Amazing Infinite Love

This book is being produced because of many requests that I have received from parishioners, friends, and ex-students. It is not written to be a heavy scholarly work, but should be easily read. It also began as an exercise for my own benefit to preserve these materials and give me a chance to develop some ideas further, because of my own growth. My expereinces in World War II also prompted me to see my need for such a study and its value. In the process of that study one of my great professors helped me to see that when one vigorously studies the New Testament message, faith does not demand that he/she should have to leave the intellect behind. I would certainly not want any reader to think that I simply adopted whatever I read from great scholars - I have carefully read, digested, discarded, and assimilated many things. It is not, I hope, such an exclusive study that one will think it presents only one viewpoint. Instead, I see it as an open inquiry, not a denominational or dogmatic statement. The first section of the book describes my situation when I first got involved in a serious study of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. I found that there were many questions for which I had no answer and therefore, I wanted to trace my own journey from the time when I was a rabid Fundamentalist to the position that I now hold and believe to be much nearer to the truth than my initial one. There is no effort in the book to attempt to "convert" the reader to my point of view; it simply is an effort to describe where I am now and how and why I got here. If it should help anyone else to solve some problems, then that is good. The first major hurdle had to do with the fact that the God seemingly described in the Old Testament did not appear to jibe with what I heard in the teachings of Jesus. I discovered that Marcion, an early Christian Gnostic, decided that the God of the Old Testament must be a different God from that in the New. I could not accept that position, but it meant that the "can of worms" was open and I had to find some other meaningful answer. That study involved me in a serious look at what scholars have said about the concept of revelation. I believe I have found the answer, at least the one for me. That also led to a serious effort to understand the nature of Biblical literature and the literary techniques of the ancient world - they are often different from modern ones! Then I began to apply what I had learned from great scholars to the materials which told me about the teachhings of Jesus. I have long believed that the entrance of Jesus into the world revealed the nature and character of God, clearly. If that were true, I needed to examine the records of his acts and teachings as best I could, and that required examining the materials in more than a devotional way. In doing that I discovered some insights that were fresh to me. I really do not claim anything original. Neither do I claim that I am completely objective, for everytime anyone reads or interprets a piece of work, they bring to it baggage that often they do not even know exists. I have tried to recognize that as much as I could and sometimes it opened my understanding in a way that I had never seen. Many of my students have also said that this study has radically transformed their understanding of Jesus and the struggles of his ministry. I would strongly recommend that anyone reading this work would use the Gospel Parallels , NRSV, by Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr. as the source for Synoptic materials. Throckmorton's work is based on the arrangement of the Huck-Lietzmann Synopsis, Ninth Edition, 1936. The Parallels is organized from that perspective and that investment is a valuable asset to any library. There are many things in it that I have not had the room to develop in my text, and one who wishes to pursue the study more in depth will find that work extremely useful. Of course, one may use his/her own Bible, but following some of what is said will be more difficult. There are some insights in the work for which I can blame no one else, although I am acutely aware that there must be no claim to originality, for I have discovered that I have digested ideas from many different sources, say from Socrates (or earlier) to modern writers. I have tried to give credit where credit was due, but some ideas have simply become mine by that digestion process and I offer them in a different way. I am a firm believer in the "Priesthood of the Believer" and in the mysterious leadership of the Holy Spirit. I have always despised terms such as "liberal" or "conservative." Not everyone will (or should) agree or see the logic in all of my thoughts, but I prefer to think of this enterprise as a progressive effort and while I may be in error at times, I insist on the right to think for myself and I give the reader the same right.