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.
Have you ever read something in the Bible and just scratched your head, or been challenged by a skeptic to explain a seemingly scandalous verse? Trent Horn can help. In Hard Sayings, Trent looks at dozens of the most confounding passages in Scripture and offers clear, reasonable, and Catholic keys to unlocking their true meaning.
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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 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 Tough Sayings of Jesus Volume 1 - Member Book is a 4-session study that examines a few of Jesus' more puzzling conversations and confidently questions things Jesus said that are, in most cases, difficult to swallow. Participants will thoroughly study the meaning of each of these sayings and delve into the historical and cultural context of Scripture. The study offers no pat answers, but instead focuses on sparking discussion and providing fresh insight. Author: Michael Kelly lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jana, and kids, Joshua, Andi, and Christian. He grew up in Texas and earned a Master of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He has written Holy Vocabulary: Rescuing the Language of Faith.
Excerpt from Hard Sayings of Jesus Christ: A Study in the Mind and Method of the Master In a former volume the present writer has endeavoured to define the principles upon which a reasonable faith in the Inspiration of Holy Scripture may securely rest. As one of these principles it was recognised that a difference of weight and value attaches to different parts of the Library we call the Bible. Now one of these parts is plainly of paramount importance. For few will fail to find the very heart and soul of the biblical body in the words of "The Word of God" Himself. By this, the core of Christianity, its claim on the hearts and lives of men must finally be judged. And upon their acceptance or rejection of this, the future of the Faith must eventually depend. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Katherine Paterson's remarkable Newbery Medal-winning classic about a painful sibling rivalry, and one sister’s struggle to make her own way, is an honest and daring portrayal of adolescence and coming of age. A strong choice for independent reading, both for summer reading and homeschooling, as well as in the classroom, Jacob Have I Loved has been lauded as a cornerstone young adult novel and was ranked among the all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal. "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated . . ." With her grandmother's taunt, Louise knew that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone loved. Growing up on a tiny Chesapeake Bay island, angry Louise reveals how Caroline has robbed her of everything: her hopes for schooling, her friends, her mother, even her name. While everyone pampers Caroline, Wheeze (her sister's name for her) begins to learn the ways of the watermen and the secrets of the island, especially of old Captain Wallace, who has mysteriously returned after fifty years. The war unexpectedly gives this independent girl a chance to fulfill her dream to work on the water alongside her father. But the dream does not satisfy the woman she is becoming. Alone and unsure, Louise begins to fight her way to a place for herself outside her sister's shadow. But in order to do that, she must first figure out who she is...
In a former volume the present writer has endeavoured to define the principles upon which a reasonable faith in the Inspiration of Holy Scripture may securely rest. As one of these principles it was recognised that a difference of weight and value attaches to different parts of the Library we call the Bible.Now one of these parts is plainly of paramount importance. For few will fail to find the very heart and soul of the biblical body in the words of "The Word of God" Himself. By this, the core of Christianity, its claim on the hearts and lives of men must finally be judged. But in order to judge it is necessary to understand. Therefore before all things it seems necessary to set the Words of Jesus in their own proper historical light in order to arrive at the meaning they conveyed to those who first heard them, for this alone can safely be accounted the primary meaning of their Speaker.Amid much unbridled controversy on matters intrinsically trivial, it is at least a hopeful sign in the religious outlook of to-day that the thoughtful of every school seem more than ever disposed to turn for guidance and relief to a study of the Mind of Christ. And surely the Master's Message is for all. To the disciples of Reason it is He Who cries, "Which of you convicteth Me of sin? If I say Truth, why do ye not believe Me?" To the bewildered seekers after Authority it is He Who declares, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." And this, the most astounding claim imaginable on the lips of an outcast Teacher, the Centuries have justified, so justified one would have thought as clearly to indicate even to bewildered seekers, the true seat of Authority in matters of Religion.Among the authoritative and reason-compelling Words of Jesus Christ, however, some undoubtedly cause trouble to thinking minds. Appearing on a shallow acquaintance either impracticable or reasonless, they not only fail of authority but sow the seeds of doubt. The object, therefore, of this book is the lessening of such perplexities by setting forth the principles which seem to elucidate the Teaching of the Master. It is an attempt to construe the meaning of some of the more striking of Christ's "hard sayings." Others, here untouched, might no doubt easily be cited. But the aim of the writer has not been to exhaust the verbal difficulties in the recorded utterances of our Lord. He has rather sought to examine the Master's method, and to illustrate its underlying principles by a number of examples perhaps sufficient to enable the reader to apply those principles in solving other problems for himself.
