The Words of Jesus: A Gospel of the Sayings of Our Lord

by Phyllis Tickle author of The Great Emergence

Overview

What if you could encounter the words of Jesus on their own, lifted up from the surrounding narratives and presented in their full power and mystery? That's the question Phyllis Tickle--one of America's most beloved writers on Christian spirituality--asked when she set out to write what she calls a "sayings gospel." In The Words of Jesus, Tickle has compiled and arranged all the sayings of Jesus from the first four books of the New Testament and the first chapter of Acts in a way that creates an entirely new kind of encounter with the texts. And she accompanies those sayings with her own personal reflections and commentaries not just on the words themselves but on the One who spoke them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506454849
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Phyllis Tickle (1934-2015) was the founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly and one of the most highly respected authorities and popular speakers on religion in America. She authored more than two dozen books, including the Divine Hours series of prayer manuals. A lector and lay eucharistic minister in the Episcopal Church, Tickle was a senior fellow of the Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral.

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Table of Contents

Reflections on the Words of Jesus     1
A Gospel of the Sayings of Our Lord     59
The Words of Public Teaching     61
The Words of Private Instruction     107
The Words of Healing Dialogue     147
The Words of Intimate Conversation     157
The Words of Post-Resurrection Encounters     189
Index to Canonical Sources     195
Acknowledgments     205
The Author     207

Editorial Reviews

Award-winning author and speaker Tickle (Rediscovering the Sacred; The Divine Hours), who is PW's former contributing editor in religion, chooses to take the "red letter" Bible one step further in this excellent study tool. The first section of this slim volume is a reflective essay on what Tickle learned from extracting the words of Jesus out of their narrative context in the Gospels. She writes of Jesus gradually becoming "the heard" rather than "the seen," stripped of the sentimental images she had grown up with. She argues that the sayings, taken on their own merit, offer a third way between biblical literalists and literary critics: "Jesus was an actualist, not a literalist or a metaphorist... [the words] don't mean; they are." As such, they must be absorbed with both heart and mind together. Tickle divides the sayings into five categories: public teaching, private instruction, healing dialogue, intimate conversation and postresurrection encounters. Each saying stands alone but has been given a brief descriptive title. Tickle used an amalgam of biblical translations and chronologies to produce a version that is accessible and vibrant. These sayings of Jesus will be a valuable tool to Christians looking for new ways to study and assimilate his core teachings and character. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly , Tickle is also the prolific author of God-Talk in America, Recovering the Sacred , and other books. This volume is a thoughtful reflection on the meaning of Jesus's words and the importance of various contexts for his followers, as well as on truth that emerges around unconsciously imposed cultural blinders. In the process, Tickle explains much of the thinking behind the Emergent Church movement. She also struggles with how to phrase certain "words" found with different nuances in more than one canonical Gospel. The book concludes with a recounting of Jesus's words from the canonical Gospels and the first chapter of Acts, dividing them into five different contexts, by delivery venue or topic: words of public teaching, of private instruction, of healing dialog, of intimate conversation, and of postresurrection encounters. For many readers, this book will fulfill Tickle's intent: to lead to a new appreciation of Jesus's words and of Jesus himself. Highly recommended for public and seminary libraries.-Carolyn M. Craft, formerly with Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"Harsh. Testy. Uncompromising. These aren't words typically associated with Jesus, but Christian scholar Phyllis Tickle, a former religion editor of Publishers Weekly, says they often came to mind as she wrote her new book, The Words of Jesus." —Newsweek Magazine

"These sayings of Jesus will be a valuable tool to Christians looking for new ways to study and assimilate His core teachings and character." —Publishers Weekly

"I'm wary of any attempt to abstract the words of Jesus from their context in the distinctive particulars of the four Gospels. But Phyllis Tickle's The Words of Jesus is worth the price of admission and more: she's given us one of the richest engagements with Scripture I've encountered in a long while." —John Wilson, editor of "Books & Culture" and "Christianity Today"

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