This week’s author interview is with Craig Troxel. He is the author of two Basics of the Faith booklets, What Is the Priesthood of Believers? and What Is Man?.

• Tell us a little bit about yourself: where you’re from, family, job, personal interests, unique hobbies, what you do in your spare time, etc.

I was raised in Nebraska.  It is a place I love returning to for its open range, sunsets, and normal-sounding people. My wife is Carol who I met at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. We have five children. We enjoy (leisurely) walking.

 

• Which writers inspire you?

J.R.R. Tolkien for his imagination; Alexander Dumas for his craft in telling a story; C.S. Lewis for his playfulness; Herman Bavink for his occasional theological sound-bites (amidst his erudition); and G.K. Chesterton for his wit.

 

• Have you always enjoyed writing?

I first started writing free-verse poetry soon after college (none of which is publishable). I realized that I enjoyed writing when I entered into graduate work, but my very first article that was published in a scholarly journal proved that my writing skills were in need of significant improvement. I would still not regard myself as an “author” since I think of that as an honorable title that must be earned after repeated success.

 

• What book are you reading now?

I recently completed reading again, The Count of Monte Cristo (one of my favorites), and before that The Good Lord Bird by James McBride.

 

• Do you have a favorite movie? What is it and why?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Everything about it is fabulous. Amazing script, good characters, the sepia styling, the soundtrack (Allison Kraus!) and all of it built on a classic story (The Odyssey).

 

• Do you have a favorite quote? What is it and why?

Noblesse oblige (“nobility obligates”). It is alleged that Winston Churchill posted this over his doorway to his study. It reminds us that the privileges we have put us in a position to serve those less fortunate.

 

• Favorite sport to watch? Why? Favorite sport’s team? 

Most often college football is my favorite sport and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are my team (Go Big Red!). But every spring my family enjoys watching March Madness and competing against each other with the brackets.

 

• Favorite food?

It’s a tie between a perfectly grilled T-bone, Thai food, or Mangos.

 

• The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia?

The Lord of the Rings. Nothing else comes close. I appreciate how he paints virtue and vice in their brightest and darkest shades respectively. His noble characters inspire me to be better and braver, and his antagonists bring out the repulsive nature of evil.

 

• Tea or coffee?

Coffee in the morning. Tea in the afternoon. Tea in the evening with my wife.

 

• What famous person (living or dead) would you like to meet and why?

I would have enjoyed meeting G.K. Chesterton—just to hear his humor in every day life.

 

• If you have a favorite book of the Bible, what is it and why?

Esther is the one book of the Bible that when I read it, I cannot stop. It is so exciting and interesting.

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