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Christian Academic Writing: Twelve Practices and Principles for Becoming a Successful Writer
The journey of writing and publishing includes obstacles such as writer's block, fear of rejection, getting overwhelmed by information, feeling inadequate, and not finding enough time. How is it that some are able to consistently produce work while others struggle to cross the finish line?
This concise guide to writing in Christian academic settings offers 12 practices and principles for becoming a successful writer. It is written by two authors with a proven track record of publishing success who have a passion for helping students and budding authors improve their writing. This book distills their years of experience to offer inspiration and encouragement for writing and publishing academic works. It is ideal for students writing papers in Christian academic settings and for young academics who want to further develop their writing skills.
Christian Academic Writing is full of helpful and proven advice that will motivate readers to reach their goals. It focuses on best practices and emphasizes the finished product. Each short, readable chapter includes questions inviting readers to take their writing to the next level.
This concise guide to writing in Christian academic settings offers 12 practices and principles for becoming a successful writer. It is written by two authors with a proven track record of publishing success who have a passion for helping students and budding authors improve their writing. This book distills their years of experience to offer inspiration and encouragement for writing and publishing academic works. It is ideal for students writing papers in Christian academic settings and for young academics who want to further develop their writing skills.
Christian Academic Writing is full of helpful and proven advice that will motivate readers to reach their goals. It focuses on best practices and emphasizes the finished product. Each short, readable chapter includes questions inviting readers to take their writing to the next level.
- GenresWriting
176 pages, Paperback
Published March 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 18, 2025
For me, this book was perfect. The perfect combination of encouragement and instruction at the perfect time. It inspired so much writing, planning, and productivity during the winter break.
August 18, 2024
I wish I read this book before I started seminary instead of after graduation.
Helpful writing advice delivered with an encouraging tone. If you want to write and publish this book is worth your time.
Helpful writing advice delivered with an encouraging tone. If you want to write and publish this book is worth your time.
July 1, 2026
Super helpful book in thinking through academic scholarship in the Christian world! As I’m starting my PhD and figuring out what Christian scholarship is, this is super helpful for me to figure out how to define this kind of high level research comparatively to graduate level research and writing! Great book!
January 14, 2026
Over the years, I have read a number of writing books including some of the books that Merkle and Miles refer to in Christian Academic Writing: Twelve Practices and Principles for Becoming a Successful Writer, but this is one of the best I have read particularly for academics or pastors who may serve in a co-vocational or bi-vocational roles in a college or university setting. The authors provide wise and practical counsel for writing that I will return again and again.
November 23, 2024
This concise guide to better writing will help aspiring writers develop a discipline of writing, convene a writing group, and begin publishing. Merkle and Miles will help all writers but especially those who want to start writing but do not know where to begin. Their advice to writers to start by writing book reviews and then continue by publishing journal articles was especially helpful.
May 17, 2024
Very helpful and applicable to all writers and those who work with them. I will be recommending this to all writers and my university writing studio and hoping to put a lot of it into practice.
August 11, 2024
A bit repetitive in spots but really helpful overall in terms of motivating me to write more.
May 26, 2026
Benjamin Merkle and Adrianne Miles share their tips and tricks for professional academic writing in Christian Academic Writing: 12 Practices and Principles for Becoming a Successful Writer. The book expounds upon a list of twelve notes Merkle wrote down after multiple colleagues asked him how he maintained a high publishing frequency. Developed from the experience of two Christian academics and their additional research, the twelve chapters offer aspiring academics wisdom to help them succeed as writers.
The first piece of advice is to be passionate about the topic. Merkle and Miles share, from personal experience, that writing is both difficult work and does not produce much income, but it is worth their energy because they love their topics. They also acknowledge that love often comes from quality time with their topic and is not always born at first sight. Then Merkle and Miles suggest that writers always have reading material on their person. Third, writers will have to forsake certain activities (namely, watching television shows and sports) in their downtime to reclaim time for reading and writing. Often, professional writing will require people to work after 5 pm, on weekends, and during academic breaks. Merkle and Miles then challenge common myths held by writers. These myths include imposter syndrome, the belief that one more source will complete the research, and the weight of trying to write a magnum opus, among others. Fifth, they simply tell writers to stop making excuses and start writing. Better to start small and imperfect than never start at all. Merkle and Miles then survey the lives of famous writers and personal examples to impart the necessity of habitual writing. They insist that writers must maintain disciplined schedules and write consistently. Ideas are not sporadic; they come to those who schedule appointments for them. Seventh, writers must edit their first drafts and subsequent drafts. They provide tricks for rereading and encouragement for cutting, which writers are often reluctant to do. Chapter 8 outlines the process of seeking feedback, starting with non-expert feedback, followed by peer evaluation, before submitting the final draft for expert review. Merkle and Miles also instruct writers to demonstrate gratitude towards their reviewers for doing them the favor and provide clear expectations for feedback and deadlines. The ninth piece of advice relates to the one before it: “Don’t be afraid of feedback.” Writers often take negative feedback personally, but in chapter 9, they are encouraged to set their ego aside and learn from criticism. Tenth, writers should attend and contribute to professional conferences for several benefits, including networking, feedback, and development. Eleventh, good writers always work to improve their craft by reading good writing and books about writing. Merkle and Miles conclude their advice by encouraging writers to finish all their writing projects. By finish they mean publish. They go through reasons to publish and counter common roadblocks.
Merkle and Miles, both professors and writers, love the craft and write to an audience they assume shares their love for academic writing. While some of the content is helpful to any student with a writing-heavy course load, the book will be best received by students aspiring to become published, professional writers.
The first piece of advice is to be passionate about the topic. Merkle and Miles share, from personal experience, that writing is both difficult work and does not produce much income, but it is worth their energy because they love their topics. They also acknowledge that love often comes from quality time with their topic and is not always born at first sight. Then Merkle and Miles suggest that writers always have reading material on their person. Third, writers will have to forsake certain activities (namely, watching television shows and sports) in their downtime to reclaim time for reading and writing. Often, professional writing will require people to work after 5 pm, on weekends, and during academic breaks. Merkle and Miles then challenge common myths held by writers. These myths include imposter syndrome, the belief that one more source will complete the research, and the weight of trying to write a magnum opus, among others. Fifth, they simply tell writers to stop making excuses and start writing. Better to start small and imperfect than never start at all. Merkle and Miles then survey the lives of famous writers and personal examples to impart the necessity of habitual writing. They insist that writers must maintain disciplined schedules and write consistently. Ideas are not sporadic; they come to those who schedule appointments for them. Seventh, writers must edit their first drafts and subsequent drafts. They provide tricks for rereading and encouragement for cutting, which writers are often reluctant to do. Chapter 8 outlines the process of seeking feedback, starting with non-expert feedback, followed by peer evaluation, before submitting the final draft for expert review. Merkle and Miles also instruct writers to demonstrate gratitude towards their reviewers for doing them the favor and provide clear expectations for feedback and deadlines. The ninth piece of advice relates to the one before it: “Don’t be afraid of feedback.” Writers often take negative feedback personally, but in chapter 9, they are encouraged to set their ego aside and learn from criticism. Tenth, writers should attend and contribute to professional conferences for several benefits, including networking, feedback, and development. Eleventh, good writers always work to improve their craft by reading good writing and books about writing. Merkle and Miles conclude their advice by encouraging writers to finish all their writing projects. By finish they mean publish. They go through reasons to publish and counter common roadblocks.
Merkle and Miles, both professors and writers, love the craft and write to an audience they assume shares their love for academic writing. While some of the content is helpful to any student with a writing-heavy course load, the book will be best received by students aspiring to become published, professional writers.
March 28, 2024
Christian Academic Writing by Benjamin Merkle and Adrianne Miles is a wise and practical guide to academic writing. Topics cover every part of the writing process including choosing a topic, improving craft, revising and reviewing, and publishing and presenting.
The information is clear and presented in a way that gives you a checklist to consider and work through for whatever writing project you have. And the advice comes from the authors’ own knowledge and experience in their fields. Sections that were particularly helpful for me were on time management in the writing process (such as diving your work and schedule into A-time and B-time) and on common myths (so many of them were things I needed to hear and identify).
Throughout the book, there are many resources mentioned for improving different aspects of the writing craft. The book also includes information on Christian academic journals and publishers which is an excellent resource for remembering, as the authors emphasize, that writing isn’t over until the research is shared.
Overall, the book will be an encouragement to anyone interested in academic writing and who is looking for a resource that won’t just tell you what you should be doing, but how—practically and in the middle of other responsibilities—to do it and do it well.
My kindle tells me I have 142 highlights in this 176-page book. Here are just two of them:
“There is no virtue in sounding smart but failing to communicate.”
“Passion is good. Discipline is good. But disciplined passion is even better. Pursue writing with passion, but also pursue it with discipline. That is when the magic begins.”
