Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus
Author: David Bivin
Publisher: Destiny Image Publishers
Total Pages: 131
Release: 1994-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0768492084

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus“This book will stir the pot of biblical scholarship for years to come. It will force many to rethink the origin of the Gospels and the Jewishness of Jesus. Some may disagree with Bivin and Blizzard at certain points. No one, however, can ignore the soundness of their conclusion: Jesus is a Hebrew...

The Difficult Words of Jesus

The Difficult Words of Jesus
Author: Amy-Jill Levine
Publisher: Canterbury Press
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2022-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1786224755

As well as telling parables and stories, giving teachings on how to discern questions of ethics and human nature, and offering beatitudes for comfort and encouragement, Jesus also spoke words and flung insults that followers then and now have found difficult, to say the least. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), warns that unending fire awaits some people, says body parts should be cut off if they offend. He calls a foreign woman a ‘dog’, the Jews ‘offspring of vipers’ and his closest disciple ‘Satan’. Preachers often gloss over these or avoid them altogether as they are still so shocking. In The Difficult Words of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine sheds vital light on understanding these by exploring how these sayings sounded to those who first heard them. She reveals Jewish modes of expression, humour and the long tradition of Jewish insults and what they mean, and how we might interpret these sayings today within a gospel of love and reconciliation.

Understanding Jesus

Understanding Jesus
Author: Joe Amaral
Publisher: FaithWords
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2011-09-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1455512494

Modern-day Christians often bring their own presuppositions and assumptions to the reading of the Bible, not realizing how deeply their understanding of Christ's life and teachings is affected by a 21st-century worldview. In Understanding Jesus, author Joe Amaral delves deep into Jewish history, societal mores, and cultural traditions, closing the gap created by geographical distance and over two thousand years of history. Using a chronological approach to the life of Christ, he guides the reader through significant events such as Jesus' birth, baptism, and crucifixion, pointing out illuminating details that that the Western mind would normally miss. Amaral's premise is that to understand Jesus, we must understand the time and place in which he was born, the background from which he drew his illustrations, and the audience he spoke to. Throughout the book he explores specific terms, places, and events for their significance and shows how they add richness and meaning to the text. Topics include the connection between Jesus and John the Baptist, the annual Feasts and why they are important to modern Christianity, Jewish customs such as foot-washing, clean and unclean foods, paying tribute to political governments, and the significance of various miracles. In Understanding Jesus, Amaral draws back the curtain on a way of life that existed during the reign of the Caesars, and in doing so, reveals truths about the way we live more than two thousand years later, half a world away.

Hard Sayings of Jesus

Hard Sayings of Jesus
Author: F. F. Bruce
Publisher: IVP Academic
Total Pages: 266
Release: 1983-08-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780877849278

Like his original hearers many people today find Jesus' sayings hard. Some sayings are hard because they are difficult to understand, others because the demands they make on us are only too clear. F. F. Bruce examines seventy of the hard sayings of Jesus to clear away the cultural and historical difficulties which keep us from grappling with the real challenge of Jesus' message. Evident in each chapter is Bruce's keen evangelical scholarship and pastoral insight.

Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus

Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus
Author: Lois Tverberg
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493412671

What would it be like for modern readers to sit down beside Jesus as he explained the Bible to them? What life-changing insights might emerge from such a transformative encounter? Lois Tverberg knows the treasures that await readers willing to learn how to read the Bible through Jewish eyes. By helping them understand the Bible as Jesus and his first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to readers today. Combining careful research with engaging prose, Tverberg leads us on a journey back in time to shed light on how this Middle Eastern people approached life, God, and each other. She explains age-old imagery that we often misinterpret, allowing us to approach God and the stories and teachings of Scripture with new eyes. By helping readers grasp the perspective of its original audience, she equips them to read the Bible in ways that will enrich their lives and deepen their understanding.

Preaching the Hard Sayings of Jesus

Preaching the Hard Sayings of Jesus
Author: John T. Carroll
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1996
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

When it comes to stirring others to hear that hard message of the Cross and to guiding the faithful in understanding the same, James R. Carroll and his son, John T. Carroll, provide a blend of seasoned ministerial experience and solid scholarly talents that yields a rich interpretation that is down to earth, yet original and insightful. This is a book to be savored by preachers and teachers of all denominations. " Donald Senior, C.P., Catholic Theological Union

Women Living Well

Women Living Well
Author: Courtney Joseph Fallick
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 140020495X

Women desire to live well. However, living well in this modern world is a challenge. The pace of life, along with the new front porch of social media, has changed the landscape of our lives. Women have been told for far too long that being on the go and accumulating more things will make their lives full. As a result, we grasp for the wrong things in life and come up empty. God created us to walk with him; to know him and to be loved by him. He is our living well and when we drink from the water he continually provides, it will change us. Our marriages, our parenting, and our homemaking will be transformed. Mommy-blogger Courtney Joseph is a cheerful realist. She tackles the challenge of holding onto vintage values in a modern world, starting with the keys to protecting our walk with God. No subject is off-limits as she moves on to marriage, parenting, and household management. Rooted in the Bible, her practical approach includes tons of tips that are perfect for busy moms, including: Simple Solutions for Studying God’s Word How to Handle Marriage, Parenting, and Homemaking in a Digital Age 10 Steps to Completing Your Husband Dealing With Disappointed Expectations in Motherhood Creating Routines that Bring Rest Pursuing the Discipline and Diligence of the Proverbs 31 Woman There is nothing more important than fostering your faith, building your marriage, training your children, and creating a haven for your family. Women Living Well is a clear and personal guide to making the most of these precious responsibilities.

Jesus Rabbi and Lord

Jesus Rabbi and Lord
Author: Robert L. Lindsey
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre:
ISBN: 9781548824495

In 1945, Robert Lisle Lindsey from Norman, Oklahoma, found himself the pastor of a small Baptist congregation in Jerusalem, Israel. With his Hebrew-speaking congregants in mind, he began a translation of the Greek texts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and soon concluded there must lie behind these Gospels--even if distantly--an early Hebrew story of Jesus. To his surprise, he also found that Luke almost always showed Greek texts which could easily be translated literally to Hebrew. The same was true of Matthew, wherever he was not copying Mark's Gospel.In 1962, Lindsey met Professor David Flusser of Hebrew University and the two pursued the question of whether we can get back to the earliest semitic story and words of Jesus. "It is clear," say Lindsey and Flusser, "that our synoptic texts originated mainly in one Greek translation of a Hebrew biography of Jesus, probably written by the Matthew of tradition. The materials are too Hebraic to have originated in Greek, as many scholars mistakenly think today. Happily, if we use the right tools we can still hear Jesus speak as his fellow Jews of the first-century heard Him.''Lindsey tells here the warm, personal account of how he and Flusser struggled over many years to discover the earliest form of Jesus' words and narratives of His life. They believe that the records, when properly analyzed and studied, show us an authentic picture of Jesus interacting with the people of Jerusalem and Galilee. Jesus clearly heads a movement, the ''Kingdom of Heaven, '' and is a Divine Figure whose actions and words are fully Messianic.