SPRING 2008

Reframing the words of Jesus
Phyllis Tickle’s latest book offers ‘rich engagement with scripture’

By Dawn Tolbert • Photos by Peter Ceren

What would happen if you took the “red-letter words of Christ” without the surrounding narrative and merged them into a sayings gospel?

Upon hearing her editor at Jossey-Bass ask that question while chatting over a cup of tea, Shorter alumna Phyllis Alexander Tickle (’55) felt “a bolt clicking in place. The minute she said it, I knew she had said something worthwhile.”

The result of that conversation was a year and a half of intense work for Phyllis, which culminated in the February publication of The Words of Jesus by Jossey-Bass. At this magazine’s press time, with the book only days old, the reaction is already significant.

In reviewing the book, Doug Pagitt, author of A Christianity Worth Believing , penned, “In The Words of Jesus , Phyllis Tickle takes us on a journey with Jesus. …Phyllis leaves us no room to stand back, look at and intellectually fondle the words of Jesus. We are compelled to allow them inside and to take hold of us, giving us a fresh taste of why Jesus is worth believing, loving and following.”

John Wilson, editor of Books and Culture , expressed his belief that approaching the gospels in this fresh way has produced a worthwhile result. “I’m wary of any attempt to abstract the words of Jesus from their context in the distinctive particulars of the four gospels,” he wrote. “But Phyllis Tickle’s reflections on The Words of Jesus is worth the price of admission, and more: she’s given us one of the richest engagements with scripture I’ve encountered in a long while.”

Those words echo Phyllis’ own interaction with the project. “When you remove the narrative of the gospel authors, all of a sudden what you have is the message unified,” she said during a recent interview. “What’s left is God talking. You’ve got Mount Sinai in the flesh, on human feet, moving about on legs. This stands as Torah stood.”

The Words of Jesus divides the oral teachings of Christ into five categories: public instruction, private teaching, healing dialogue, intimate conversation and post-resurrection sayings.

Phyllis admitted that she is unsure about the lasting impact of her latest work. “This thing will either lie down, roll over and be dead rather quickly, or it will change how we look at gospel.”

Phyllis’ body of work has already achieved a noteworthy degree of staying power. She became a force in the religion-publishing world while serving as founding editor of the religion department of Publishers Weekly , the international journal of the book industry. She is a respected scholar and lecturer who has penned more than two dozen books in the genre of religion publishing.

Of particular note is her Divine Hours series, which introduced readers to the ancient spiritual practice of praying at set times throughout the day. This fixed-hour prayer practice is rooted in Judaism and was embraced by the early Christians. In time, it transitioned into a monastic practice that was generally not observed by the laity. The Divine Hours series has once again made this practice approachable for everyone.

Of the Divine Hours , Phyllis said, “What a privilege to put that together and to see the fixed-hour prayers take on a life of their own.” Her series of books spawned numerous Web sites devoted to the topics, and she received an amazing amount of correspondence from readers who were touched by the practice outlined in her books.

Correspondence from readers is not all that Phyllis has received; recognitions and awards also arrive with some regularity. More than a decade ago, she received the prestigious Mays Award for lifetime achievement in writing and publishing. The award highlighted her contributions to attracting media attention to religion publishing. Other particularly outstanding recognitions include the 2004 bestowing of the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Yale University’s Berkeley School of Divinity and the 2007 awarding of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Christy Awards, which was given “in gratitude for a lifetime as an advocate for fiction written to the glory of God.”

For Phyllis, career achievements have been many, and the desire to create is still strong. Any day, a question may arise over a cup of tea that will lead to the creation of a new work that will offer fresh insight and illumination into the world of faith and practice.