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John’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at John’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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John Hilton III
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John Hilton III
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Considering the Cross: How Calvary Connects Us with Christ
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The Founder of Our Peace: Christ-Centered Patterns for Easing Worry, Stress, and Fear
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Please Pass the Scriptures
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2007
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The Little Book of Book of Mormon Evidence
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2007
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The Little Book of Christmas Spirit
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2009
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What Girls Need To Know About Guys / What Guys Need To Know About Girls
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John Hilton III (Goodreads Author),
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2011
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The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (Sidney B. Sperry Symposium #44)
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Andrew H. Hedges (Editor),
Kerry L. Hull (Editor)
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Voices in the Book of Mormon
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Learn of Me: History and Teachings of the New Testament
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The Compare Dare
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2011
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John’s Recent Updates
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Feb 07, 2026 09:39PM
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Center Church by Timothy J. Keller.
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Nov 15, 2025 10:08PM
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Jul 29, 2025 11:36AM
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Loved seeing the multiple connections I had no idea there were so many connections between the chronicles of Narnia and the Bible! Very much enjoyed this book. |
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Jun 27, 2025 07:20AM
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Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan.
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| This was a thought-provoking book. I would need to do more research to assess the validity of all the claims that were made, but it definitely makes important arguments that merit examination. | |
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Mar 20, 2025 03:21PM
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The Bible vs. Biblical Womanhood by Philip B. Payne.
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Personally, I didn't love the topical approach. Kindle highlights before. Notes and highlights for The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us Knight, Douglas A.; Levine, Amy-Jill Introduction Highlight (y Personally, I didn't love the topical approach. Kindle highlights before. Notes and highlights for The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us Knight, Douglas A.; Levine, Amy-Jill Introduction Highlight (yellow) - Location 271 It has been said that a text without a context becomes simply a pretext for idiosyncratic interpretation . Part 1 Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 15 · Location 626 God’s power outshines even Moses’s distinction in the stories of the ten plagues , which target Egyptian deities directly : Hapy , god of the Nile River ; Hekate , the frog goddess ; Apis , the bull god ; Hathor , the cow goddess ; the sun god , Ra ( or Re ) ; and Pharaoh , identified with the falcon god , Horus . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 15 · Location 637 According to Exodus 12 : 37 , a total of 600,000 “ men ” ( Heb . gevarim ) , with children ( this text does not mention the women ) , fled the country . Numbers 1 : 45 – 46 is more specific , reporting that Moses took a census of the people during their wilderness march and counted 603,550 able - bodied , battle - ready men above twenty years of age , not including the Levites . Adding an equal number of women as well as all the children and elderly would put the total number of Israelites in the wilderness around 2 million or more — an incredible number of people to have escaped Egypt and made their way together through the wilderness to the land of Canaan . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 22 · Location 752 The move to a monarchy from a decentralized , diffused populace represents one of the most far - reaching , consequential developments in Israel’s history . The Bible subtly acknowledges its significance by devoting almost 40 percent more space to the 100 - year period of the kingdom’s establishment under Saul , David , and Solomon than it does to all 335 years of later monarchic history . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 26 · Location 826 Omri was the king of Israel , and he oppressed Moab for many days , for Kemosh was angry with his land . And his son succeeded him , and he said — he too — “ I will oppress Moab ! ” . . . And Kemosh said to me : “ Go , take Nebo from Israel ! ” And I went in the night , and I fought against it from the break of dawn until noon , and I took it , and I killed [ its ] whole population , . . . for I had put it to the ban ( cherem ) for Ashtar Kemosh . * Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 27 · Location 858 the Neo - Assyrian emperor Tiglath - pileser III ( 744 – 727 ) led his army in a punishing attack on these small kingdoms , turning them into vassals . When Israel continued to resist , the Neo - Assyrian emperors Shalmaneser V ( 726 – 722 ) and Sargon II ( 721 – 705 ) invaded the northern kingdom and captured the capital city of Samaria ( Samerina in Assyrian ) around 722 ; both emperors claim the victory . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 29 · Location 862 Sargon’s version of Samaria’s fall ( words damaged in the inscription are in brackets ) : Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 29 · Location 864 [ The inhabitants of Sa ] merina , who agreed [ and plotted ] with a king [ hostile to ] me not to do service and not to bring tribute [ to Asshur ] and who did battle , I fought against them with the power of the great gods , my lords . I counted as spoil 27,280 people , together with their chariots , and gods , in which they trusted . I formed a unit with 200 of [ their ] chariots for my royal force . I settled the rest of them in the midst of Assyria . I repopulated Samerina more than before . I brought into it people from countries conquered by my hands . I appointed my eunuch as governor over them . And I counted them as Assyrians . * With that battle the northern kingdom met its end . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 30 · Location 883 Replacing an earlier channel , the tunnel necessitated cutting through solid rock by two teams working from opposite ends . They left an inscription on the tunnel wall near the Siloam Pool end to describe the final moment of breaking through the rock : While the tunnelers were wielding their pickaxes , one group toward the other , and while three cubits [ ca . 4 – 5 feet ] remained to be cut through , a voice was heard of one man calling to the other , for a fissure was in the rock on the right and the left . On the day of the breakthrough , the hewers struck , one meeting the other , pickax against pickax . And the water flowed from the spring to the pool , a distance of 1,200 cubits [ ca . 1,800 feet ] . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 31 · Location 898 Sennacherib commemorated the victory with a large relief in his palace in Nineveh , picturing the siege warfare against the Lachish city wall ; the relief , some 60 feet by 9 feet , is now in the British Museum . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 35 · Location 972 Cyrus’s innovative policy , including this passage : I returned the ( images of ) the gods to the sacred centers [ on the other side of ] the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time , and I let them dwell in eternal abodes . I gathered all their inhabitants and returned ( to them ) their dwellings . * Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel > Page 39 · Location 1048 Some Jews collaborated with the Hellenists while others resisted their influence . How much of the Hebrew Bible bears the marks of Hellenism is still hotly debated . The book of Ecclesiastes ( Qohelet ) , probably written during the third or second century , may well reflect some Greek influence , as do other texts of the time . Factions among Jews arose as they struggled to appropriate their heritage in their present circumstances . In light of the various movements , it is best to think of “ Judaisms ” rather than one common Judaism during this period . The community at Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea , in operation from the second century BCE to 68 CE , is a good example of one such group . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 45 · Location 1136 “ Old Testament , ” the most popular designation , was first applied to this collection of books by the North African Christian Tertullian ( 160 – 230 CE ) . The term “ testament ” translates the Greek word diatheke , which also means “ covenant ” ( the Hebrew would be berit , a term known even outside Jewish circles as a reference to the brit milah , or the covenant of circumcision ; in Yiddish , the term is bris ; in modern Hebrew , brit ) . The church proclaimed that there were two covenants , an “ old ” one represented by the scriptures of Israel and a “ new one ” described in what we call the “ New Testament . ” Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 46 · Location 1160 As mentioned earlier , the Jewish designation for this collection of books is Tanakh ( or Tanach , or TaNaK ) , an acronym in which T stands for Torah , N stands for Nevi’im ( “ Prophets ” ) , and K for Ketuvim ( “ Writings ” ) . The Prophets include Joshua , Judges , 1 – 2 Samuel , 1 – 2 Kings , Isaiah , Jeremiah , Ezekiel , and the “ book of the twelve ” ( Hosea through Malachi ) . We can see major differences between this order and that of the Old Testament . These differences continue when we get to the Writings : Psalms , Proverbs , and Job ; then a subcategory of the five Megillot ( “ scrolls ” ; Song of Songs , Ruth , Lamentations , Ecclesiastes , and Esther ) ; and finally Daniel , Ezra - Nehemiah , and 1 – 2 Chronicles . Daniel , often regarded as the most prophetic of the prophets , is not even grouped among the prophets in the Tanakh . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 49 · Location 1213 The Dead Sea Scrolls , which contain parts of all the Hebrew books ( with the exception of Esther ) as well as Hebrew versions of some of the deuterocanonical books , such as Tobit , attest to numerous variants . It is likely that the Greek translators in some cases , such as for the book of Jeremiah , which is about one - eighth shorter in the Septuagint than in the Hebrew text , worked with versions much different from those of the extant Hebrew manuscripts . The standardized Hebrew version that was later developed is called the Masoretic text ( MT ) . The name comes from the Hebrew term masorah , which signifies “ [ a chain of ] tradition . ” The term may derive from Ezekiel 20 : 37 , which speaks of the “ bond of the covenant ” ( Heb . mesoret ha - brit ) . The “ bond ” ( or chain ) served to protect and to guard . From the sixth through the tenth centuries CE , Jewish scholars known as Masoretes took upon themselves the task of guarding the text from error by standardizing the Hebrew . They added vowels to what was originally only a consonantal text and accents to show phrasing . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 51 · Location 1254 The snake is described as arum , a Hebrew term usually translated “ crafty ” ( Gen . 3 : 1 ) . The human couple are described as arumim ( plural ) , translated “ naked ” ( 3 : 7 , 10 , 11 ) . The consonants are the same . The connection between the snake and the people is thus a visual and aural one , and it is fully lost in the English translation . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 51 · Location 1258 “ Then YHWH God formed man from the dust of the ground . ” Missing in this dry and dusty description is a glorious Hebrew pun . The term for “ man ” in Hebrew is adam ( hence the name Adam ) , and the term for “ ground ” is adamah , or arable soil . The better translation would be “ formed a human from the dust of the humus , ” Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 51 · Location 1273 To their query , “ Of what people are you ? ” Jonah responds , “ I am a Hebrew ” ( 1 : 9 ) . The Septuagint , however , reads , “ I am a servant of YHWH . ” The difference , in English , is evident . Here’s how it happened . First , the Hebrew letter resh , the equivalent of the English R , looks very much like the Hebrew letter dalet , the equivalent of English D . Second , the little Hebrew letter yod , transliterated both as an I and a Y , can serve as an abbreviation for the name of the deity , for YHWH begins with a yod . Finally , it helps to know that the Hebrew letter bet ( B ) , depending on where it shows up in a word or phrase , sometimes is pronounced like the English V . Now to our test case : Jonah , in Hebrew , used the word spelled ayin - bet - resh - yod , or to transliterate , ivri . The ayin , by the way , has no sound in English ; it is a glottal stop , or a voiced pharyngeal fricative , or , perhaps most helpful , a silent letter , that can be transliterated variously with an i or an e or an open parenthesis . The Greek translator read the resh as a dalet and the yod as an abbreviation for YHWH . That reading gives the letters ayin - bet - dalet + the abbreviation , or to translate , eved - Yah , meaning “ a servant of God . ” Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 57 · Location 1383 Second Kings 4 describes how the “ great woman ” ( 4 : 8 ; nrsv : “ wealthy woman ” ) of Shunem aids the prophet Elisha , to the point of building him a small apartment attached to her house . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 60 · Location 1433 The Hebrew for “ wife of Lappidoth , ” eshet lapidot , can also be translated “ woman of flames . ” The words for “ wife of ” and “ woman of ” are the same , and there is no Mr . Lappidoth featured in this text . Nor is there any fellow named Lappidoth found elsewhere in the Bible . That Deborah’s military companion is a fellow named Barak , which is Hebrew for “ lightning , ” does commend the reference to flames . Then again , perhaps both translations are appropriate . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 61 · Location 1465 The text does not mention how Delilah feels about him . Nor are her motives regarding the betrayal of her lover explicit . Judges 16 : 5 depicts the “ lords of the Philistines ” telling Delilah to discover the secret of Samson’s strength ; in reward , they will each give her “ eleven hundred pieces of silver , ” which is an enormous sum . But given the enmity between Samson and the Philistines and factoring in the death of Samson’s first wife at the hands of the Philistines , perhaps Delilah had no choice . She could be betraying Samson out of greed , out of fear for her own life , or for patriotic reasons ( she would be regarded as a Philistine heroine ) , or perhaps she is simply frustrated with her Hebraic Hercules . The Hebrew text remains silent as to her motive . Adding one more element to the complexity of her characterization is the fact that , although Samson lies to her repeatedly , she never lies to him . Adding another , the text identifies her as living in the “ valley of Sorek , ” which is between Israelite and Philistine territory , but it never makes her ethnicity explicit . She may be , to paraphrase Cher , “ a vamp , a scamp , and a bit of a tramp , ” but she is also a fascinating , ultimately mysterious literary figure for whom the eternal question remains , in the equally immortal words of Tom Jones : “ Why , why , why , Delilah ? ” Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 63 · Location 1494 The Qur’an devotes an entire section ( Sura 12 ) to Joseph . Islamic legend suggests that Mrs . Potiphar , named Zuleika , loses her wealth and her beauty . She lives alone like a Christian penitent , but she continues to think of Joseph . Upon seeing that she had grown old and ugly , Joseph not only takes pity on her and brings her to his palace ; he also prays that she be restored to youth and health . The angel Gabriel restores Zuleika , and she and Joseph then marry . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 67 · Location 1577 Noah is not a skipper , and his fate rests in the hands of God . The interest in his “ ark ” ( Heb . tevah ) will reappear in the story of the infancy of Moses , when his mother prepares an “ ark ” ( tevah , Exod . 2 : 3 , 5 ; here the term is usually translated “ basket ” ) , places the child in it , and sets the ark on the bank of the river . The symbolism is profound : the children of Israel are being drowned in the Nile by orders of Pharaoh , who thinks of himself as divine , and the preservation of the people rests with this one inhabitant of this one little ark . Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel > Page 73 · Location 1706 At least by around 200 CE the texts of the books that eventually became canonized were fairly fixed ; that is , their wording was firmly set . However , they were written with only the consonantal letters , as was typical at the time . A few centuries later , the Masoretes , whom we met earlier in this chapter , began the process of meticulously copying and recopying the texts over the next four or five centuries . In the process , they developed a system of vowel points , comprising dots and short lines above , below , or inside the consonantal letters , to designate the vowels . With that essential development , the text became readable without having to rely on the old tradition of memorization and recitation . The oldest Masoretic manuscript of the whole Hebrew Bible now in existence is the Leningrad Codex B19A , so named because it has been preserved in the Russian National Library in St . Petersburg ( previously Leningrad ) , Russia , ever since the middle of the nineteenth century . It dates from approximately 1009 CE and now serves as the textual basis used by many scholars . A second and older Hebrew manuscript is the Aleppo Codex , dating from around 920 CE and now preserved in Jerusalem . Called the Keter , or “ crown , ” of Aleppo , this text is superior to the Leningrad , since it stems from the famous ben Asher family of Masoretes . Unfortunately , only about 60 percent of the manuscript is now extant . However , even today , pieces continue to surface . We thus know that by the tenth and perhaps even ninth century CE the books that comprise the Hebrew Bible were in place . Yet synagogues may well have been reading other texts along with the Hebrew ( the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach , also known as Ecclesiasticus , a deuterocanonical text , is occasionally cited in rabbinic literature ; Jews were also telling the stories of Judith and Susanna ) . Rabbinic literature shows concern that people are reading more texts than are in the rabbis ’ canon . Midrash Qohelet ( 12 : 12 ) sets a canon of twenty - four books , but notes that others add more . Although the canon was eventually standardized , not all books received the same emphasis in the communities that held that canon sacred . This matter of emphasis may be inevitable — people choose which texts speak best to them . The synagogue foregrounds the Torah , the church foregrounds the Prophets ( and especially those that are cited in the New Testament ) , and everyone likes the Psalms . Martin Luther downgraded the books of the Apocrypha to “ meditative ” status , in part because they were not included in the Jewish canon . The synagogue gives the book of Esther its own holiday ( Purim ) ; Luther wanted to toss it from the canon ; typically , the only time it is cited in churches is on the Sunday dedicated to the woman’s group , where the reading is Esther 4 : 14 , “ for just such a time as this . ” Highlight (yellow) - Chapter 3 - Land and Settlement > Page 78 · Location 1782 An alternative term , used in this book , is “ Southwest Asia , ” preferable because it avoids political boundaries that can change over time . Instead , it focuses on the geographical land mass of Asia , of which the area often called the Middle East occupies the southwest section . The contemporary political entities included in Southwest Asia are , alphabetically , Bahrain , the island of Cyprus , Iran , Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Kuwait , Lebanon , Oman , the Palestinian Territories , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Turkey , United Arab Emirates , and Yemen . Egypt is conventionally grouped with these others even ...more |
