Northwestern College | Classic magazine - Winter 2004-05 - Vol. 76 ...

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Northwestern ClassicHave you written a new book? E-mail beeson@nwciowa.eduQuickreadBook invitesreaders toencounter ChristKeeping Company With Jesus: Reflections on Gospel StoriesIn just over 100 pagesand seven chapters,Northwestern religion professorDr. Jackie Smallbonesexplores familiar Gospel storieslike the woman caughtin adultery (John 8:1-11),the healing of the 10 lepers(Luke 17:11-19) and thewoman who touches Jesus’garment for healing (Mark5:24-34).A native of South Africaand an ordained minister inthe Reformed Church inAmerica, Smallbonesdescribes her first book as atool to help others explorethese Gospel stories and othersmore closely. Classicrecently visited withSmallbones about KeepingCompany With Jesus.Classic: Where did the ideafor this book come from?Smallbones: When I wasunemployed, I was goingthrough the Gospel storiesfor my morning devotions.Every now and then I’d haveall these thoughts about oneby Jackie Smallbones Augsburg Fortress Publishersof the stories I read. So I’dwrite them down and sendthem off to a seminaryfriend. She’d say, “Wow,”which I enjoyed hearing, so Igot into the habit of doingthat when a Gospel storyintrigued me. Every chapteris just my personal responseto Gospel stories that alsodraws on my years of teachingand studying the Bible.Classic: Why did youchoose the particularGospel stories you did?Smallbones: Most of themdeal with personal issues Iwas struggling with at thetime. I was unemployed for20 months, so one came outof that struggle. Anothercame out of my struggle withbreast cancer. I was drawn tothe story of the woman whotouched Jesus’ garment. I layin my bed after surgery, andI thought, “Ah hah. I knowwhy she touched Jesus’ garments.She was tired of havingdoctors and nurses takeaway her privacy”—whichwas my issue during my stayin the hospital.Others are stories I wasjust intrigued with, like thewoman caught in adultery. Ihave a heart for women’sissues, and that story interestedme. I started doing theresearch and was totally dissatisfiedwith everything Iread because everyone asks,“What did Jesus write?”One day I read it again andthought, “That’s the wrongquestion. The question is:For whom did he write?”That new question led toa published article thateventually became partof this book.Classic: What kind ofreader is this book for?Smallbones: I tried to makethe stories accessible to peoplewho want good biblicalunderstanding but are alsoasking, “How do I relate thisto my life?” It’s not a text fora course on Gospels; I wantit to be accessible to anyone—tobring people to thepoint of an encounter withJesus, and then how do yourespond in that encounter.I think it would be agood book for either individualdevotional time or agroup Bible study. It’s formattedwell for a Bible studybecause there are reflectionReligion professor Jackie Smallbones’ first book aims to bring readers to the pointof an encounter with Christ.10 ▲ Winter 2004-05
Northwestern ClassicQuickreadquestions after each chapter.Classic: What category ofreading does it fall into?Smallbones: Probably spiritualreading. That’s what Iwas doing as I read theGospel stories, and then Iexpanded on that by readingresearch on the stories aswell. I’m not as concerned tocome up with a correct biblicalinterpretation as I am toask questions that lead to arevelation. Scripture is a mirror.I want my book to helpothers see themselves in thatmirror.Classic: What do you hopereaders think of the book?Smallbones: I just hopesomeone reads it and thinks,“Thank you; that helped me.”Classic: Have you alwaysdreamed of being a publishedauthor?Smallbones: Two things Ialways wanted to do: teachand write. But I didn’t wantto teach school; I wanted toteach Bible—which womenjust didn’t do when I wasgrowing up.Classic: What’s next?Smallbones: I’m thinking ofdoing another book like this,but with Old Testament stories.Also, my oldest brotherlives in Kenya and works inchildren’s ministry. He’sworking on cutting-edgetheology for the children ofAfrica, where almost everychild is infected or affectedby HIV-AIDS. African childrenare asking tough, spiritualquestions. How do youdo children’s ministry in thatenvironment? I’m trying tothink of a way to get moreinvolved in what he’s doing.Keeping Company withJesus is available at the NorthwesternCollege Bookstore for$9.99. It also is available for thesame price at most online bookstores,including amazon.comand barnesandnoble.com.Book reviewBookreviewListening anewby Joan Zwagerman Curbow ’85I recently started a book that was selling well in someChristian circles, but abandoned it after the sixth chapter.While the book serves a purpose for those new to the faith, Iwanted more substance and fewer easy answers.Such a book is Keeping Company With Jesus. It breaches agap for those who desire solid exegesis without wadingthrough scholarly jargon, and it invites readers to listen anewto Gospel stories they have heard all their lives.Part of the trouble with hearing the “old, old story” is thatwe become accustomed to its depths, complexities and mysteries,and if we have been raised not to question Scripture,we simply take things at face value and run the risk of missingits truth and power.Smallbones will have none of it. A modern-day Jacob,she wrestles with the text, with all its elisions and opacity,unwilling to let go, until she has received a blessing. Theresult of that wrestling is this book, and she shares the attendantblessings in page after page of careful attention to thetext of seven Gospel stories.Where most of us might see a long string of Christ’smiraculous healings and frenetic preaching, she dispels thisdistortion, revealing a tough, mysterious and sometimes rudeChrist, a Christ whose radical notions of freedom and lovewould threaten any respectable middle-class group of churchgoerswith unsettling results.Also, in each Gospel account, Smallbones reveals a Christwho meets each person individually. There is neither a standardcall from Jesus nor a standard response from the peoplehe encounters. In other words, Jesus is no plaster saint, nocardboard character programmed to spread peace and lovelike a benign security blanket.As one progresses through the book, it becomes clearthat Smallbones has spent a great deal of time in study andreflection trying to parse out this man Jesus. She has madeherself vulnerable, asking how she would respond in the samesituation. If Jesus likened her to a dog, would she fight backlike the woman in Matthew 15, or would she slink off? Butthere is a still more dangerous question: Why does Jesus,Prince of Peace, behave that way?Why is he more concerned with writing on the groundthan in responding to the adulterous woman and her accusers?Why does he go to a sickbed on one occasion but refusein another? And why does he give all these people completefreedom—freedom to be ungrateful, freedom to expose himto more trouble and derision?That’s the crux of Smallbones’ book: How can we knowsomeone unless we spend time with him? That’s the invitationJesus extends, and that invitation is explored to great effect inKeeping Company With Jesus.If your faith seeks what is known and comfortable, youmay wish to bypass this book. But if you want to encounterJesus as if for the first time, this book will not disappoint you.Joan Zwagerman Curbow lives in Alta, Iowa. She has had articlespublished in Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought, theDes Moines Register, and Mars Hill Review.11 ▲ Winter 2004-05
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Northwestern College | Classic magazine - Winter 2004-05 - Vol. 76 ...

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