James B. Jordan (1) (1949–)

Whenever the heroes from the Bible are trotted out in Sunday school, people are quick to point out their flaws and failings, going straight to the moral of the story rather than paying attention to what the text actually says. In this short but adventurous book, Jordan shows that the Biblical narratives are about so much more than Sunday School lessons and that in fact the patriarchs are not held up for us as examples of failure or sin, but are rather are great moral exemplars.
In contrast to show more Adam, Cain, and other characters in the early pages of Genesis, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Judah were great heroes of the faith and by paying careful attention to the details of their lives, we can discover much more from the Bible than we often think. show less

Crisis, Opportunity and the Christian Future by James B. Jordan is part of the march away from the dispensational doomsday hysteria. An era of church history is coming to the end, but instead of becoming anxious about it, Jordan is excited about it. It is a time for the Church to take part in the future. The reader can tell that this is an idea that is not fully developed because of the length of the book. Most of the book is an argument for the Biblical basis for where we are in history. A show more brief outline in about 7 pages give insight to how we are to accomplish this. In a nutshell, Christians are to be so saturated with the Bible, that we will know what to do when the time comes. Though the book assumes the collapse of what we know, it is an encouraging book because the collapse is all part of God bringing mankind to Himself. I look forward to an Augustine who can present this thought as a paradigm to pursue. show less

Jordan has an eye for details and pursues these details within the context of scripture and culture of the people of the scripture. It is a difficult book for me to read because his understanding of a story is sometimes quite different from what I had learned. Yet his views reinforce the orthodox view of scripture. I do wish he would have given more bibibliographical support for what he was claming. However, he does support his views with other support from scripture.

Amazing insights into the symbolism and meaning behind ordinary and eccentric things in scripture.