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It was a good book, but not my favorite preaching book... Kindle highlights below... Notes and highlights for Narrative Apologetics: Sharing the Relevance, Joy, and Wonder of the Christian Faith McGrath, Alister E. ________________________________________ It was a good book, but not my favorite preaching book... Kindle highlights below... Notes and highlights for Narrative Apologetics: Sharing the Relevance, Joy, and Wonder of the Christian Faith McGrath, Alister E. ________________________________________ 1. Introducing Narrative Apologetics Highlight (yellow) - Page 10 · Location 178 To be told what to think is one thing ; to discover and embrace a way of thinking as a willing and joyful act of personal commitment is something very different . Highlight (yellow) - Page 11 · Location 204 When the prophet Nathan wanted to criticize David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba , he told a story of deceit and corruption — and then located David within that narrative ( 2 Sam . 12 : 1 – 25 ) . Highlight (yellow) - Page 12 · Location 208 When Christ was asked an important theological question — Who is my neighbor ? — he answered it not by using conceptual theological analysis but by telling a story . The parable of the good Samaritan ( Luke 10 : 25 – 37 ) is thus important on account of both its substance and its form . The story itself is a vehicle for disclosure , which draws its readers into that story and invites them to correlate it with their own personal stories . Highlight (yellow) - Page 16 · Location 298 stories enable us to make meaningful connections between the gospel and lived human experience . We are able to show that the gospel is not merely true but has the capacity to transform lives , truthfully and meaningfully . Highlight (yellow) - Page 17 · Location 300 A point of major apologetic importance here concerns the cultural shift from modernity to postmodernity . 30 While this transition is rather more complex than this simple binary suggests — for example , it fails to take account of the importance of the recent emergence of “ multiple modernities ” 31 — it nevertheless highlights an important point . Back in the eighteenth century , it was important to show that Christianity was true ; in the twenty - first century , it has become important to show that it works . 32 Telling the story of how people came to faith is an affirmation that Christianity works and an elaboration of the ways in which it works , which will vary from one individual to another . Highlight (yellow) - Page 17 · Location 316 Apologetics is a principled attempt to communicate the vitality of the Christian gospel faithfully and effectively to our culture . Apologetics is not primarily about persuading people that a certain set of ideas is right , although the demonstration of the truth and trustworthiness of the Christian faith is clearly important . It is more about depicting its world of beauty , goodness , and truth faithfully and vividly , so that people will be drawn by the richness and depth of its vision of things . It is helpful to think of there being three main elements to this task , 33 which has become of increasing importance as Western culture has lost contact with a foundational Christian narrative and failed to understand its distinctive vocabulary or grasp its distinctive rationality . Cultural empathy . Here , the apologist recognizes the sensitivities and difficulties that the Christian faith encounters in any specific cultural context . This may take the form of responding graciously and winsomely to specific objections to Christianity or to potential misunderstandings or historic misrepresentations that may stand in the way of an appreciative reception of the gospel . The best apologist is likely to be one who knows this cultural location well and understands its sensitivities , concerns , and anxieties . She can speak its language and address its concerns in terms it can understand and respect . Evangelical depth . Apologetics rests on the deep understanding and appreciation of the Christian gospel , which both generates the motivation to communicate the faith and informs the way in which this is done . The best apologist is likely to be someone who is deeply steeped in the Christian faith and is able to discern how its riches can be faithfully communicated within a specific cultural context . Attuned to the resonances between the gospel and the deepest human concerns and longings , he will be able to construct bridges between the world of faith and a wider culture . Effective translation . Finally , the apologist has to translate the language of the Christian faith into the cultural vernacular . The Christian faith is traditionally expressed using a wide range of abstract conceptual terms that are becoming increasingly disconnected from contemporary Western culture . Central New Testament terms — such as “ justification , ” “ salvation , ” and “ sin ” — are now likely to be simply dismissed as antiquated and irrelevant , or at best misunderstood , generally by being inappropriately assimilated to the nearest cultural equivalent . These terms need to be translated or transposed — that is to say , reformulated in terms of narratives or images capable of connecting with a wider audience , while retaining maximum continuity with the Christian tradition . Highlight (yellow) - Page 22 · Location 388 We might conveniently paraphrase these three approaches as logical argument ( logos ) , personal appeal or plausibility ( ethos ) , and emotional arguments ( pathos ) . While Christian apologetics must never be considered a purely rhetorical device , without reference to God’s grace , it is nevertheless important to give consideration to the ways in which Christianity can best connect with people . Narrative apologetics connects with people in a way that is not fully acknowledged by Aristotle — namely , through the appeal of a story to the imagination . Neither Plato nor Aristotle seems to have fully grasped the role of narratives in expanding the capacity of the human mind to visualize reality . 2. The Theological Foundations of Narrative Apologetics Highlight (yellow) - Page 40 · Location 699 Stories thus gave way to intellectual systems — a timeless set of ideas that stood in contrast to the transient and shifting world of human experience expressed in narratives . Highlight (yellow) - Page 51 · Location 931 As pastor Timothy Keller remarks , “ Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you . ” 62 3. The Practical Application of Narrative Apologetics Highlight (yellow) - Page 56 · Location 1000 Feuerbach , for example , makes the generic point that human beings have a tendency to construct worlds that they find intellectually congenial . If God is seen as a consolation , this indicates that such a belief might be adopted as a protection against a sense of meaninglessness or pointlessness . Yet this argument works equally well against atheism , which is a worldview that offers human beings autonomy . Those searching for absolute freedom might wish to liberate themselves from transcendental interference . Atheism might therefore be seen as a post hoc intellectual ratification of an emotional desire . A good example of this is philosopher Thomas Nagel’s atheism , which is ultimately an intellectualization of a more fundamental longing on his part for a godless world . “ It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God , and , naturally , hope that I’m right in my belief , ” Nagel states . “ It’s that I hope there is no God ! I don’t want there to be a God ; I don’t want the universe to be like that . ” 9 Highlight (yellow) - Page 58 · Location 1028 Eustace Scrubb , Jill Pole , and Puddleglum find themselves in an “ Underland ” ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle , who tries to persuade them that Narnia is simply a figment of their imaginations . Puddleglum tries to explain that beyond the dark realms of the Underland , there really is an “ Overworld , ” which is illuminated by the sun . The Lady of the Green Kirtle ridicules this idea . Puddleglum has simply invented his ridiculous idea of a sun , basing it on the lamps he has seen around him in the Underland : “ You have put nothing into your make - believe without copying it from the real world , this world of mine , which is the only world . ” 13 In any case , the idea of a sun is incoherent . Puddleglum talks about the sun hanging