Friday, September 19, 2008

Me

I have been working on an apologetics textbook since 2003. But I've decided to give that up in favor of a memoir. Everybody is doing it. They sell. After all, apologetics demands facts, arguments, qualifications, the examintion of argument forms, endless reading, writing, rewriting, analytical anguish in extremis. Enough is enough! There is hardly a personal pronoun in the entire manuscript.

The title of my new book: Me: The Audacity of Autobiography or How I Discovered my Sacred Self through Writing About Myself for Myself (and I Know You Will Find Me Fascinating Because I am Me, After All). Highlights will include:
  • How I made God my mascot and found a blessing in it.
  • The endless profundity of my pain.
  • How narcissism got a bad name and what I did about it.
  • My faith, myself, my God.
  • When it comes to me, nothing is glib, all is profound.
  • Reality and how I conquered it through journaling and psychotherapy.
  • How I used the Bible to build a better me for me.
  • I believe in God because God believes in me.
  • The Kingdom of God is within me, and that's just where it should be.
  • The world is wrong; I am right; get that straight before its too late.
  • It is so hard being me, but you are better for it.

Ah, the clear, alpine air of untrammeled autobiography! It is endless; I contain multitudes.

(This is a satire, for you unmusical folks.)


8 comments:

Jamin Hubner said...

like really, when is your book coming out...

Michael Deal said...

Great post Doug!

You could always name it as some sporting autobiographies are called in my neck of the woods - "My Autobiography"....

Jerry said...

Hey!

If it is all about me, then how can it be about you?

Anonymous said...

Don't forget, the strategically posed, giant pictures of you that will grace the front and back covers are of utmost importance. Better get to work on finding a photographer who can bring out the best!

Claude said...

Aren't all those blogs some "About Me" stories? I don't mean this in a derogatory manner. I didn't have the internet until October 07. I couldn't believe the number of people (not writers, not teachers, not artists, not missionaries of any kind) who felt the need to reveal so much about themselves to the whole world. It was a strange discovery. The Samuel Pepys of the cyber space.

Steve Schuler said...

Doug,

Sounds like it's all about "ME"! But then again, shouldn't autobiographies be unmitigated sellabrations of self?

Your High School Playmate,

Steve Schuler

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Steve!

I haven't seen you for 30 years at least. I just found an old photograph of all of us in Fairbanks, AK in the fall of 1976 when some of our friends were going to college ther. It was in my mother's photos, which I saw when I was there this summer for a visit to Anchorage.

Please send me an email!

Jim Pemberton said...

You'd only be trading one apologetic for another - an apologetic of the absolute for an existential apologetic. One requires diligence and discipline. The other requires only self-opinion.