Connecting to the Gospel

by James Boyd White, Walter Brueggemann (Foreword by)

Overview

How can we connect the Gospels--the fundamental texts of Christian faith--to our own experience of inner and outer life? This is the question that animates Connecting to the Gospel. In it James Boyd White presents a series of Gospel passages, together with the sermons he gave on these passages as a lay preacher in the Episcopal Church, with brief commentaries and questions on each as well. The whole is designed as an aid to thought and reflection about the issues raised by the Gospel passages, as they relate both to our own larger culture and to our internal religious experiences. The texts are old texts, from the past. What relation do they have, can they have, with life in the twenty-first century? One aim of the book is to establish a set of questions, both about the Gospels and about our own lives, which the reader is invited to pursue on his or her own. It can be used both by individuals and groups engaged in study and exploration. ""The Jesus we meet in the Gospels, Jim White rightly says, is ""confounding, puzzling, distressing, challenging, confusing."" His sermons respond to this Jesus, the real Jesus, with deep, personal honesty, and in doing so they bear witness to the power of a robust Christian faith, hope, and love to illuminate our lives."" --H. Jefferson Powell Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Divinity, Duke University. ""In this fascinating collection, Jim White comes to Scripture as a lay person, remembering well his initial confusion and even embarrassment at finding himself in church, and now speaking to others situated as he once was. What do the ancient biblical texts that we hear on Sunday say to the world today? What do they have to do with the challenges and quandaries of our lives? How might they respond to the needs and questions that brought us to this strange place this morning? Could they help us understand and connect with this mystery called God? White brings to the task professional skills honed in an illustrious career as teacher and author in law, classics, and English literature. He also brings an unusually deep and open human soul, determined always to be clear and honest. Through his sermons speaks a person we'd like to know, discovering a faith we'd like to share. The result is a book both fresh and refreshing for lay people and clergy alike, those who preach and those who listen to preaching, those new to the church or just thinking about going to church, and those who've been in the pews a lifetime."" --The Reverend John McCausland Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Weare, New Hampshire. James Boyd White is a lay preacher in the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. He is also Hart Wright Professor of Law emeritus, Professor of English emeritus, and former adjunct Professor of Classics, University of Michigan, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His most recent book is Living Speech: Resisting the Empire of Force.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608991358
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	02/11/2010
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

James Boyd White is a lay reader in the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. He is also Hart Wright Professor of Law Emeritus, Professor of English Emeritus, formerly Adjunct Professor of Classics at the University of Michigan, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. For many years he was chair of the Michigan Society of Fellows. He is the author of many books, including Connecting to the Gospel: Texts, Sermons, Questions; Living Speech: Resisting the Empire of Force; "This Booke of Starres": Learning to Read George Herbert; and The Legal Imagination.

Table of Contents

Foreword Walter Brueggemann ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

1 "Love One Another as I Have Loved You" 9

2 Nicodemus 15

3 Lazarus and the Rich Man 22

4 Doubting Thomas 29

5 Walking on Water 38

6 The Good Samaritan 45

7 The Narrow Door 52

8 The Passion According to John 58

9 The Parable of the Sower 68

10 "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!" 75

11 The Laborers in the Vineyard 82

12 The Transfiguration of Jesus 89

13 Saturday Time 94

14 Sending Out the Twelve 99

15 "To Whom Can We Go?" 105

16 "Prepare the Way of the Lord" 112

17 Jesus on the Beach 119

18 Sending the Seventy 126

19 "Sell Your Possessions" 133

20 The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin 140

21 The Pharisee and the Tax Collector 148

22 The Good Shepherd 155

23 "You in Me, and I in You" 162

24 The Mustard Seed 168

25 "Who Do You I Am?" 176

26 "Seventy Times Seven" 182

27 Healing the Leper 189

28 The Grain of Wheat 196

29 The Resurrection of Jesus 202

Table of Gospel Readings 209

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The Jesus we meet in the Gospels, Jim White rightly says, is "confounding, puzzling, distressing, challenging, confusing." His sermons respond to this Jesus, the real Jesus, with deep, personal honesty, and in doing so they bear witness to the power of a robust Christian faith, hope, and love to illuminate our lives."
—H. Jefferson Powell
Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Divinity, Duke University.

"In this fascinating collection, Jim White comes to Scripture as a lay person, remembering well his initial confusion and even embarrassment at finding himself in church, and now speaking to others situated as he once was. What do the ancient biblical texts that we hear on Sunday say to the world today? What do they have to do with the challenges and quandaries of our lives? How might they respond to the needs and questions that brought us to this strange place this morning? Could they help us understand and connect with this mystery called God?
White brings to the task professional skills honed in an illustrious career as teacher and author in law, classics, and English literature. He also brings an unusually deep and open human soul, determined always to be clear and honest. Through his sermons speaks a person we'd like to know, discovering a faith we'd like to share. The result is a book both fresh and refreshing for lay people and clergy alike, those who preach and those who listen to preaching, those new to the church or just thinking about going to church, and those who've been in the pews a lifetime."
—The Reverend John McCausland
Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Weare, New Hampshire.

Editorial Reviews

"The Jesus we meet in the Gospels, Jim White rightly says, is "confounding, puzzling, distressing, challenging, confusing." His sermons respond to this Jesus, the real Jesus, with deep, personal honesty, and in doing so they bear witness to the power of a robust Christian faith, hope, and love to illuminate our lives."
—H. Jefferson Powell
Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Divinity, Duke University.

"In this fascinating collection, Jim White comes to Scripture as a lay person, remembering well his initial confusion and even embarrassment at finding himself in church, and now speaking to others situated as he once was. What do the ancient biblical texts that we hear on Sunday say to the world today? What do they have to do with the challenges and quandaries of our lives? How might they respond to the needs and questions that brought us to this strange place this morning? Could they help us understand and connect with this mystery called God?
White brings to the task professional skills honed in an illustrious career as teacher and author in law, classics, and English literature. He also brings an unusually deep and open human soul, determined always to be clear and honest. Through his sermons speaks a person we'd like to know, discovering a faith we'd like to share. The result is a book both fresh and refreshing for lay people and clergy alike, those who preach and those who listen to preaching, those new to the church or just thinking about going to church, and those who've been in the pews a lifetime."
—The Reverend John McCausland
Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Weare, New Hampshire.

From the Publisher