in the sky and lighting up the Overworld . Well then , just what does the sun hang from ? The reader of this passage encounters a seemingly sophisticated argument , which would clearly convince any inhabitant of the Underland . Like the prisoners in Plato’s cave , they knew no other world and would thus probably dismiss Puddleglum’s ideas about the sun as delusional and incoherent . Yet we read this passage from our own perspective — that of knowing that there is indeed an Overworld , illuminated by the sun . The reader can switch perspectives , seeing how an argument that works well from one perspective is shown to be flawed from another . Lewis’s narrative allows his readers to flip their points of view , thus changing their informing perspectives . It offers another way of seeing things , challenging the narrative of a materialist or naturalist worldview . Unless we see things in this new way , we shall remain trapped in our underground cave , being predisposed to believe not merely that there is nothing beyond it but that there cannot be anything beyond it . Lewis thus creates imaginative space for his readers to place their beliefs about God and show that there are plausible alternatives to naturalism . Highlight (yellow) - Page 67 · Location 1196 One such story concerns the Wannsee Conference of January 1942 , held at a villa in a leafy suburb of Berlin , which laid the groundwork for the “ Final Solution ” — the attempted extermination of the Jews at death camps like Auschwitz . 35 This conference was attended by thirteen Nazi technocrats . Their task was to agree on protocols and procedures for the elimination of Jews from Germany and the occupied territories . Yet those who planned this event were highly educated , with doctorates or medical qualifications from leading German universities . They were part of the elite of one of the most cultured states in Western Europe . So if education humanizes people , how could such individuals have plotted mass murder on an industrial scale ? George Steiner has pointed out that human beings are rather more complex than optimistic educationalists appreciate . Someone could quite easily read great poetry or play great music in the evening and then take part in mass murder on an industrial scale the next day . Steiner observes , “ We know that a man can read Goethe or Rilke in the evening , that he can play Bach and Schubert , and go to his day’s work at Auschwitz in the morning . ” Highlight (yellow) - Page 69 · Location 1234 And when the dragon scales are finally removed , the lion plunges the raw and bleeding Eustace into a well from which he emerges purified and renewed , with his humanity restored . The immersion in the water of the well picks up on the New Testament’s language about baptism as dying to self and rising to Christ ( Rom . 6 ) , in effect breaking free from a narrative of oppression and captivity and becoming part of a narrative of liberation . 4. Biblical Narratives: Opening Windows of Perception Highlight (yellow) - Page 93 · Location 1620 The merchant comes across a special pearl that captivates him , perhaps giving rise to a devastating moment of illumination in which he realizes the inadequacy of what he had once thought to be satisfying . He wants and needs something better , something that will really satisfy him . Seen in this way , the parable engages the long human search for meaning and significance . The parable thus reminds us that many of the beliefs and values that we take hold of are like those lesser pearls . They seemed worthwhile and for a time offered fulfillment . Yet , deep down , we knew that there had to be something better . Highlight (yellow) - Page 95 · Location 1643 It is not surprising that many apologists focus on the parable of the prodigal son ( Luke 15 : 11 – 32 ) , with its central themes of alienation , disconnection , reconciliation , and homecoming — each of which could be the basis of an apologetic conversation . Perhaps the most significant retellings of this parable are found in the works of Marilynne Robinson , especially Gilead ( 2004 ) and Home ( 2008 ) . 55 These novels are best read in full for enjoyment and apologetic insight , and it would be impossible to do them justice in this brief section . 5. Strategies and Criteria for Narrative Apologetics Highlight (yellow) - Page 97 · Location 1657 Christians must engage the dominant stories of our culture , either by telling a better story that shows that these stories are inadequate or incoherent , or through subversive storytelling in which they enter into a rival cultural narrative and retell its story in light of the Christian worldview . 1 We are called to out - narrate the dominant stories that shape our culture , by exposing their weaknesses or showing how they are enfolded by our own or how they are eclipsed by a more luminous and compelling story . Highlight (yellow) - Page 105 · Location 1810 The serious deficiencies of such polemical readings of history are easily demonstrated from Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great ( 2007 ) , a flagship manifesto of the New Atheism . Noting ( correctly ) that Christian writer Timothy Dwight ( 1752 – 1811 ) opposed smallpox vaccination , 27 Hitchens draws the wider conclusion that Dwight’s position demonstrates how religious obscurantism stood in the way of scientific advance then , as it continues to do to this day . Religion poisons all attempts at human progress . The specific example confirms the general principle . But Hitchens’s simplistic narrative is both subverted and redirected through a closer reading of the history of smallpox inoculation . For example , Jonathan Edwards ( 1703 – 58 ) — now widely regarded as America’s greatest religious thinker — was a strong supporter of scientific advance and was committed to the new medical procedure of smallpox inoculation using the “ variolation ” technique introduced into America from Europe by Cotton Mather ( 1663 – 1728 ) , probably the most famous Puritan pastor in New England . 28 Wanting to reassure his students at Princeton that it was safe , Edwards was vaccinated himself — only to die as a result . 29 Using the same highly selective narrative approach favored by Hitchens , it could be argued that this single case proves that Christianity was supportive of scientific advance . Or , to complexify Hitchens’s inadequate and superficial account still further , consider the case of the atheist writer George Bernard Shaw ( 1856 – 1950 ) , who opposed smallpox vaccination in the 1930s , ridiculing it as a “ delusion . ” He dismissed leading scientists whose research supported it — such as Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister — as charlatans who knew nothing about the scientific method . 30 Applying Hitchens’s cherry - picking approach , it could be argued that this single case provides that atheism was hostile toward scientific advance . But nobody with any knowledge of the history of smallpox vaccination and concerned to tell its full story would draw such ludicrous conclusions . History is complex . It is open to multiple interpretations , none of which is self - evidently “ right . ” Revisionist approaches to many of the historical incidents traditionally interpreted in light of the “ conflict ” or “ warfare ” narrative have debunked these interpretations . 