Coming to Jerusalem Perspective in September: a new article series by JP’s new editor, Joshua Tilton, entitled “Bible Versus Scriptures.” This new series will explore questions like Where did the Scriptures come from? What makes them unique? How can we approach the Scriptures in a respectful manner? How can we interpret the Scriptures in a neighborly fashion?
This new seven-part series is in many ways the culmination of Joshua’s twelve-and-a-half year partnership with David Bivin on the Life of Yeshua project, which closely analyzed how the three synoptic evangelists—the authors of Luke, Mark, and Matthew—related to each other’s writings and to the sources they shared in common. Learning how the evangelists worked to produce the Synoptic Gospels raised fundamental questions about the nature of the Scriptures like “What does it mean when we say that the Scriptures are inspired, authoritative, and holy?”
To grapple with these questions Joshua compares and contrasts the ways people typically encounter the Scriptures today—mainly in the form of the Bible—with how the Scriptures were experienced in the first century. At that time the Scriptures were not printed in a single tome, but were a collection of individual scrolls gathered into a sacred library. These different ways of experiencing the Scriptures can alter our perceptions of what the Scriptures are and how they should be understood.
Recovering an ancient sense of the Scriptures as an inspired, authoritative, and holy library, in which the different books are in conversation with one another, can help readers develop a sense of confidence and clarity about the Scriptures that leads to more open-minded and open-hearted approaches to the sacred texts that define communities of faith and that unite readers across the ages.
You won’t want to miss this exciting and challenging new series. Articles in the series will be released a week at a time beginning in September. Make sure your subscription to a JP membership is still active so that you can access these new articles without difficulty, and be sure to sign up to the JP Newsletter to receive notifications as each new article becomes available.
