Tell it Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers

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Just as God used words both to create the world and to give us commandments, we too use words for many different purposes. In fact, we use the same language to talk to each other and to talk to God. Can our everyday speech, then, be just as important as the words and prayers we hear from the pulpit? Eugene Peterson unequivocally says "Yes!" // Tell It Slant explores how Jesus used language - he was earthy, not abstract; metaphorical, not dogmatic. His was not a direct language of information or instruction but an indirect, oblique language requiring a participating imagination - "slant" language. In order to witness and teach accurately in Jesus' name, then, it is important for us to use language the way he did. // Part 1 focuses on Jesus' words in everyday contexts - his teachings to the crowds, the stories he told, his conversations with his disciples. Part 2 shifts the focus to Jesus' prayers - the words he spoke to God the Father. // Peterson's Tell It Slant promises to deepen our understanding of Jesus' words, strengthen our awareness of language as a gift of God, and nurture our efforts to make all of our speech convey a blessing to others. // "Language - given to us to glorify God, to receive the revelation of God, to witness to the truth of God, to offer praise to God - is constantly at risk. Too often the living word is desiccated into propositional cadavers, then sorted into exegetical specimens in bottles of formaldehyde. We end up with godtalk. . . . My concern is that we use God's gift of language in consonance with the God who speaks. Jesus is the primary person with whom we have to do in this business. Jesus most of all. Jesus, the Word made flesh. . . . I want to nurture an awareness of the sanctity of words, the holy gift of language whether it is directed vertically or horizontally. Just as Jesus did."- from the Introduction.
Just as God used words both to create the world and to give us commandments, we too use words for many different purposes. In fact, we use the same language to talk to each other and to talk to God. Can our everyday speech, then, be just as important as the words and prayers we hear from the pulp...

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About the author

EUGENE H. PETERSON is a writer poet and retired pastor. He has authored more than thirty-four books (not including The Message). He is Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver British Columbia. Eugene also founded Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air Maryland where he ministered for twenty-nine years. After teaching at a seminary he created The Message a vibrant Bible paraphrase that connects with today's readers like no other.

It took Peterson ten years to complete. He worked not from any English text but from the original Hebrew and Greek texts to guarantee authenticity. At the same time his ear was always tuned to the cadence and energy of the English spoken every day on the streets. He lives with his wife Jan in Montana.


EUGENE H. PETERSON is a writer poet and retired pastor. He has authored more than thirty-four books (not including The Message). He is Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver British Columbia. Eugene also founded Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air Maryl...

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