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The Meaning in the Miracles
Many explanations of the miracles recorded in the Gospels fall into one of two questionable unthinking acceptance or debunking, which leaves only some vague moral lessons to be learned. In this text, Jeffery John sets the miracles of Jesus in a wider biblical context and shows them to be loaded with theological and prophetic relevance. This broad perspective, which brings together theological enquiry and the needs of personal faith, should come as a revelation to many Christians searching for a proper understanding of Jesus' miracles.
248 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 3, 2024
The Meaning in the Miracles is a good, little book, if dated at times. It looks over the miracles of the Gospels. There are two positions that the book puts forward that reflects the two positions on miracles found in church. These two positions are the literalist-fundamentalist view on miracles, who view miracles as literal as they are represented in the Bible and the liberal view which uses naturalistic explanations.
The book takes a liberal view of miracles. Each miracle analysed goes through the meanings of what the miracle represents rather than whether it was possible. These include the comparison between Jesus and Moses in the feeding of the 5000, where Moses brought mana and Jesus brought forth bread. Each of the chapters have reflections at the end which helps the reader to reflect on what they have read.
The Meaning in the Miracles has an intriguing pro-LGBTQ view. Jeffrey John argues that the story of the centurion's servant is about a gay relationship. This references other works on the issue; given that the centurion views that the servant was "very dear to him" according to Luke, it could imply that he had a gay relationship. Regardless, Jesus never tells the centurion to repent, unlike other people he met, which is telling.
This book wouldn't be liked by evangelicals. The book does little to defend the existence of the miracle and puts forward liberal theology. I think it is fair to see that the book had a liberal theological position as put forward in the beginning with the two views of miracles from a Christian perspective.
There was a criticism I had of the book is that at one point, it made an ableist remark on autism which may be because I am using the original 2001 edition of the book. It describes people as being "spiritually autistic" which was a clumsy ableist remark; other terms would have sufficed.
Overall, the book offers a useful overview of the meanings in the miracles for deeper reflection.
The book takes a liberal view of miracles. Each miracle analysed goes through the meanings of what the miracle represents rather than whether it was possible. These include the comparison between Jesus and Moses in the feeding of the 5000, where Moses brought mana and Jesus brought forth bread. Each of the chapters have reflections at the end which helps the reader to reflect on what they have read.
The Meaning in the Miracles has an intriguing pro-LGBTQ view. Jeffrey John argues that the story of the centurion's servant is about a gay relationship. This references other works on the issue; given that the centurion views that the servant was "very dear to him" according to Luke, it could imply that he had a gay relationship. Regardless, Jesus never tells the centurion to repent, unlike other people he met, which is telling.
This book wouldn't be liked by evangelicals. The book does little to defend the existence of the miracle and puts forward liberal theology. I think it is fair to see that the book had a liberal theological position as put forward in the beginning with the two views of miracles from a Christian perspective.
There was a criticism I had of the book is that at one point, it made an ableist remark on autism which may be because I am using the original 2001 edition of the book. It describes people as being "spiritually autistic" which was a clumsy ableist remark; other terms would have sufficed.
Overall, the book offers a useful overview of the meanings in the miracles for deeper reflection.
December 11, 2023
An absolute dumpster fire of a book. It has such a nice set up, but it is just so poorly executed. John has several very strange ideas about the genre of the Gospels wherein the genre is filled with all of these fantastic, symbolic, a-historical elements. I don't understand how in the world he comes to this conclusion. What is frustrating is that he fails to actually engage in the sort of patristic allegorical readings that he claims to want to engage in. He's still trapped by the over-historicizing dichotomy he decries in the introduction.
Otherwise John's exegesis is filled with strange obsessions with redaction criticism (which is extremely out of place in a book like this) as well as arguments that are just flat out wrong or extremely tendentious.
Perhaps, most concerningly John comes across as a churchman who genuinely hates Jesus' church. He loves the utopian church of his imagination, but when it comes to the real flesh and blood church in front of him, he turns away in disgust and moral indignation.
I will likely keep this book on my shelf mostly because it is such an amazing compendium of what not to do.
Otherwise John's exegesis is filled with strange obsessions with redaction criticism (which is extremely out of place in a book like this) as well as arguments that are just flat out wrong or extremely tendentious.
Perhaps, most concerningly John comes across as a churchman who genuinely hates Jesus' church. He loves the utopian church of his imagination, but when it comes to the real flesh and blood church in front of him, he turns away in disgust and moral indignation.
I will likely keep this book on my shelf mostly because it is such an amazing compendium of what not to do.
December 30, 2022
What a fascinating read! I approached this from a different lens of Christianity and it was a welcome dive into the Anglican perspective on the miracles. The structure of the text is clear and serves to give you context before application. Though some parts seemed a bit too brief, John fulfilled the purpose of this book. He is careful and direct, citing sources carefully to ensure a contextual understanding.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews