It is time for change in the Christian publishing scene. Such a change will not revolutionize or even restore it overnight. But change must begin somewhere and at some point in time. That time is now; it begins in the fall of 2024 in Katy, Texas, a suburb of the Houston metro. Hence, the genesis of Wahrheit & Vernunft occurs.
Why is it time for a change? A trend that began in the 1990s, if not earlier, is worsening increasingly. Material is being published under the name Christian and promoted as such. However, it is not truly Christian because the material denies the dogmas and doctrines of historical, orthodox Christianity.
Let’s be brutally honest. It is all about what the publishing houses believe will sell and generate revenue to fund their operations. Such behavior comes at a significant cost—the gospel message gets lost or, at the very least, weakened to be more palatable to the public than its inherently offensive nature, which is at its core (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
In other words, many have become Gomer—Hosea’s harlot wife—for the sake of profits instead of remaining faithful to their gospel mission. Naturally, not all of them have forsaken the gospel message. Too many, however, propagate teachings contrary and hostile to those found in Scripture, such as the prosperity gospel, New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), New Age, or occultic practices (Enneagram, holy yoga, grave soaking, etc.).
Christ warns that people cannot serve two masters; Jesus teaches that it is impossible to prioritize serving God and material wealth. At some point, individuals must choose between serving God faithfully and pursuing material gain for oneself (Matthew 6:24-26).
Standing on a Firm Foundation. . .
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and a great was the fall of it” (Matthew 6:24-27, ESV).
We stand for truth and reason. In German, wahrheit (pronounced: ˈvaːɐ̯.haɪ̯t) means truth, whereas vernunft (pronounced: fɛɐ̯ˈnʊnft) means reason. More importantly, we stand for biblical truth and the proper usage of reason to convey God’s truth.
Wahrheit & Vernunft is a conservative, evangelical, Reformed publishing and consulting company. We come from a non-denominational, baptistic, and Reformed background. Although we do not insist that all our authors identify themselves as Reformed, we will not consider publishing anything that would be a polemic against the Reformed faith. We are committed to the historical foundations of the faith, the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture in its original manuscripts, the deity of Christ, His uniqueness as a means of salvation, and the existence of hell.
Wahrheit & Vernunft stands firmly on a rock foundation, as evidenced in our Statement of Faith. We are fully aware that we are not immune to the same fate to which other Christian publishers have succumbed in recent decades. For this reason, we surround ourselves with a plurality of like-minded Christians to hold us accountable and faithful to our mission.
Our Backstory. . .
Where shall we begin? After all, all stories have a beginning. Our backstory—our history—is complicated to say precisely when the beginning is or even began because various elements emerged at different intervals.
Should we start when Wahrheit & Vernunft officially was formed as an LLC? Should we start the story when our founder designed one of the fundamental elements as a logo years earlier? Should we begin when a group of friends in Louisiana suggested to the founder purchasing high-quality printers from a church and becoming a book publisher before we morphed into who we are today? Or should we go decades further back when a college mate threw out a crazy notion?
Well, regardless of when we may say our story begins, all that honestly matters is that we are here now and seek to glorify God in all we do. But we will share our story for those interested in hearing it.
Let’s begin when the crazy notion was first thrown out there by a college friend. Every story must start somewhere; this is as good of a place as any. Crowder was a year to three out from finishing his first master’s degree when a college friend suggested two potential career paths: become a theological librarian after completing a Master’s in Library Science or start a publishing company. Both suggestions resulted from his friend knowing his passion for theological scholarship and rigor. So, this initial thought was first mentioned somewhere between 2003 and 2005. The college friend planted the seed.
Sometime during the fall or winter of 2010, friends encouraged purchasing high-quality printers from a sister church in Mississippi so that our founder could take over the publishing they were doing. Could that initial seed planted, some years prior, be starting to grow?
As you all suspect, life went on without purchasing those printers and taking over the church’s publishing ministry. Let’s fast-forward to the spring of 2020 and the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The seed has taken root and has begun to sprout. Crowder designed the first imprint logo design, The Soφia EFFECT. Yet, he was not quite sure what would come of it then.
Between the spring and summer months, Crowder had a series of one-off conversations with several academic colleagues and friends about whether a new Christian publishing company was needed in the current state of affairs in the Christian publishing industry. A sound consensus confirmed the need. Thus, giving genesis to Wahrheit & Vernunft in October 2024.
So, here we are, and that is our official backstory. The journey is now only beginning for us. To God be the glory!
