideas behind the concept of Tectonic School? I kept being led back to the issue of worldview. There’s a lot of good information about worldview out there, but what I discovered is that it often isn’t fleshed out into all the aspects of life. 

Byrne Power recounted the time when he got to ask Francis Schaeffer about his thoughts on music, where Schaeffer had only written a few scant pages across many books. In contrast, he had written extensively about philosophy and other types of art, and their effect on society and worldview. 

Schaeffer confirmed that he simply hadn’t delved as deeply into the topic, and gave his blessing for Byrne to continue the work. That’s really what I have been doing, and while I probably agree with 98% of Schaeffer’s work, I have found that there were quite a few areas that he did not cover in depth, nor have many other people.

My first focus was on the work of the hands. That’s still central, because finding careers that pay the bills without crushing the soul is difficult right now, and I have found that the construction trades confer multiple benefits in a world spinning out of chaos. Not only is the pay good enough, but the sense of accomplishment is satisfying, and it relies on a frame of mind that still makes sense. Inches are inches, feet are feet, and the work is good when it’s level, plumb, and square. 

But as I explored the topic, I wanted to discuss many other aspects of our modern lives, which seemed to be rarely examined, even within the broader Christian context. I often read a book like John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, and find that while he correctly diagnoses a lot of modern ills, his analysis is superficial, and his solutions are limited to a rearrangement of priorities within the lifestyle of a successful, technologically sophisticated urban elite.

In contrast, the very young but brilliant YouTuber Rudyard Lynch gives a scathing critique of the true experience of an average American male in 2024. “Stop coping. Your life sucks” the title proclaims. And almost no one over the age of 40 is willing to admit it. 

For myself, that age of significance is rapidly approaching. As I set about to further explore these topics, I began expanding what I thought was a long document at the time, at around 20,000 words. So I started going through the document that I had titled “trade school - philosophy” and began going through it section by section, editing and expanding, and releasing them on this blog, as the Tectonic School Philosophy in various parts.

Until I got to a bit of a roadblock. Not a huge deal, I still stood by everything I had written, but I realized I had to explain the why behind the what. So I had to start asking some deeper questions about epistemology, how we know what is true, and the effects of culture, and this led me down further lines of exploration. What happens when you examine the effect of something like currency and economics as it affects religious belief, through a long span of history? Is the world messed up because we made a seriously bad turn some time in the past? Was it ‘taking prayer out of public schools’, or something much further back?

What I ultimately discovered is that it seems much of history is best viewed through the eyes of the wise Chinese farmer from the parable-  the industrial revolution, women’s suffrage, the invention of television, fiat currency - Was it good? Maybe. Was it bad? Maybe. Maybe isn’t an answer that will make you a lot of friends in the short term. People want something, or someone, to blame, and rarely is that thing ‘ourselves’.

The tendency of our culture is to look at whatever is broken or lacking, without seeing the good that is still there, and possibly growing. The circumstances of my own life forced me to set my sights on what many would consider somewhat modest goals. Having achieved those things, I discovered contentment, joy and gratitude. But it wasn’t through getting those things; I learned to be content with nothing; single, in debt, living with my parents well into my 20’s, with no degree and no career path. As the verse goes, “Seek first the kingdom of God, then all these things will be added unto you.”

What I want most is for other people to find these same good things— meaningful work, a family, friends, and a purpose. Since I did it without making 100k per year, being 6ft tall or having six pack abs, I want to help others find the same joy, even if there isn’t a clear path on how to get there.

But to do so, I had to answer the question, “how did I get here?” and that has meant answering a lot of questions. Ultimately, the answer comes from trusting in who God is, and what He has revealed in scripture. The story is undeniably beautiful, and God wants us to participate, which means He speaks in a way we can understand. 

So I started answering the big questions, and at the same time, looking for the ways God may be speaking in all sorts of strange places. Country music, professional wrestling, Sci-fi movies, TV ads and clothing styles. I asked myself why people care so much about the things that Churches frequently label unimportant. As I connected the common threads found in these things to the narratives in the Bible, I discovered that “the kingdom” we seek is far more rich and deep than the anemic picture painted by our evangelists.

In this book, I try to predict some possible paths forward that don’t require a particular party winning the presidency, or an EMP destroying the electrical grid - but will still work if it does. I examine the story of God’s continuous preservation of Israel, and the destruction of the greatest empires in history. How have the bedouins preserved their culture since the time of Abraham, while the builders of the Pyramids vanished without a trace? This question reflects a common theme found through many topics, and shapes the working title, Tents before Temples.

What I discovered is that building a culture that lasts is all about where you invest your time and resources. Military power, massive infrastructure, a unified religion, homogeneity, or technology– various civilizations have tried them all. After comparing the results, the answer is clear. The best place to invest your cultural resources is in your people. 

So the goal of this book is to strengthen culture from the smallest levels, from friends and family, to local churches and communities, to eventually scale up to larger institutions. I try to do this by giving people tools, maps, and heuristics, of many shapes and sizes, to encourage others to see the possibilities, and not just the narrative. Above all, it’s designed to give people permission to imagine and dream that the future can be better, even when everything seems terrible. 

I’ve only got a few more chapters to go; my goal is to have it ready by my 40th birthday, or at least finished. That’s less than a month away. Right now the toughest thing is trying to get everything I wanted in, without adding more than necessary, but I don’t want to compromise the quality either. 

As it is, my plan is to release the book in a draft form. The block quotes are longer than they should be, there’s some repetitive examples, and more than a few rabbit trails. But I thought there could be utility in letting people see the unedited thoughts and research, perhaps to compare it to a pared down, streamlined version later on. 

I’ll plan to give another update as my self-imposed deadline approaches, either a yay or nay, with some more information. If this interests you, please share it. I plan to send e-books to those folks I know who have podcasts and youtube channels, so let me (or them) know if you know a place that would be a good fit. 

Thanks for reading!