Christmaker Continues to Inspire

My biography of John the Baptist titled Christmaker continues to inspire. I was genuinely moved by the kind words and thoughtful engagement at the 2025 Midwest Regional Meeting for Biblical Studies, where the final plenary session was about the book. Dr. Clare Rothschild was one of the two panelists and she said that Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist is “one of the most engaging works of nonfiction I’ve ever read…Wonderful!” (The panel was also about my larger monograph John of History, Baptist of Faith.) In a recent review of Christmaker, Dr. Josh Olds wrote:

Rarely do I read a book about the Bible and think “Wow, I’ve never considered that” and it not be about some especially obscure and mostly trivial topic. I think that the last time it happened was reading Drew Hart’s The Trouble I’ve Seen where he contextualizes Barabbas. It’s this lightbulb moment of understanding, of putting the puzzle pieces together in the obvious fashion, that happens throughout Christmaker. McGrath doesn’t challenge preconceptions as much as he offers revelations into someone worthy of study. It’s an incredible, transformational work.

I also recently heard from an artist named Douglas Porter who painted a depiction of John the Baptist that was inspired by reading my book Christmaker. You can read about the painting on the artist’s website. Before clicking through, take a look at it and see if you notice what might have been inspired not just by John the Baptist in general but specifically by my book.

The best price for the books still seems to consistently be Christianbook, formerly Christian Book Distributors (CBD). If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so and find out why others have found it so transformational, why Christmaker continues to inspire, as I said in the title of this post. And if you have read it, please do share what reading it has meant to you!