Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers [Hardcover]

Eugene H. Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2008

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. Petersons 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 Gods 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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Continuing his series of "conversations" in spiritual theology, prolific author, pastor and theologian Eugene H. Peterson (most familiar for his Bible paraphrase The Message) provides an intimate look at Jesus' words. Arguing that the Fall created a "language catastrophe," Peterson contends that people of faith need to "eliminate the bilingualism" they use to talk about religion and everyday life: "There is no 'Holy Ghost' language used for matters of God and salvation and then a separate secular language for buying cabbages and cars." To this end, the author explores Jesus' prayers across the Gospels and parables that are unique to the Gospel of Luke. Using poet Emily Dickinson's dictum to "tell it slant," Peterson ably shows that "personal, metaphorical, particular, relational, local" language can convey profound religious ideas. His meditations on prayer ask universal questions about its efficacy; most moving are reflections on Jesus' last brief words, which form a "prayer mosaic from the cross." Peterson's greatest gift is his ability to write about such ideas as sin, repentance, grace and glory in masterfully simple-and concrete-ways.
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From Booklist

Taking his theme from a famous Dickinson poem, Peterson searches the New Testament not for magisterial statements but rather for the “slanted” language of Jesus’ seemingly casual speech. In the first part of this inquiry, readers relive Jesus’ journey through Samaria to Jerusalem (as recounted by Luke), hearing again the resonant voice that punctuates that journey with 10 parables, so slanted that only intense listeners will tease out their inner meaning. Only the attentive will perceive, for instance, the full message Jesus delivers about the dynamics of hypocrisy in his story of the Pharisee and the taxman. Peterson then shifts his focus to examine the words Jesus speaks in his prayers. But readers soon realize that even in his prayers, Jesus speaks words slanted by the human needs of those around him. By interweaving relevant stories from his own life, Peterson helps readers recognize times when the Holy Spirit carries slanted sacred meanings into their own lives. Valuable to Christian readers striving to make faith more than a Sunday ritual. --Bryce Christensen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 287 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (October 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802829546
• ISBN-13: 978-0802829542
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peterson, now retired, was for many years James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. In addition to his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the Bible, The Message (NavPress), he has written many other books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another "must read" for the aggressive God-seeker, November 20, 2008

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robert johnston (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers (Hardcover)

This is the 4th book in Peterson's conversation series. "Tell It Slant" is focused on the "conversational Jesus". The conversational Jesus is revealed in two parts ... along a long walk ... and through Jesus in prayers. Peterson tasks the reader to go beyond the words and engage the mind in the Jesus discussion.

Part one follows Christ through Luke's travel narrative of the final walk from Galilee, through troubled Samaria, to arrive in Jerusalem for His final days. Peterson reanimates and brings life to the words of the traveling Messiah as he teaches, considers, and observes along this final journey. The Jesus dialogue is intensely considered through 11 distinct, but interlaced conversations along the road. Part one alone is worth the price of the book. As I write 2 weeks after completing the book, I'm thinking that part one is a standalone masterpiece. Each conversation, as Peterson guides our minds, is a timeless, living metaphor that immerses the modern reader in the calm thoughts and considerations of the Master on the road to crucifixion. I found that I had to limit my reading to only one of 11 conversations per day ... so compelling is the Peterson contribution.

Part two shifts away from the "casual" travel narrative to the praying Jesus through 6 prayers ... 6 praying conversations, between Christ and God, about us, in increasing situational intensity. We have rote memory of these prayers. Therein lies a problem as Peterson considers them. Peterson does a superlative job in pointing the reader to the conclusion that there is much more to these well known prayers than our memories can evoke. The patterns of a life with Christ through, prayer dialogue, is compelling.

In Peterson's surely tireless career as translator, as an academic, and with long term roots as a pastor shepherding a real live congregation of sinners toward the Word, Peterson provides readers with his fascinating vantage and insight from his maturing walk in the Jesus way.

