About A Second Look at Jesus, The Experience of a Christian Mystic by John Evans
Did Jesus want us to experience Life as He did? Did he suggest a method to help us “get there”? The Jewish people have always regarded their name of God to be a very special means of access to the reality of God. Yet, a few hundred years before the time of Jesus, Jewish teachers began to promote the idea that the traditional Hebrew Name of God was to holy for ordinary people to use in their daily spiritual practice. This teaching, know as the “Ineffable Name Doctrine”, reserved this name for the exclusive use of the High Priest, in private, and during the peak of the High Holy Day ceremony. All other uses were forbidden and is expression out loud was punishable by death by stoning.
So, why is Jesus is quoted in John 17:26 as follows: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” What is going on here? Why is the traditional Hebrew name of God not taught or used within our churches today? What might result if we incorporated this practice into our daily lives?
These questions and others are addressed my book “In a Second Look at Jesus.” This work begins as a memoir that describes my spiritual pilgrimage and the spiritual practices that I found helpful. In the latter portions of my book I examine how the Christian Path can recover some important and yet neglected aspects of the teachings of Jesus including the the traditional Name of God. My intent to be practical and useful.
Leave a Reply