Shadow of God

I've begun reading a book called The Shadow of God by Leo Dupree Sandgren. It's comes highly recommended by RVL who has read it three times in the last year. The book is historical fiction and captures episodes from six centuries of Jewish history. The stories themselves are a good, easy read. The chapter notes are incredibly deep and rich while drawing from an extensive depth of resources, many primary. I probably won't take notes on the chapters but will send out comments or thoughts. So far, I highly recommend it, it's worth the read.

I read a couple of good articles on trends in the church. I highly recommend the first one:

• The Subversive Art


• The Emergent Mystique (Thanks for the pointer PD.)

My vote

A quick aside...

Bet...

It hit me a couple years ago at a National Youth Specialties conference while listening to Rob Bell talk about Jesus as one who "taught with authority". One facet of this verse is the technical meaning of "authority" during Jesus' time (and even now). It's from rabbinic Judaism and translated to Hebrew is "s'mikah". The tradition is found among rabbi's today and dates back to the time of Moses and the giving of "authority" to the seventy elders. Brilliant light from this facet struck me and revealed my blindness. I had eyes but wasn't seeing. Jesus was Jewish and I had absolutely no idea what that meant. No wonder he seemed so strange and distant and other worldly. Could I dare to admit that I believed in someone whom I barely understood? For me, this illumination on my ignorance of Jesus' Jewishness is incredibly urgent. And so, these are my steps as I learn to "walk as Jesus did".