I had the pleasure of reading “40 Days with the Fathers: A Journey Through Church History” upon drawing Luke Wilson’s name from my newsletter promo recently run on my Instagram. Whether you’re following from my newsletter or just tuning in, here are some exclusive interview questions answered by author Luke Wilson!
In what ways did writing “40 Days with the Fathers” challenge your faith
and overall understanding of church history?
Oh wow, this could be a long answer! I’ll try keep it short though: the main thing would be my idea of what church should be or look like, as well as foundational things like baptism and communion/Eucharist. One of the biggest initial shocks for me was realising and seeing that the liturgy is ancient! And I’m talking within the apostles’ lifetime ancient. It was surprising because for much of my youth I had been told that liturgical style worship was all “medieval corruption” etc. I even heard similar things while at Bible College, so it had been reinforced quite a lot, along with the typical evangelical views of baptism being nothing more than an “outward sign” and communion being merely symbolic. Reading early church leaders from the end of the first century and beginning of the second explain liturgical worship when describing a common Sunday morning (words still used to the letter in the C of E and other traditional denominations to this day). Hearing them explain how Jesus is truly present in the elements of the bread and wine – not necessarily transubstantiation, but certainly not plain symbolism either – along with how the Holy Spirit is present in the waters of baptism so we can enter into new life through this act and have our sins washed away, as the Scriptures say but that I’d so often overlooked due to doctrinal and denominational blinders. Before I go on too long, let’s just say that I’ve found a “fullness” to worship in the Anglican church that I couldn’t any longer in other denominations, as they felt lacking now. The liturgy ensures full participation and engages you, it’s hard to just be a spectator sat in an ‘audience’ this way!
What was your biggest encouragement in the publishing process?
Seeing the book in print! Being able to actually hold a real, physical copy of all that hard work is amazing. Three editions later, it still feels good to get it in my hands, and even more so with this edition as it’s also available in hardback, which looks really nice if I do say so myself! And of course, SALES! Ha! Nothing builds encouragement like seeing that other random people on the internet are actually buying your book and even leaving positive reviews!
What was your biggest discouragement in the publishing process
and how did you overcome that?
I think sometimes the hardest thing is getting over yourself. Either self-doubt or imposter syndrome, or just procrastination to write something! Feeling like you are just another blip in the Amazon ocean of self-published books with little to no marketing can be a little discouraging. Despite reading so many authors who tell of how hard or bad traditional publishing can be, there’s still that sense of “legitimacy” that comes from the idea of being picked up by a big publishing house. But I’ve built up a small audience of blog subscribers, Facebook and other social followers who enjoy the things I write, so just knowing there are some fans out there who like what I do can be enough to get over any humps of doubt that may come, and I trust God to work through this in whatever way possible.
If anyone wanted to get in touch with you regarding your book, “40 Days with the Fathers:
A Journey Through Church History,” what’s the best way of doing so?
I am always happy to have people contact me if they want to chat about any of the subjects or topics in the book (or this interview), and anyone can get in touch via my website: https://lukejwilson.com.
Tiffany Price 