The 4 book series, and assuredly those to come, are a must read for the aggressive God seeker.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tell it Slant: comments, November 11, 2008

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Dan "Dan" (Sacramento, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers (Hardcover)

While Christian writers like Eugene Peterson, and Dallas Willard, and Richard Foster, and others are teaching us compehensively about what Jesus taught, along with how he lived, died, rose, and ascended, there are still many Christians who think the only important thing is to know what He did on the Cross, which gets us to heaven. I think all Christians will appreciate Peterson's book, Tell It Slant. The question is whether the reader has ears to hear. Jesus' purpose was not to get people into heaven. It was to get them into the Kingdom of God. And the difference between those two ideas is huge. The first is non-transformative and ego-serving. The second is radically life-altering, unto eternity. Eugene Peterson is an author who reliably guides us into understanding what it means to Repent -- change how you think -- and live in the present and eternal Kingdom. His use of Jesus' own words in stories and prayer guide us to an accurate understanding of the Kingdom and what it means to be a citizen of that Kingdom. In other words, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus (not just a convert who has the password to heaven's gates). If you're familiar with Willard, Foster, et al., why read this book? Preconceptions affect perceptions. The clearer your preconceptions are about the Kingdom of God, the more easily you will recognize it when you run into it. The less you know about the Kingdom, the less you will live according to its order and reality, and the less your life will truly work. Read Peterson to prepare yourself for the daily, moment to moment encounter with God and His Kingdom.
As an aside, I would disagree very slightly with Peterson's portrayal of these words of Jesus as just common talk. His words should certainly form the way we must commonly think about the Kingdom and life. But, as Kenneth Bailey points out in his books, Jesus words reflect intentional poetic genius when understood in His cultural context. So, I would highly recommend Bailey as a supplement to Peterson.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TELL IT SLANT is about more than Jesus' use of language, March 4, 2009

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FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers (Hardcover)

TELL IT SLANT. Huh? The phrase is a not-quite-grammatical derivative of the clichéd "tell it straight." It isn't original to author Peterson; it's from a line of poetry by Emily Dickinson: "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant." Peterson sees the idiom as descriptive of Jesus' mode of communication, especially as portrayed in 10 parables that are unique to the Gospel of Luke --- found between Luke 9 and 19, sometimes known as Luke's "Travel Narrative."

Peterson notes that Luke doesn't emphasize Jesus the teacher or the preacher; rather, "Luke has a particular interest in immersing us in the conversational aspects of Jesus' language." He's engaging the imagination and telling stories. These parables are told when Jesus is "on the road"; he has left his home territory in Galilee and is traveling with disciples, through Samaria, toward Jerusalem and his final days. "A kind of intimacy develops naturally when men and women walk and talk together, with no immediate agenda or assigned task except eventually getting to their destination." Here's where Jesus tells the story called the "prodigal son" and a story about an unfruitful fig tree that is given fertilizer and another year to prove itself.

The second part of the book moves from Luke's parables to six prayers of Jesus, as recorded primarily in Matthew and John. We've seen how Jesus talks with his friends and followers. How does he talk with God, whom he calls Father?

Peterson's "language" schema is most evident in the book's opening and closing chapters. In the scriptural discussion, it's easy to get delightfully lost in the textual insights --- which must be chewed and savored. As he acknowledges up front, the content was developed in college "courses on language, Scripture, and prayer" at Regent College, in Vancouver. This shouldn't scare off armchair readers with a modest interest in Christian spirituality. At the beginning of most chapters he deftly summarizes content previously covered, hooking it to the passage at hand, providing clear guideposts for readers.

Ultimately Peterson challenges us to emulate Jesus in his use of language, engaging people where they are and talking with God personally, not in stuffily pious phrases.

I particularly liked Peterson's take on Jesus' "Seven Last Words," which he categorizes as one prayer. He discusses the phrases in the order they are presented in the Gospels, so "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" is in the middle of the lineup. After three pages of reflection, Peterson draws a personal application: "This is not a prayer we hold in reserve for our deathbed... We pray it when we get out of bed each morning, alive yet another day, ready to go to work...: `Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.'"

You see, TELL IT SLANT is about more than Jesus' use of language. It's also about our relationships and how we communicate in them --- whether with neighbors, co-workers or God.

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence