Synopses & Reviews
When renowned novelist and poet Reynolds Price, one of Christianity's most eloquent outlaws, was invited to deliver the annual Peabody Lecture at Harvard University Memorial Church in 2001, he chose to explore a subject that has produced fierce debate -- even wars and crusades -- and is still intensely relevant today: the ethics of Jesus. In two succeeding lectures at the National Cathedral and at Auburn Seminary, he continued the theme, exploring not only the apparently contradictory ethics that Jesus articulates in the Gospels but also constructing scenes that present Jesus with urgent dilemmas he never confronts there. In
A Serious Way of Wondering, Price greatly expands those lectures and imagines Jesus in moments of confrontation with three problems of burning moral concern -- suicide, homosexuality, and the plight of women in male-dominated cultures and faiths.
It was while teaching a university course on the Gospels of Mark and John that Price first explored the ancient idea of expanding upon the Gospel narratives with further encounters between Jesus and troubled persons. Price has previously documented his studies in Three Gospels, a book in which he not only translated Mark and John from the Greek -- and discussed them extensively -- but also provided a third gospel of his own making. Price based the third gospel closely on the earliest sources but imagined his way into some of their baffling omissions. He continued those explorations when he wrote provocative new scenes for the cover story on Jesus in one of Time magazine's millennium issues.
Now, in this new book, Price offers a devoted and profoundly thought-provoking look at a subject that underlies vast areas of world civilization and has occupied the minds of many great thinkers. A sweeping view of the inescapable implications of Jesus' merciful life and all-embracing thought, and of the benefits of enlarging our notions of humane community, A Serious Way of Wondering is a significant contribution to Price's penetrating works of religious inquiry.
Review
Mary Gordon
Author of Seeing Through Places
Master teacher, master storyteller, Reynolds Price reminds us that, among the other things we have named him, Jesus was a teacher and a storyteller. In this spare and poignant book, written from the perspective of a deeply moved believer who lives his religious life unconnected to any specific church, Price brings us back to the revolutionary, earthshaking and simple ethical message of Christianity, exploring what its shape might be in our own age. Undogmatic and suggestive, A Serious Way of Wondering insists that we encounter Jesus in the fullness of our imagination.
Review
Elaine Pagels
Author of Beyond Belief
Having carefully investigated -- and marveled at -- the gospels for decades, Reynolds Price offers this insightful, challenging, and moving reflection -- for me it was nonstop reading!
Review
Elaine Pagels
Author of Beyond Belief
Having carefully investigated -- and marveled at -- the gospels for decades, Reynolds Price offers this insightful, challenging, and moving reflection -- for me it was nonstop reading!
Review
Peter J. Gomes
Author of The Good Book
Theologically literate, textually nuanced, possessed of a passionate creativity that is both tender and tough, Reynolds Price's is a voice that transcends all boundaries, and in this book, he is at his best.
Synopsis
When renowned novelist and poet Reynolds Price, one of Christianity's most eloquent outlaws, was invited to deliver the annual Peabody Lecture at Harvard University Memorial Church in 2001, he chose to explore a subject that has produced fierce debate -- even wars and crusades -- and is still intensely relevant today: the ethics of Jesus. In two succeeding lectures at the National Cathedral and at Auburn Seminary, he continued the theme, exploring not only the apparently contradictory ethics that Jesus articulates in the Gospels but also constructing scenes that present Jesus with urgent dilemmas he never confronts there. In
A Serious Way of Wondering, Price greatly expands those lectures and imagines Jesus in moments of confrontation with three problems of burning moral concern -- suicide, homosexuality, and the plight of women in male-dominated cultures and faiths.
It was while teaching a university course on the Gospels of Mark and John that Price first explored the ancient idea of expanding upon the Gospel narratives with further encounters between Jesus and troubled persons. Price has previously documented his studies in Three Gospels, a book in which he not only translated Mark and John from the Greek -- and discussed them extensively -- but also provided a third gospel of his own making. Price based the third gospel closely on the earliest sources but imagined his way into some of their baffling omissions. He continued those explorations when he wrote provocative new scenes for the cover story on Jesus in one of Time magazine's millennium issues.
Now, in this new book, Price offers a devoted and profoundly thought-provoking look at a subject that underlies vast areas of world civilization and has occupied the minds of many great thinkers. A sweeping view of the inescapable implications of Jesus' merciful life and all-embracing thought, and of the benefits of enlarging our notions of humane community, A Serious Way of Wondering is a significant contribution to Price's penetrating works of religious inquiry.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-139).
Synopsis
One of Christianity's most eloquent outlaws interweaves imagined encounters with Jesus, highlighting ethical issues unexplored in traditional gospels with a lively analysis of Jesus' ethics.
Table of Contents
ContentsPreface
A Possible Life of Jesus
A Crowd of Dissonant Voices
His News
A Question More Likely Than Tt Looks
The Core of His Ethic And Ways to Employ It
A First Speculation:
Jesus And a Homosexual Man
A Second Speculation:
Jesus And a Suicide
A Third Speculation:
Jesus And a Desolate Woman
An Outlaw Christian
The Law of Grace: Grace All Ways
Further Reading
Appendices