Novels

People who know me primarily through Lectio are often surprised to discover that I am also a novelist. If you would like to read some of my fiction, check out my crime novel trilogy featuring Houston homicide detective Roland March. The three novels are Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide. To find out why you might want to do this, read Jon L. Breen’s 2013 review “Divine Deduction: Christian fiction comes of age,” from The Weekly Standard. (I’m also grateful for this early notice from John Wilson.) Or just take the word of homicide detective and author Mark Mynheir: “J. Mark Bertrand has captured the surreal world of homicide detectives with a realism and power rarely seen in fiction.”

Short Fiction

Rabbit Room’s The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad included my short story “Sir Galahad and the Holy Friar,” in which the wizard Merlin dons the metaphorical deerstalker to solve an untimely murder. Simon Vance reads the audiobook, and it is splendid.

Nonfiction

My nonfiction book Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World is an integrated introduction to Christian worldview, focused on the philosophical foundations of the faith should not only form us for life but also influence our contributions to culture. (Dr. Keith Plummer reviewed it for The Gospel Coalition.) I have contributed essays to Square Halo’s Bigger on the Inside: Christianity and Doctor Who and The City for God: Essays Honoring the Work of Tim Keller.

Curious why a guy like me would be interested in murder mysteries? I wrote about crime noir as “the fiction of moral breakdown” for ByFaith Magazine in an essay titled “Writing About Reprobation.”

Back in 2007, I wrote a piece about summer reading for Comment, which includes some theories about how to approach the problem of reading on the road: “I Know What Your Read Last Summer.” Other essays written for Comment include “What Made Dagon Bow?” (my personal favorite), “Breeding Monsters,” “Post-Apocalypse Now,” “The Wake for Printed Books,” “Strange Love,” “Of Deerstalkers and Labcoats,” “Mopping Up the Deep End,” and “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read.” The magazine also published this Paris Review-style interview with me.

Speaking of interviews, Phil Wade spoke with me in 2013 for The Gospel Coalition (“Christian Artists Tell the Truth About the World”), and Carey Bustard did again in 2015 (“To Tell the Truth About the World”). I have occasionally turned my hand to book reviewing, too. Books & Culture published my piece on Daniel Woodrell’s “slender epic” The Maid’s Version and his story collection The Outlaw Album, as well as my review of James Lee Burke’s The Glass Rainbow.

Podcasts

Since 2017, I have been the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As part of that ministry, I produce two weekly podcasts, one for adults and one for young people. If you’d like to listen, The Commentary is a wide-ranging conversation about theology, church life, books, and culture. My co-host, Cameron Brooks, is a poet and graduate of Princeton Seminary. In The Big Question, I attempt to ask questions posed by young members of the congregation, some serious, some fun, but all important.

My friend Delta David Gier, the artistic director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and subject of this New Yorker piece by Alex Ross, collaborated with me on a podcast called Hearing the Music. The first season is devoted to Bach’s St. John Passion, and a second season is in the works.

My friend Mike Schutt, now executive director of Worldview Academy, invited me a number of times as a guest on the Cross & Gavel podcast. We had conversations about Bible design, the new moralism, biblical conceptions of government, and drawing comfort from the psalms.

In 2021, I joined Ryan J. Pelton for an episode of The Prolific Creator titled “Writing with a Day Job.” I also spoke earlier this year about my book Rethinking Worldview with Logan Merrick and Jake Wilton in this episode of Logan and Jake’s Theological Adventure Podcast.

Sermons

Naturally, as a pastor I also preach a lot of sermons. If you’re curious about that, you can find an archive of past sermons on the Grace site. And needless to say, should you ever find yourself in Sioux Falls on a Sunday, it would be a pleasure to worship with you.

Video

In the lead-up to his feature story in Bible Study magazine, Mark Ward interviewed me about Bible design. The video is available to watch on Mark’s YouTube channel: