"The Way of Heaven and Earth" has officially launched!

an announcement

It’s a good morning.

Today, the feast of Saint Scholastica, my first book, The Way of Heaven and Earth: From Either/Or to the Catholic Both/And, has officially launched!

You can order it at:

• Word on Fire

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

(If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge with ordering a copy, you can also read the introduction at Word on Fire here, or listen to me talk about with Dr. Marcus Peters at Ave Maria Radio about the book here.)

Today marks the culmination of a decade-long journey. As I write in the Acknowledgments,

In February 2015, several years after my reversion to the Catholic faith, I began to think about a book on the “Catholic both/and.” For the next six years, I continued to think about it, occasionally scribbling down paragraphs, notes, and quotations. Word on Fire has given me the great gift of finally turning this dream into a reality, and in February 2025—a decade later—it arrives in print.

Thank you again to everyone mentioned by name in the Acknowledgments, and to the many more besides, who played a role in shaping, guiding, and encouraging me over the years. And thank you for reading this Substack, especially those who have subscribed! God willing, in the weeks and months and years to come (I’ve already been on the both/and train for the long haul, and I intend to keep going), I will be using this platform to reflect on the creation and themes of The Way, to connect with any interested readers (both supportive and critical!), and to post announcements, including any interviews and reviews (and there are a few exciting irons in those fires already).

Last night, my wife and I shared a glass a wine and looked back on my collection of Word on Fire books organized by release date. What an amazing journey it’s been—and what an amazing honor to be the latest join this wonderful roster of authors with my own contribution to “the great conversation.” “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

As to its worth—let the readers decide! (To that end, if you do like it, please leave reviews on Amazon and Good Reads so others can find it.) But whatever the reaction, I’ve always felt strangely compelled to write this book—like it was a charge from God that had to be fulfilled in due time. For months now, I’ve found myself in a strange liminal space with it: it’s been completed, printed, starting to get sent out, even read, but not yet officially or fully launched, received, or reviewed—a kind of fitting suspension between the already and the not yet.

Well, my own little not yet has arrived, as the great not yet will for everyone one day. Time, as Bill Fay sang, is going somewhere. What God’s purpose was in binding me to this and guiding me through all the twists and turns, all the ups and downs, to get to this point, I can’t say, and maybe even won’t be able to say in a year’s time when the dust settles. Maybe I’ll never know this side of eternity. But I’m at peace today with The Way, and I’m happy to go on following his lead, whatever happens next.