Carrying the Legacy Forward: Introducing JP’s New Editor Joshua N. Tilton

Jerusalem Perspective recently announced a major milestone in its history. David Bivin, JP’s founder and editor, and Brian Becker, who were joint owners of the JP website, have handed over the reigns of ownership to their junior partner, Joshua Tilton, entrusting him with the task of carrying JP’s legacy of Gospel research forward into the future.

To (re)introduce Joshua to JP’s readers we asked Felicia Silcox, author of What Did Jesus DO All Day?: Discovering the Teen Jesus (2013), friend of David Bivin, and occasional writer for JP, to share her perspective. In part she wrote:

Joshua Tilton is a truly gifted scholar…a superb writer and editor, a devoted follower of Christ, and I am grateful to say, a friend since 2015 when I first started writing short devotionals for Jerusalem Perspective.

Over the years, Joshua and I found common ground; first, in that both of us had farms and cared for animals. He loves his flock of hardy chickens, while my defenseless sheep taught me more about surrender to their humble place in God’s creation than I’d learned in any college [see Felicia Silcox, “Farms, Shepherds, and the Cycle of Life”—JP]. Second, Joshua and I shared a background in theological studies…. Third, we both chose to enter the world of health care.

Whereas I had worked as a surgical medical assistant in earlier years simply to pay my rent, Joshua went into the challenging area of senior care in nursing homes….

Joshua’s dedication to following Jesus by giving selfless service to others is what stands out the most to me. I have no doubt he will give everything he has to carry on the invaluable work of Jerusalem Perspective.

—Felicia Silcox

For the last dozen or so years Joshua and his wife, Lauren Asperschlager, have worked with David Bivin on his Life of Yeshua project, an attempt to reconstruct the Greek and Hebrew sources behind the Synoptic Gospels and to untangle their complex relationships. Working with David on so many reconstructions and commentaries over such a long period has given Joshua and Lauren extensive training in the unique methodology David Bivin developed for reconstructing the sources behind the Gospels. This methodology was based on the insights of David’s mentor, Robert Lindsey, and Lindsey’s collaboration with Jewish scholars David Flusser and Shmuel Safrai.

For the past decade Joshua has also been stepping up behind the scenes to assist David and Brian with other aspects of Jerusalem Perspective’s work and mission. Not only has he written numerous articles for the site, Joshua has also worked to bring new authors to JP’s readers (Huub van de Sandt, Serge Ruzer, Marc Turnage, among others), and he spearheaded the effort a few years ago to produce the collection of articles honoring David Bivin’s 85th birthday. The recent series on the Magi was also a project David Bivin entrusted into Joshua’s hands.

Jerusalem Perspective readers were first introduced to Joshua way back in 2006 when JP published his first article “A Time to Fast?” At that time Joshua and his wife Lauren were studying at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where they both received masters degrees in Religious Studies. The article itself had been written while Joshua was working on his Master of Divinity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Prior to that Joshua and Lauren were Biblical and Theological Studies majors at Gordon College, where they both studied with Dr. Marvin R. Wilson, who is also a Jerusalem Perspective author. It was Dr. Wilson who encouraged Joshua to spend a semester at the Jerusalem University College (JUC), where Joshua was first introduced to and studied under JP authors Randall Buth, R. Steven Notley, and Marc Turnage. At JUC Joshua first heard about the approach to the Gospels advanced by Jerusalem Perspective.

While Jesus in the context of Second Temple Judaism has been the primary focus of Joshua’s studies, another area of study has been Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, viewed especially through the lens of the Church’s struggle against (or embrace of) anti-Semitism. In his undergraduate studies this theme was an important part of Dr. Wilson’s course “Modern Jewish Studies,” and it was the focus of a paper Joshua wrote for Dr. Roger Green’s course in Modern Church History. In seminary Joshua pursued this interest by participating in a study-tour on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer led by professors Peter Frick and A. James Reimer that brought students to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic to visit sites central to Bonhoeffer’s life and also to visit several concentration camps including Auschwitz, Buchenwald (where Bonhoeffer was interred for a time), and Flossenbürg, where Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis. While in Jerusalem Joshua took a course on public attitudes to the Holocaust in Germany during the Second World War with Dr. David Bankier of Yad VaShem, Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum. In the present time, when far-right movements and authoritarian styles of government are on the rise around the world, this area of study strikes Joshua as more relevant than ever before.

After completing their studies in Jerusalem, Joshua and Lauren returned to Maine, their home state, where Joshua ministered to a small Baptist congregation as its full-time pastor for nearly five years. Shortly thereafter, David Bivin reached out to Joshua to ask whether he would be interested in helping him work on the Life of Yeshua project. Being “between jobs” and having a keen interest in studying the Jewish roots of the Gospels, Joshua jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. David also asked Joshua’s wife, Lauren, to work as copy editor for the LOY project.

Today, Joshua and Lauren continue their work on the LOY project from their home in rural Maine on a farm that formerly belonged to Joshua’s grandparents. On the farm they raise chickens (for eggs) and press apple cider from apples picked from trees that Joshua’s grandfather’s grandfather planted several generations ago. To supplement their income Joshua also works as a Certified Nursing Assistant at a local nursing home, where he provides personal care for the residents there. Joshua regards his caregiving work as part of his calling, following in the pattern of Jesus, who not only taught Torah to the crowds, but also washed the feet of his disciples and cared for the disabled and infirm by healing hurts and curing diseases.
—JP Staff Writer

Four Articles to Carry the Legacy Forward: A Message from Joshua N. Tilton

The photo above, taken back in 2016, shows David and me standing together on a section of the Emmaus Road. It is an image of both contrasts and commonalities. David wears dark clothing, I’m mostly in white. David is visiting a place with which he’s been long familiar. For me, it’s my first visit. David is explaining what he knows, I’m about to take a picture of a landscape I want to learn more about. David is showing his age, while I’m still looking fairly young. But we’re both wearing dark glasses and silly hats. More importantly, we’re both following in the footsteps of Jesus, even if David is a little further along the path than I am.

The photo seems like an apt metaphor of my relationship with David. In many ways we are unalike (in terms of age, personality, and background), but we’ve both been traveling on the same road of discovery about Jesus, and for quite a while now we’ve been making that journey together.

For me, stepping up into David’s role as owner and editor of Jerusalem Perspective is filled with mixed emotions. While it is an honor to be entrusted with the task of carrying JP’s mission into the future, it is difficult to let go of the past. Together with all of you, I am so grateful for David’s faithful stewardship of Jerusalem Perspective for so many years. But in order for Jerusalem Perspective to continue to exist, someone has to step up into David’s role. Having been chosen, all I can do is to commit myself to honoring David’s legacy by doing my best for him and for all JP’s readers.

To mark this new beginning I worked with David to prepare a small collection of articles for JP that were previously published elsewhere. Each article is intended to highlight the continuity and the values I hope to bring to Jerusalem Perspective:

Randall Buth, “Language Use in the First Century: Spoken Hebrew in a Trilingual Society in the Time of Jesus”: Of the articles marking JP’s leadership transition, this article by David’s friend and colleague Randall Buth is the one David has been most eager to have appear on the JP site. In this article Dr. Buth makes the case that Jesus lived in a society where three languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—were part of daily life. Jesus himself was conversant in these three languages, and appreciating how these languages were used and in what settings is foundational for an accurate understanding of the Gospels. I first read this article as an undergraduate student at Gordon College. It has had a lasting influence on my thinking about languages and the study of Jesus. This article now appears on JP with the publisher’s permission.

Henry J. Cadbury, “The Basis of Early Christian Antimilitarism”: This article, written during the First World War and now in the public domain, traces the Early Christian tradition of opposing war and refusing to participate in violence articulated by the Church Fathers back to the teachings of Jesus, who referred to his followers as “sons of Peace” and proclaimed the blessedness of peacemakers as “sons of God.” Writing about the Christian tradition of peacemaking and opposition to war was an unpopular message during the First World War, when pacifists were slandered as “cowards,” often imprisoned and sometimes executed for their beliefs. Cadbury, an outstanding scholar in the field of Luke-Acts studies, bravely took a stand in this article for the teachings of Jesus and their implications for his time and place. Cadbury’s blend of faith and courage is a model I aspire to emulate.

Marvin R. Wilson, “Is Desiring Justice for Palestinians Anti-Semitic?”: In this op-ed, which appeared over twenty years ago in the Gordon College student newspaper, Dr. Wilson reminds readers that Christians do not need to take an “us” versus “them” approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is always right for Jesus’ followers to be on the side of justice and peace, healing and reconciliation, human rights and dignity, on all sides of every political divide. This thoughtful essay has resonance today beyond the conflict in Israel-Palestine to all areas where enmity, distrust, and strife divide peoples against one another.

Joshua N. Tilton, “Locating Jesus’ Place on the Political-Ideological Spectrum of Second Temple Jewish Society”: This is a revised version of an article that I wrote a few years ago, which examines what the political landscape of first-century Jewish society looked like and where Jesus fit in among Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and other Jewish groups of his day. My hope is that understanding how Jesus fit in to his society can help inform Jesus’ followers how and where we should fit in to our societies today.

The first three articles were important to me at various stages of my intellectual and spiritual journey. The final article represents an important synthesis of my thinking over many years of study. These articles, which JP is making freely accessible to all internet users, are made possible by revenues from membership subscriptions, Friends of Jerusalem Perspective, and donations from readers who believe in JP’s core mission to better understand Jesus, his life, and his message in the context of Second Temple Judaism. I look forward to carrying JP’s legacy forward together with you, our readers.

Sincerely, Joshua N. Tilton, proprietor and editor
Jerusalem Perspective, LLC

---