31 Their continued use within the New Atheist movement is a worrying indication that it relies upon “ fake news ” for its intellectual and cultural appeal . Highlight (yellow) - Page 114 · Location 1974 Franco Moretti reflects on why the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — creator of the London detective Sherlock Holmes — remain so widely read , when other Victorian crime authors are overlooked or neglected . His answer is significant , and of obvious apologetic importance . Conan Doyle makes systematic use of clues : entities or observations that demand an explanation that can only be provided by a coherent narrative that binds them together . Some other authors of this period mention clues but seem to have little idea about what to do with them ; others make virtually no use of them at all . Clues are pointers to a larger picture — to a coherent story that can be told , explaining how those clues came into being and what their place and significance is within that story . This point is highlighted by the novelist Dorothy L . Sayers , who emphasizes the need for a coherent narrative to provide connections between clues . 51 Sayers sees human beings as searching for “ patterns ” in life , 52 and she explores this theme in her Peter Wimsey detective novels as well as her religious writings . How can we find the best explanation of what we observe ? What is the best story that we can tell , that holds as many of these clues together as persuasively as possible ? 6. The Christian Story and the Meaning of Life Highlight (yellow) - Page 119 · Location 2045 Whether people survived depended on their will to live , which in turn depended on being able to find meaning and purpose in even the most demoralizing situations , which would otherwise be experienced as overwhelmingly destructive . Those who coped best were those who had frameworks of meaning that enabled them to frame their traumatic experiences within their core narratives . The Christian narrative of a suffering savior resonated deeply with the human experience of suffering , enabling people to cope with adversity and even to grow through it — a well - recognized phenomenon now widely referred to as “ post - traumatic growth . ” 5 Highlight (yellow) - Page 124 · Location 2154 There were , he argued , four fundamental questions that had to be answered convincingly if a worldview was to count as offering a credible account of the “ meaning of life ” : Identity : Who am I ? Value : Do I matter ? Purpose : Why am I here ? Agency : Can I make a difference ? Highlight (yellow) - Page 137 · Location 2358 N . T . Wright argues for a virtue ethic that is “ generated and sustained by grace , ” within which human agency is seen as enabled by grace . He thus excludes “ any suggestion that the ‘ virtue ’ we are going to talk about is something that ‘ we do ’ through self - effort . ” 48 God’s grace enables us to become the people we are meant to be , so that “ our journey is not one of achievement but of implementation , not of unaided goodness but of unmerited grace . ” 49 Wright sums up this narrative approach as follows : “ The Christian teaching and practice of virtue , then , can be understood in terms of the life that is lived withi ...more |
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great book! So many rich insights from Timothy Keller. Highly recommended! I plan to read this book again in order to better remember the insights gained. Here are highlights Notes and highlights for The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's great book! So many rich insights from Timothy Keller. Highly recommended! I plan to read this book again in order to better remember the insights gained. Here are highlights Notes and highlights for The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy Keller, Timothy ________________________________________ Introduction: Prodigal Prophet Highlight (yellow) - Page 2 · Location 74 I discovered that “ varied applicability ” as I preached through the book of Jonah verse by verse three times in my ministry . The first time was at my first church in a small , blue - collar town in the South . Ten years later I preached through it to several hundred young , single professionals in Manhattan . Then , a decade after that , I preached through Jonah on the Sundays immediately after the 9 / 11 tragedy in New York City . In each case the audience’s cultural location and personal needs were radically different , yet the text of Jonah was more than up to the task of powerfully addressing them . Many friends have told me over the years that the Jonah sermons they heard were life changing . Highlight (yellow) - Page 2 · Location 82 The two accounts are laid out in almost completely parallel patterns . SCENE 1 Jonah , the pagans , and the sea SCENE 2 Jonah , the pagans , and the city JONAH AND GOD’S WORD 1 : 1 God’s Word comes to Jonah 3 : 1 God’s Word comes to Jonah 1 : 2 The message to be conveyed 3 : 2 The message to be conveyed Highlight (yellow) - Page 4 · Location 113 The careful structure of the book reveals nuances of the author’s message . Both episodes show how Jonah , a staunch religious believer , regards and relates to people who are racially and religiously different from him . The book of Jonah yields many insights about God’s love for societies and people beyond the community of believers ; about his opposition to toxic nationalism and disdain for other races ; and about how to be “ in mission ” in the world despite the subtle and unavoidable power of idolatry in our own lives and hearts . Grasping these insights can make us bridge builders , peacemakers , and agents of reconciliation in the world . Such people are the need of the hour . Highlight (yellow) - Page 5 · Location 119 Jonah wants a God of his own making , a God who simply smites the bad people , for instance , the wicked Ninevites and blesses the good people , for instance , Jonah and his countrymen . When the real God — not Jonah’s counterfeit — keeps showing up , Jonah is thrown into fury or despair . Jonah finds the real God to be an enigma because he cannot reconcile the mercy of God with his justice . How , Jonah asks , can God be merciful and forgiving to people who have done such violence and evil ? How can God be both merciful and just ? Highlight (yellow) - Page 6 · Location 127 Many students of the book have noticed that in the first half Jonah plays the “ prodigal son ” of Jesus’s famous parable ( Luke 15 : 11 – 24 ) , who ran from his father . In the second half of the book , however , Jonah is like the “ older brother ” ( Luke 15 : 25 – 32 ) , who obeys his father but berates him for his graciousness to repentant sinners . The parable ends with a question from the father to the Pharisaical son , just as the book of Jonah ends with a question to the Pharisaical prophet . The parallel between the two stories , which Jesus himself may have had in mind , is the reason for the title of this book , The Prodigal Prophet . Chapter 1: Running from God Highlight (yellow) - The Unlikely Emissary > Page 11 · Location 158 The empire had begun exacting heavy tribute from Israel during the reign of King Jehu ( 842 – 815 BC ) and continued to threaten the Jewish northern kingdom throughout the lifetime of Jonah . In 722 BC it finally invaded and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital , Samaria . Highlight (yellow) - The Unlikely Emissary > Page 12 · Location 163 Perhaps the most surprising element of this narrative was who it was that God chose to send . It was “ Jonah the son of Amittai . ” No background information is given , meaning he needed no introduction . 