February 2008- Library Journal

Tickle, Phyllis. The Words of Jesus: A Gospel of the Sayings of Our Lord. Jossey-Bass. Feb. 2008. c.240p. index. ISBN 978-0-7879-8742-8. $22.95. REL

Founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly, Tickle is also the prolific author of God-Talk in America, Recovering the Sacred, and other books. This volume is a thoughtful reflection on the meaning of Jesus’s words and the importance of various contexts for his followers, as well as on truth that emerges around unconsciously imposed cultural blinders. In the process, Tickle explains much of the thinking behind the Emergent Church movement. She also struggles with how to phrase certain “words” found with different nuances in more than one canonical Gospel. The book concludes with a recounting of Jesus’s words from the canonical Gospels and the first chapter of Acts, dividing them into five different contexts, by delivery venue or topic: words of public teaching, of private instruction, of healing dialog, of intimate conversation, and of postresurrection encounters. For many readers, this book will fulfill Tickle’s intent: to lead to a new appreciation of Jesus’s words and of Jesus himself. Highly recommended for public and seminary libraries. —Carolyn M. Craft, formerly with Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA