Preach Magazine Issue 4 - Preaching in the digital age | Page 30
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REVIEWS
Gospel for the outsider
Patrick Whitworth, Sacristy Press (2014)
Jesus:
the voice that makes us turn
York Courses (2015)
This was an enjoyable and useful read. The writer
suggests that much of the teaching of Jesus and
those who follow him is aimed at those ‘outside’ the
conventions of normal society and so presents an
interesting slant on Luke’s writings. This book enabled
me to be more aware of the many characters we come
across in the pages of the Bible and in our daily lives.
There are chapters examining Jesus’ attitude to
women, the disabled, those who are too poor (and
surprisingly, too rich) and also how these are dealt
with by his followers. Although this presented a good
exegetical examination of all the passages considered,
these were all applied to the real world – no mean feat
when one small book attempts to look at the gospel of
Jesus presented in two books of the Bible. When I first
read the title and was contemplating the enormity of
the challenge the writer had given himself, I wondered
whether the topic would be spread too thinly, and
not in sufficient depth to make it useful, but I had to
admit I was proved wrong as this succeeds in covering
a lot of ground while remaining small enough to be
easily readable. There is very little material that is
original in this book, as many details are also in other
commentaries, but here the specific emphasis is on
those on the margins of society.
There are challenging Bible studies at the end, one for
each chapter, which help to ensure that this subject is
at the forefront of our thinking.
This book is scholarly enough to be an asset to any
Bible student or preacher, and will ensure that their
sermons are grounded in the real world.
KATHRINE DAVEY
This is a York Course set out over four sessions, ‘for Advent or any
season’. The basis is the idea of The Voice UK – what is it about
the voice of Jesus that makes us turn around and pay attention?
The suggested pattern for each session is to read the introduction
in the booklet before meeting, listening together to a CD (of which
a transcript is supplied), then questions to ponder together –
which also have a suggested Bible reading.
The booklet sets out some initial thoughts around the theme,
including some good illustrations. The CD takes the form of a
conversation around th