John W. Otte leads a double life. By day, he’s a Lutheran minister, husband, and father of two. He graduated from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a theatre major, and then from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. By night, he writes unusual stories of geeky grace. He lives in Blue Springs, Missouri, with his wife and two boys. Keep up with him at JohnWOtte.com.
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Star Wars Fans, Don’t Act Like New Testament Legalists

Some “Star Wars” fans, upset with new fans and “The Last Jedi,” sound like legalistic leaders in the book of Acts.
John Otte, Jun 2018

Finding God In Quantum Leap

“Quantum Leap” reminds me how God works through us to accomplish good even in small ways.
John Otte, Jul 2014

If You Want To Make God Laugh…

So last month, I spent a Monday night seated in front of my computer. My wife would tell you that this, in and of itself, is not unusual. But that particular night, I was watching the liveblog for the Christy […]
John Otte, Jul 2014

The Facts Are These…

I find it interesting that at the heart of this whimsical modern-day fairy tale is the concept of resurrection.
John Otte, Jun 2014

Slenderman: Requiem For Responsibility

Okay, so yeah, I know that I’ve been gone for a while. Real life has intruded (and in a severe way just recently). But something happened recently that’s so bizarre, so surreal, that it’s prompted me to come out of […]
John Otte, Jun 2014

The God Who Hides

About fifteen years ago, when I was attending Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, I had the privilege of taking a course entitled “The Gospel and C. S. Lewis” from a man we called Rev. Rossow. Essentially, the course was a […]
John Otte, Mar 2014

We Have Arrived

We now live in a world where Christian speculative fiction has been on “The Tonight Show.” Govern yourselves appropriately.
John Otte, Mar 2014

Are You Your Body?

“You are not your body” is a sentiment that gets tossed around a lot in Christian circles, this idea that we are merely temporarily enfleshed souls.
John Otte, Feb 2014

The Monster In My Bookshelf

Sorry to have disappeared on you, folks. Part of the reason why is because I was in the middle of overhauling my personal website. Go take a gander and kick the tires if you want. I like it. It is, […]
John Otte, Feb 2014

Looking Back, Looking Forward

John Otter lists his top ten speculative fiction-type things he enjoyed the previous year.
John Otte, Jan 2014

Not So Sleepy After All

“Sleepy Hollow” left John W. Otte a little sleepy. And a little angry. Find out why in today’s post.
John Otte, Sep 2013

Rose Ex Machina

Okay, so it was more like four weeks rather than two. My apologies. I didn’t look ahead enough to realize that I was scheduled to post while I was in San Antonio for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s National Youth Gathering. […]
John Otte, Jul 2013

Deus Ex Machina: The Origins

Two weeks ago, I griped about how Enterprise, the last Star Trek TV show to be aired on television, resorted to using a tired old trope called deus ex machina in their plots. But deus ex machina is not a […]
John Otte, Jun 2013

Daniels Ex Machina

I should have known better. The last time I was on here (a month ago?!?!? It seems a lot shorter than that!), I did some complaining about the long-cancelled TV show Enterprise (because, hey, I’m up on the latest entertainment […]
John Otte, Jun 2013

To Boldly Go…

Instead of boldly going where no man has gone before, Enterprise tepidly rehashed Star Trek cliches. Now I’m worried this could also happen with the upcoming feature film “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
John Otte, May 2013

To Trailer or Not To Trailer

. . . that is . . . well, it’s a question, anyway. Actually, it’s a question I wanted to ask all of you. As some of you may or may not know, Failstate: Legends, the sequel to my debut […]
John Otte, Feb 2013

Dust You Are

One of the things I’ve gotten used to, being a Lutheran in an industry filled with . . . well, mostly not-Lutherans, is that there are times when I’ll reference a belief or practice of my denomination, only to have […]
John Otte, Feb 2013

Offended

One day, while I was still attending Seminary, one of my professors came in and admitted to doing something heretical. I remember it well, even fifteen years later.
John Otte, Jan 2013

What Makes A Villain?

