"A Defence of Poetry" is an apologetic essay by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1821. It contains Shelley's famous claim that "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world". I believe that is true. Those that I call "Creatives" often connect and communicate their worldviews more intimately and effectively in relatable narratives. That was the brilliance of C.S. Lewis. He delivered Christian Apologetics in a style, on a platform, and to a mass audience that the average teacher, pastor, or philosopher couldn't do.
As a teenager I struggled with deep philosophical and theological questions, but more often than not I got superficial or convoluted answers. A less curious sort may have given up, but I'm just plain stubborn. I wrestled and struggled to understand the depth of knowledge and wisdom that Francis Schaeffer, Alvin Plantinga, Norm Geisler, and William Lane Craig provided. I'd read their books over and over again trying to comprehend what they were saying. I'm still reading and understand a tiny bit more now. Their apologetics ministries have been used to strengthen my trust and grow my relationship with God.
Early on I learned that apologetics was about providing answers and defending your beliefs, but that not everyone in the church understood it or was on-board. I couldn't understand why. Learning about the God who made the entire universe and learning the various ways that science, history, and philosophy cohere with God and how apparent conflicts can be resolved just seemed like the responsible thing to do. It excited me that apologetics could help me think clearly and consider the best explanations, and provide me moral and intellectual instruction.
The more I learned about apologetics the more I wanted, but I noticed that in some churches that the philosophical foundations or understanding of Christianity was about ten-miles wide and an inch deep. There seemed to be more interest in cool music and thin emotional messages than deeper learning I desired. I wanted to help change that in some way if I could, so I took my limited apologetics education and journalistic talents and wrote a novel that incorporates apologetics. If the poets are indeed the unacknowledged legislators of the world, then who am I to remain silent. A hundred years from now maybe someone wanting to read a great psychological suspense will pick up a Mike Burnette classic and learn something new. May your trust in God be thoroughly deepened and enriched as you read PSYCHONIX: Mind Over Matter.
AMAZON: (Paperback and Kindle) https://www.amazon.com/PSYCHONIX-Mind-Matter-Mike-Burnette/dp/B086Y4S4VH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=PSYCHONIX&qid=1600266824&s=books&sr=1-1
BARNES & NOBLE: (Nook) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/psychonix-mike-burnette/1136839263;jsessionid=6421112979446DD1D4C2D525050F525E.prodny_store01-atgap04?ean=2940163806799
APPLE: (eBook) https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1516407948
