Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World

by James B. Jordan

Book Overview

Book annotation not available for this title.Title: Through New EyesAuthor: Jordan, James B.Publisher: Wipf & Stock PubPublication Date: 1999/07/06Number of Pages: 346Binding Type: PAPERBACKLibrary of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0943497108
• ISBN13: 9780943497105
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc.
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Through New Eyes

At his request, I gave this as a birthday gift to my son. He said it is a phenomenal book which presents worldview through "new eyes." James Jordan is a profound thinker and writer, one who often will turn our thinking upside down (or in reality right-side up!).

God's Awe Inspiring Glory

Through New Eyes looks at all creation with a sharp understanding of God's intent. The question and answer, "Why did God make all things?- For His own glory," is expounded and is awe inspiring. Jordan describes gemstones as "frozen pieces of glory, but we can also see them as frozen pieces of the rainbow... also a manifestation of glory." "It is written on the heart of man to appreciate glory, and it takes a great act of the will to pervert this attraction," a beautiful sunset, a rainbow, a diamond. Jordan shows us the created world as beautiful pictures of heaven, pictures of God's glory. Jordan loves to point out the chiasms in the Bible and that's all very interesting but my real appreciation of this book came in the imagery he causes us to notice. The one complaint I have with Jordan is that he shows us the fantastical but then occasionally moves in to the absurd. For example, he writes of the lengths of the patriarchs' lives as "curious numerical lengths." And sure, the lives must be of a certain length for God's perfect purposes, like, Enoch lived 365 years, same as our solar year, fascinating. But I think it's a stretch to, by golly make something work somehow: "Kenan lived 910 years, ten times a standard quarter year of 91 days." I mean, couldn't any number eventually do that sort of gymnastic fit? An excellent understanding of man's activity in culture as the image bearer of his Creator ending with a Christian's distinguishing and critical act of giving thanks to God. "It is not possible to take hold of the world with the intention of sinning and still give thanks to God for it." Thanks to God tempers our actions and our motives. Jordan does a great job of showing us God's glory in refreshingly new ways, well, not exactly new, but reconsidered with clarity.

This book will open your mind

This book will open your mind to seeing the bible from a new, Hebrew perspective that is sorely lacking in Christianity today.

Learning to read

For most Evangelicals the words of the Bible are not really inspired, just some principles which can be abstracted from the text. Jordan tries to get readers to really READ the Bible. He points out the things like Abrahams digging wells which most people pass over. He also points out various ways the Bible shows us a developing and changing world--from Noah, to the patriarchs, to Moses, to David, to the World Empires, to Christ. Readers catch a glimpse of the organic nature of the Biblical record. There is nothing out there like this. Buy it and read it. Then read it again.

Clear, insightful , sorely needed, book on biblcal symbolism

How well developed is your biblical worldview? Through New Eyes will fill in some of those annoying, perhaps gaping cracks. The language of "symbol" in the Scriptures is not well taught today nor widely discussed. Many things about prophecy, the book of Revelation, and understanding the Bible's major themes come within the grasp of the common (but serious) reader after tackling this volume. Clearly written and full of common sense (while avioding the wild and wooly that often accompany this topic), Jordan discusses God's use of created things and language in the Scriptures. As he follows the Holy Spirit's use of certain symbols and themes throughout the Book, the reader begins to see the unity and seamlessness of the Bible in a new way. Things in creation, God's work in the world, and the arena of man's worship of God take on a much richer significance. While the reader may not agree with all of Jordan's conjectures, the compelling articulation of his fundamental theses should stir a hearty "amen" from most of us. This book is a must for any serious student of the Bible. A must.