John Otte has villains on the brain today. He’s trying to figure out what makes a villain truly effective in a story. Stop by and help him figure it out.
John Otte, Dec 2012

The De-volution Of Revolution

There’s a monster lurking inside all of us.
John Otte, Oct 2012

So You Say You Want A Revolution?

We’re about a month into the new fall schedule on TV. My socks have not been blown off by “Revolution.” Then the characters meet Hollywood Christian Cliche #126, the fire-and-brimstone street preacher.
John Otte, Oct 2012

The Gospel According To Roddenberry

Star Trek and religion? Yes, please!
John Otte, Sep 2012

When The Rubber Hits The Road

Once again, due to the hectic-ness of life in the “real world,” I was unable to put a video together. Sorry. This is the last post I’ll be doing on amillennial eschatological theology. If you haven’t figured it out by […]
John Otte, Aug 2012

Temples, Old and New

No video this week, but I am talking about butterflies and time travel. Yes, they are related.
John Otte, Aug 2012

Done To Death: Getting It Right

Last time, I wrote about the reason why I don’t think it’s a good idea to write “milk” in Christian fiction. And I also promised to talk about some books that I think “got it right,” so to speak. So here we go.
John Otte, May 2012

Done To Death: Milk!

There’s a time and a place for “spiritual milk” (Hebrews 5:12). People who need the milk need it. But we can’t keep going back to it. At some point, we have to grow up and start on “solid food.”
John Otte, Apr 2012

Done To Death: Exceptions That Prove The Rule

Rebecca suggests that Mikalatos’s book shoots my theory to smithereens, but I disagree. Again, the question isn’t, “Can a non-Christian get something out of a Christian book?” The question is, “Who is this book written for?”
John Otte, Apr 2012

Done To Death: Who Are We Trying To Reach?

Who is it that actually reads Christian fiction? I’ll give you a hint by re-asking the question: Who is it that actually reads CHRISTIAN fiction? I know, it’s a stumper.
John Otte, Mar 2012

Done To Death

Tropes can pop up just about anywhere, even in Christian speculative fiction: hackneyed plots, characters, and themes. What do our readers think has been “done to death”?
John Otte, Feb 2012

Advice From “The Story Of My Heart” Part II

So it seems that I stirred up a little bit of discussion two weeks ago with my odd little pyramid based on something I learned from the “story of my heart,” a tale of aliens searching for grace that I […]
John Otte, Feb 2012

Advice From “The Story Of My Heart” Part I

Okay, so my last six articles have been about aliens. Maybe I should explain why a Lutheran pastor has little green men on the brain so badly.
John Otte, Feb 2012

The “Alien Work” Of God Part VI

Like I said two week ago, I’m not one to back down from a bad idea. And I have a feeling that this might be a bad idea. We’ll see. Of course, that’s only if this post makes it past […]
John Otte, Jan 2012

The “Alien Work” Of God Part V

So last time, we sat at the foot of the master, C. S. Lewis, and discussed the theological underpinnings of his Space Trilogy. For those of you just joining us now (or who don’t feel like going back and reading […]
John Otte, Jan 2012

The “Alien Work” Of God Part IV

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Not this blog series. At least, I hope none of you think that. But I’ve noticed a pattern. Whenever I sit down to write one of these columns, NASA announces that they’ve found more extra-solar planets.
John Otte, Dec 2011

The “Alien Work” Of God Part II

Two weeks ago, I stirred up a little bit of debate by asking all of you, our humble readers, what you thought about aliens. Is it possible that God has created life on some alien world? Possibly even sentient alien […]
John Otte, Nov 2011

The “Alien Work” Of God Part I

No, I’m not talking about this kind of alien work of God. Instead, I want to talk about how it seems that I’ve always had aliens on the brain. I mentioned two weeks ago that my earliest forays into writing […]
John Otte, Nov 2011

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