The information is clear and presented in a way that gives you a checklist to consider and work through for whatever writing project you have. And the advice comes from the authors’ own knowledge and experience in their fields. Sections that were particularly helpful for me were on time management in the writing process (such as diving your work and schedule into A-time and B-time) and on common myths (so many of them were things I needed to hear and identify).
Throughout the book, there are many resources mentioned for improving different aspects of the writing craft. The book also includes information on Christian academic journals and publishers which is an excellent resource for remembering, as the authors emphasize, that writing isn’t over until the research is shared.
Overall, the book will be an encouragement to anyone interested in academic writing and who is looking for a resource that won’t just tell you what you should be doing, but how—practically and in the middle of other responsibilities—to do it and do it well.
My kindle tells me I have 142 highlights in this 176-page book. Here are just two of them:
“There is no virtue in sounding smart but failing to communicate.”
“Passion is good. Discipline is good. But disciplined passion is even better. Pursue writing with passion, but also pursue it with discipline. That is when the magic begins.”
August 28, 2025
I was initially going to give this book 4 stars because it was helpful but not necessary life changing. But then I realized that for a book on this topic, how could they have done better? It is by nature a somewhat pragmatic and bland topic on its own. People are generally more passionate about writing about a certain topic that interests them than they are about the act of writing itself.
I most appreciated the constant encouragement to write often and to force yourself to do it, regardless of what season you are in, in a way that works for you. It was helpful to see the authors confront the many myths that keep people from writing. I was actually motivated to write this review because of this book, which is a little meta.
I appreciated the reality check that even PhDs usually write in addition to their job and receive little to no monetary compensation relative to their efforts. Writing then is primarily spiritual and intellectual service, a perspective which actually might make it seem even more important.
This book also had many practical tips on the nuts and bolts of writing and publishing: how to read well, when to read, what to read, how many drafts to read, the importance of feedback, how to get feedback, what sorts of feedback are needed, the attitude to have when receiving feedback, how to give feedback, why write journal articles, what journals to submit your articles to, how many journals to submit your articles to, and what to do when one of your articles is inevitably rejected.
This book was very motivating and I'm sure that one day I will take it for granted that I didn't have to learn a lot of these lessons the hard way.
I most appreciated the constant encouragement to write often and to force yourself to do it, regardless of what season you are in, in a way that works for you. It was helpful to see the authors confront the many myths that keep people from writing. I was actually motivated to write this review because of this book, which is a little meta.
I appreciated the reality check that even PhDs usually write in addition to their job and receive little to no monetary compensation relative to their efforts. Writing then is primarily spiritual and intellectual service, a perspective which actually might make it seem even more important.
This book also had many practical tips on the nuts and bolts of writing and publishing: how to read well, when to read, what to read, how many drafts to read, the importance of feedback, how to get feedback, what sorts of feedback are needed, the attitude to have when receiving feedback, how to give feedback, why write journal articles, what journals to submit your articles to, how many journals to submit your articles to, and what to do when one of your articles is inevitably rejected.
This book was very motivating and I'm sure that one day I will take it for granted that I didn't have to learn a lot of these lessons the hard way.
April 30, 2025
If you have a passion for writing, this book will give you a quick jolt in the direction of putting passion into practice. The principles are imminent and applicable, and the authors are real concerning the writing process. At times in the book they state, "I wish I was done" or "I have other things to do, but this is my writing time." They give the arm-chair researcher permission to be a normal human being, and give license to publish nd be critiqued- because it's what writing is about. Such a wonderful resource that points to other wonderful resources!
March 23, 2024
Dr. Merkle was an exemplary professor. Godly. Professional. Knowledgeable. I gladly accepted the chance to read this.
It is more of an overview, less craft, not much on researching either. In the preface, he says that this is the case. But a lot of practical tips and advice, nonetheless.
Main idea: just write.
"If something is worth writing, it's worth writing well. If it's worth right well, it's worth sharing with others." - Rob Plummer
It is more of an overview, less craft, not much on researching either. In the preface, he says that this is the case. But a lot of practical tips and advice, nonetheless.
Main idea: just write.
"If something is worth writing, it's worth writing well. If it's worth right well, it's worth sharing with others." - Rob Plummer
March 21, 2024
Excellent. Synthesizes many of the best insights on academic writing and packages them in an accessible way for both the budding scholar and seasoned veteran.
April 7, 2024
Very helpful.
July 3, 2025
Generally helpful. Nothing so profound that I hadn’t heard from academic mentors.
July 11, 2025
If you also dread seeing a blank page whenever you write, this book is for you.
July 3, 2026
#school
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews