Paul Penley - Reenacting the Way (of Jesus)
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We all know the old adage, Actions speak louder than words. However, not many of us understand what Jesus more mysterious actions were trying to say. For example, why did Jesus cast demons into pigs that ran down a hill and drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee? Why did Jesus miraculously turn water into wine to keep the wedding party going in Cana? Why did Jesus walk out on the water with the intent to pass by as his disciples struggled? Why did tons of sick people get healed because they grabbed Jesus clothes?Reenacting the Way answers each one of these questions and more. The book goes beyond his sayings and answers tough questions about his doings. Author, speaker and Bible professor Dr. Penley takes us beyond Jesus sayings and answer tough questions about his doings using brand new biblical and historical research. Readers will find that Jesus nearly inexplicable actions were making culturally relevant statements to his contemporaries. And we can do the same today. So grab the book, some friends, and start learning how to Reenact the Way (of Jesus).
Paul Penley: author's other books
Who wrote Reenacting the Way (of Jesus)? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
Paul Penley
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Table of Contents
Introduction
How can you follow Jesus when you dont know what he was doing? Thats a question Ive been asking for decades. It all started when I got serious about following Jesus. At a young age, the general image of a man who fought for justice, bubbled with compassion, and knew the way for us to live captured my attention. I had experienced my inadequacy to get it right on my own. I was attracted to the promise of real life. When I read Jesus call to "follow me," I was ready. I wanted to find the path he walked. But that task was much harder than I expected.
From the start I found it hard to follow Jesus when so many of his actions made no sense to me. Why did Jesus cast demons into pigs that ran down a hill and drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee? Why did Jesus miraculously turn water into wine to keep the wedding party going in Cana? Why did Jesus walk out on the water with the intent to pass by his disciples while they tried not to drown? Why did tons of sick people get healed when they grabbed Jesus clothes?
These questions gave me a bit of spiritual paralysis. I dont know about you, but I cant confidently follow a guy if Im uncertain about what hes doing. All the t-shirts, armbands, and bumper stickers at that time were telling me to ask: what would Jesus do? But I couldnt even figure out what Jesus had originally done. And I dont like to spend my life guessing. I had to do something about it.
So I read books, listened to sermons and attended conferences. Many tough questions were answered. Many murky moments in the life of Jesus became clear. I am grateful to so many followers of Jesus who have gone before me to figure out what he was doing.
However, not all the explanations of Jesus purposes behind his mysterious actions lined up. I began hearing contradictory and inconsistent presentations of what Jesus was really all about. One Jesus was a pacifist. Another Jesus acted like a warrior. One Jesus just came to die. Another Jesus came to show us how to live. One Jesus showed us the supremacy of deep inner spirituality. Another Jesus just wanted to meet peoples physical needs. Sometimes I was told to interpret his actions as a metaphor and other times I was supposed to mimic his exact moves step by step. Which one is it?
I began to wonder if people in positions of authority had really discovered what Jesus was all about. What if pastors were confidently presenting the way of Jesus without doing enough homework? What if authors were selling me on a view of Jesus that had more to do with current trends than historical reality? I was nervous that conference speakers were creating messages to deliver first and then finding a way to make Jesus life support their ideas. That was unacceptable to me.
In response I started seriously researching Jesus life. If I was going to follow Jesus, I needed to know how he navigated his world. I needed to know the purpose behind the limited number of concrete actions that have been passed down to us from his earthly life. I didnt want to pick out my favorite Jesus from all the options and fabricate a personalized religion. I didnt want to go with my gut and imagine Jesus was exactly who I wanted him to be. I wanted to know who he really was no matter how appealing that may or may not be to me.
Over the years, I have busted my butt to know him. I have become both a student and teacher of Jesus way. My hunger to figure out what Jesus was really doing led me to the highest levels of academic learning. I studied Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic as I explored the art and science of interpreting Scripture in undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from Columbia International University. Then, I picked up German and French and travelled to Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Greece as I completed a Ph.D. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. My specialty became the historical context of Jesus and the Gospels. I spent years reading ancient texts about Jesus culture, picking apart the political power struggles of his day, and mapping the history and values at the forefront of peoples mind who first encountered Jesus. The findings have been incredible. What I learned has given me a fuller view of the entire world in which Jesus lived and more specifically why he did what he did.
The pinnacle of my researchmy dissertationwas published by T&T Clark out of London in 2010. Although I was pleased with the outcome, I knew what I had discovered had to be shared with a broader audience of people on the same path. I didnt want to keep what I had learned all to myself. So I became a Bible professor. As a professor, I taught college and seminary courses on Biblical interpretation, Jesus and the Gospels, and the Bibles historical background. What a blast! I loved it. I loved watching my students experience the thrill of finally understanding the mission of Jesus and the reason behind each mysterious action. Getting the chance to help people who want to follow Jesus finally understand where he was going is an absolute thrill.
But I didnt want this message to get stuck in college courses or academic circles. So I began sharing at Sunday school classes and church retreats, at Bible conference centers and summer programs for men. Id talk about it over dinner and share tidbits in every context with an interested audience. However, each time I would share about the purpose behind one of Jesus mysterious actions, people would ask how they could get more. I didnt have a simple answer. Thats why I wrote this book.
In the following pages, you are going to see Jesus in action and understand why he did what he did. In chapter 2 he will be announcing an alternative path to peace with distinct policies and ironic messengers. In chapter 3 he is welcoming outsiders and breaking down cultural barriers with each miraculous healing. In chapter 4 he is acting out his message before explaining it. In chapter 5 he is correcting your false imaginations about the powers that be and how you need not fear them. In chapter 6 he is surprising people with reminders of where the true source of life lies when he turns water into wine. In chapter 7 he is demolishing cultural promises about the latest self-help solutions. And in chapter 8 he is ceremonializing habits of recommitment to all his ways so that our relationship doesnt get one-sided. Thats just a few actions we cover in this book.
I do hope the following pages have the ability to speak to multiple audiences. If you come to this book with a passion to follow Jesus and a desire to figure out where else he leads people beyond what you know, you should be satisfied. If youre reading these words after years of wondering if youve really been given an accurate picture of Jesus mission, you can finally relax in the confidence of knowing how to affirm or adjust that picture. Or maybe youve been turned off by simplistic interpretations that made Jesus out to be nothing more than a divine man who stopped by earth to show us how he can forgive your sins. If thats you, get ready for a dynamic introduction to a man on a mission who fully engaged his culture and contemporaries to fight for a world rooted in justice, truth, and love. Seeing the way in which Jesus entrance and actions in the eastern Roman Empire pushed to reform accepted cultural norms will give you a whole new imagination for what it means to follow him today.
Depending on your background and personality, the fresh content may excite you with new paths to follow or sober you up with the difficulty of the way. In either case, you will have the concrete opportunity to follow Jesus with the confidence of knowing what he was actually doing. I think you will enjoy the ride.
To be frank, I cannot say it has been an easy road to search beyond conflicting explanations of Jesus actions and arrive at evidence-based conclusions about their meanings. I have had to work hard and long as a student of Jesus way. My wife can tell you that I have worn myself out learning languages, persevering through 16-hour research sessions, traveling the Mediterranean, and spending late nights in libraries and museums.
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