2 Kings 14 : 25 tells us Jonah ministered during the reign of Israel’s King Jeroboam II ( 786 – 746 BC ) . In that text we learn that , unlike the prophets Amos and Hosea , who criticized the royal administration for its injustice and unfaithfulness , Jonah had supported Jeroboam’s aggressive military policy to extend the nation’s power and influence . The original readers of the book of Jonah would have remembered him as intensely patriotic , a highly partisan nationalist . 5 And they would have been amazed that God would send a man like that to preach to the very people he most feared and hated . Highlight (yellow) - Refusing God > Page 13 · Location 175 In short , Jonah did the exact opposite of what God told him to do . Called to go east , he went west . Directed to travel overland , he went to sea . Sent to the big city , he bought a one - way ticket to the end of the world . Highlight (yellow) - Refusing God > Page 14 · Location 180 Why would the populace listen to someone like Jonah ? How long , for example , would a Jewish rabbi have lasted in 1941 if he had stood on the streets of Berlin and called on Nazi Germany to repent ? At the most practical level , the prospects of success were none , and the chances of death were high . Highlight (yellow) - Refusing God > Page 14 · Location 182 Jonah would not have been able to see any theological justification for this mission either . The prophet Nahum had some years before prophesied that God would destroy Nineveh for its evil . 7 Jonah and Israel would have accepted Nahum’s prediction as making perfect sense . Wasn’t Israel God’s chosen , loved people through whom he was fulfilling his purposes in the world ? Wasn’t Nineveh an evil society on a collision course with the Lord ? Wasn’t Assyria unusually violent and oppressive , even for its time ? Of course God would destroy it — that was obvious and ( Jonah would have thought ) settled . Why , then , this call to Jonah ? Wouldn’t a successful mission to Nineveh only destroy God’s own promises to Israel and prove Nahum a false prophet ? What possible justification , then , could there be for this assignment ? Mistrusting God So Jonah had a problem with the job he was given . But he had a bigger problem with the One who gave it to him . 8 Jonah concluded that because he could not see any good reasons for God’s command , there couldn’t be any . Jonah doubted the goodness , wisdom , and justice of God . Highlight (yellow) - Mistrusting God > Page 16 · Location 196 When this happens we have to decide — does God know what’s best , or do we ? And the default mode of the unaided human heart is to always decide that we do . We doubt that God is good , or that he is committed to our happiness , and therefore if we can’t see any good reasons for something God says or does , we assume that there aren’t any . Highlight (yellow) - Two Ways of Running from God > Page 17 · Location 208 “ You rely on the law and boast . . . in God . . . . You know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law ” ( Romans 2 : 17 – 18 ) . Then , after looking at both pagan , immoral Gentiles and Bible - believing , moral Jews , he concludes in a remarkable summation “ that there is no one righteous , not even one . . . . All have turned away ” ( Romans 3 : 10 – 12 ) . One group is trying diligently to follow God’s law and the other ignores it , and yet Paul says both have “ turned away . ” They are both , in different ways , running from God . We all know that we can run from God by becoming immoral and irreligious . But Paul is saying it is also possible to avoid God by becoming very religious and moral . Chapter 2: The World’s Storms Highlight (yellow) - Page 23 · Location 250 It was a “ great ” ( gedola ) wind — the same word used to describe Nineveh . If Jonah refuses to go into a great city , he will go into a great storm . From this we learn both dismaying and comforting news . Storms Attached to Sin The dismaying news is that every act of disobedience to God has a storm attached to it . This is one of the great themes of the Old Testament wisdom literature , especially the book of Proverbs . We must be careful here . This is not to say that every difficult thing that comes into our lives is the punishment for some particular sin . The entire book of Job contradicts the common belief that good people will have lives that go well , and that if your life is going badly , it must be your fault . The Bible does not say that every difficulty is the result of sin — but it does teach that every sin will bring you into difficulty . Highlight (yellow) - Storms Attached to Sinners > Page 27 · Location 280 For Jonah the storm was the consequence of his sin , yet the sailors were caught in it too . Most often the storms of life come upon us not as the consequence of a particular sin but as the unavoidable consequence of living in a fallen , troubled world . It has been said that “ man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward ” ( Job 5 : 7 ) , and therefore the world is filled with destructive storms . Yet as we will see , this storm leads the sailors to genuine faith in the true God even though it was not their fault . Jonah himself begins his journey to understand the grace of God in a new way . When storms come into our lives , whether as a consequence of our wrongdoing or not , Christians have the promise that God will use them for their good ( Romans 8 : 28 ) . Highlight (yellow) - Storms Attached to Sinners > Page 28 · Location 289 The Bible does not say that every difficulty is the result of our sin — but it does teach that , for Christians , every difficulty can help reduce the power of sin over our hearts . Storms can wake us up to truths we would otherwise never see . Chapter 3: Who Is My Neighbor? Highlight (yellow) - Page 31 · Location 315 Twice , then , Jonah finds himself in a close encounter with people who are racially and religiously different . In both cases his behavior is dismissive and unhelpful , while the pagans uniformly act more admirably than he does . This is one of the main messages of the book , namely , that God cares how we believers relate to and treat people who are deeply different from us . Highlight (yellow) - Jonah and the Sailors > Page 33 · Location 330 While Jonah is thoroughly absorbed by his own problems , they are seeking the common good of everyone in the boat . They pray each to their own god , but Jonah does not pray to his . Highlight (yellow) - Jonah and the Sailors > Page 34 · Location 335 When the captain finds the sleeping prophet he says , “ Arise , call . . . ! ” ( Hebrew qum lek , verse 6 ) , the same words God used when calling Jonah to arise , go , and call Nineveh to repentance . 3 But as Jonah rubs his eyes there is a Gentile mariner with God’s very words in his mouth . What is this ? God sent his prophet to point the pagans toward himself . Yet now it is the pagans pointing the prophet toward God . Highlight (yellow) - Seeking the Common Good > Page 36 · Location 353 What is the captain rebuking Jonah for ? It is because he has no interest in their common good . The captain is saying : “ Can’t you see we’re about to die ? How can you be so oblivious to our need ? I understand you are a man of faith . Why aren’t you using your faith for the public good ? ” Jacques Ellul writes : These Joppa sailors . . . are pagans , or , in modern terms , non - Christians . But . . . the lot of non - Christians and Christians is . . . linked ; they are in the same boat . The safety of all depends on what each does . . . . They are in the same storm , subject to the same peril , and they want the same outcome . . . and this ship typifies our situation . 