The Transforming Word
We have one huge medical reference work in our house. I’m assuming that my son, who’s doing his medical residency in internal medicine now, will have more resources than that.
On the other hand, I have tons of commentaries. I’m guessing he and his wife won’t want shelves of them filling their house. But it would still be nice to have a good, reliable source for personal study or for the times one of them is asked to teach a Bible class.
That’s where The Transforming Word
I’ve been working through the New Testament sections as I’ve come to the various books in my freshman Bible class. I’m so impressed with most of them.
A couple illustrations:
Last week, I read Mark Black’s short piece on Philemon. In just a few pages, he offered wonderful illumination of the world of slavery in the New Testament, the current trends in biblical scholarship in understanding the situation with Onesimus, and helpful insights into the gospeled way Paul addressed the situation.
A few weeks before, I looked at James Walters’ section on “the faith of Christ” in Romans 3. Unfortunately, many translations still follow Martin Luther by translating the phrase “faith in Christ.” That puts the emphasis on our response rather than on the foundational story of Jesus’ faithfulness and his self-giving love. (More on this some other time.)
The book is a bit pricey ($69.95), but that’s not bad for all you’re getting. I hope this finds a place in a lot of homes.
- – - -
Thanks to Erik for this article on my transition in The Christian Chronicle.
- – - -
Here’s what I did yesterday morning. She’s two today!
- – - -
This morning I attended a funeral for Kenneth Varner, a mentally handicapped man who spent most of his life at Highland. I loved hearing Buzzy Andress talk about how it was their job to live with Kenneth (and others through DRI — which was started by Kenneth’s parents and others) so they could assist and teach him. Buzzy said that it soon became clear that they were being taught and assisted by Kenneth, who understood well what it meant to be a loving human being.
I thought back to Henri Nouwen’s experience. And to my own fortune of being father to a mentally handicapped child, who was my greatest teacher.
- – - -
Has anyone else seen “Kings” the last couple weeks? This modern retelling of the story of King David is available on Hulu.
- – - -
Thanks to Scot McKnight for the plugs for this blog and Zoe. He did a great job at our conferences this year.
By the way, my brief review of Scot’s The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
is here.
The Transforming Word is available through Leroy Garrett at a discount.
“The regular cost is $70 plus $10 shipping, but I am offering it at 30% discount, $49 plus $10 shipping. Send a check for $59 made out to me to 205 N. Bonnie Brae, 110, Denton, TX 76201, and I will have the seven-pound, 1117-page book sent to you directly from Abilene.”
Thanks, Shannon. That’s a pretty good savings. I wouldn’t usually pay $10 shipping at Amazon, since there is a free shipping option for anything over $50, and I’m assuming they will soon have a discount for the book. But for right now, that’s still a $10 savings.
Thanks for posting about this book. I saw it today at a vendor’s booth here in Tulsa, and my first thought was “man, that’s a HUGE book.”
You wouldn’t happen to know if it’s available in electronic form, would you? I’d like to plug it in to my Logos software.
Is anybody else having trouble accessing anything that has to do with the Christian Chronicle?
I am so proud of this volume! We started working on it way back when I was still the director at ACU Press, and Leonard Allen & Co. finished it up in style! Kudos to all for a beautiful, useful volume.
I have to present this approach to the college students and find out what they think about this.