6 We are all — believers and nonbelievers — “ in the same boat . ” ( Never was that old saying truer than it was for Jonah ! ) If crime plagues a community , or poor health , or a water shortage , or the loss of jobs , if an economy and social order is broken , we are all in the same boat . For a moment , Jonah lives in the same “ neighborhood ” with these sailors , and the storm that threatens one person threatens the entire community . Jonah fled because he did not want to work for the good of the pagans — he wanted to serve exclusively the interests of believers . But God shows him here that he is the God of all people and Jonah needs to see himself as being part of the whole human community , not only a member of a faith community . This is not a merely pragmatic argument : “ Believers had better help nonbelievers or things will not go well with them . ” The Bible tells us we are co - humans with all people — made in God’s image and therefore infinitely precious to him ( Genesis 9 : 6 ; James 3 : 9 ) . Chapter 4: Embracing the Other Highlight (yellow) - Whose Are You? > Page 47 · Location 448 Certainly Christians would agree that there are not multiple , personal , conscious , supernatural beings attached to every profession , place , and race . There is no actual Roman god named Mercury , the god of commerce , to whom we should burn animal sacrifices . Yet no one doubts that financial profit can become a god , an unquestioned ultimate goal for either an individual life or a whole society , to which persons and moral standards and relationships and communities are sacrificed . And while there is no Venus , goddess of beauty , nevertheless untold numbers of men and women are obsessed with body image or enslaved to an unrealizable idea of sexual fulfillment . Highlight (yellow) - Whose Are You? > Page 47 · Location 452 Therefore , the sailors are not wrong in their analysis . Everyone gets an identity from something . Everyone must say to himself or herself , “ I’m significant because of This ” and “ I’m acceptable because I’m welcomed by Them . ” But then whatever This is and whoever They are , these things become virtual gods to us , and the deepest truths about who we are . They become things we must have under any circumstances . Highlight (yellow) - Spiritually Shallow Identity > Page 50 · Location 471 Though the question about race comes last in the list , Jonah answers it first . “ I am a Hebrew , ” he says before anything else . In a text so sparing with words , it is significant that he reverses the order and puts his race out front as the most significant part of his identity . As we have seen , an identity has several aspects or layers , some of which are more fundamental to the person than others . As one scholar put it , “ Since Jonah identifies himself first ethnically , then religiously , we may infer that his ethnicity is foremost in his self - identity . ” Chapter 5: The Pattern of Love Highlight (yellow) - “The Sea Ceased from Its Raging” > Page 66 · Location 605 As we saw previously , Jonah’s whole problem was the same as ours : a conviction that if we fully surrender our will to God , he will not be committed to our good and joy . But here is the ultimate proof that this deeply rooted belief is a lie . A God who substitutes himself for us and suffers so that we may go free is a God you can trust . Highlight (yellow) - “The Sea Ceased from Its Raging” > Page 67 · Location 619 “ Jonah’s anti - missionary activity has ironically resulted in the conversion of non - Israelites . ” Chapter 6: Running from Grace Highlight (yellow) - Where Do We Find God’s Grace? > Page 70 · Location 642 The story reveals that God “ appointed ” a great fish to swallow Jonah . This verb is used several times in the book , as when God appointed a plant to grow and then to die , as we will see in chapter 4 of the book of Jonah . In each case , God orchestrated a circumstance in history to teach Jonah something he desperately needed to know . Highlight (yellow) - Where Do We Find God’s Grace? > Page 72 · Location 666 you never realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have . Chapter 7: Doing Justice, Preaching Wrath Highlight (yellow) - Why Do People Repent? > Page 84 · Location 768 To Jonah’s shock , the people neither laughed nor laid hands on him . Instead , the entire city responded . The Hebrew word for “ repent ” ( shub — to turn ) occurs four times in verses 8 – 10 , and that is the striking , central message of this passage . Highlight (yellow) - Why Do People Repent? > Page 85 · Location 772 Historians have pointed out that about the time of Jonah’s mission , Assyria had experienced a series of famines , plagues , revolts , and eclipses , all of which were seen as omens of far worse things to come . Some have argued that this was God’s way of preparing the ground for Jonah . “ This state of affairs would have made both rulers and subjects unusually attuned to the message of a visiting prophet . ” Chapter 8: Heart Storms Highlight (yellow) - The Heart Issue > Page 102 · Location 922 When you say , “ I won’t serve you , God , if you don’t give me X , ” then X is your true bottom line , your highest love , your real god , the thing you most trust and rest in . Chapter 9: The Character of Compassion Highlight (yellow) - “They Don’t Know What They Are Doing” > Page 122 · Location 1085 God is saying to Jonah , “ I am weeping and grieving over this city — why aren’t you ? If you are my prophet , why don’t you have my compassion ? ” Jonah did not weep over the city , but Jesus , the true prophet , did . Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on the last week of his life . He knew he would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the mob of this city , but instead of being full of wrath or absorbed with self - pity , like Jonah , when he “ saw the city , he wept over it and said , ‘ If you , even you , had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes . . . because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you ” ( Luke 19 : 41 – 42,44 ) . “ Jerusalem , Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together , as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings , and you were not willing ” ( Luke 13 : 34 ) . On the cross , Jesus cried out , “ Father , forgive them , for they do not know what they are doing ” ( Luke 23 : 34 ) . Jesus is saying , “ Father , they are torturing and killing me . They are denying and betraying me . But none of them , not even the Pharisees , really completely understand what they are doing . ” We can only look in wonder on such a heart . Highlight (yellow) - “They Don’t Know What They Are Doing” > Page 123 · Location 1097 Over a century ago the great Princeton theologian B . B . Warfield wrote a remarkable scholarly essay called “ The Emotional Life of Our Lord , ” where he considered every recorded i ...more |
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Quotes by John Hilton III
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“True hope is less that our children will make good choices and more that Christ’s Atonement is strong enough to reach them—now or in the future.13”
― John Hilton III, The Founder of Our Peace: Christ-Centered Patterns for Easing Worry, Stress, and Fear
― John Hilton III, The Founder of Our Peace: Christ-Centered Patterns for Easing Worry, Stress, and Fear
