Paul N. Anderson

Ordinary prophets, extraordinary lives / Howard R. Macy -- Resistance in a 'culture of permission' / Daniel L. Smith-Christopher -- The relation between content and experience / Paul N. Anderson -- William Penn and the Scriptures / Edwin B. Bronner -- Religion and ethics in the thought of John Bellers / T. Vail Palmer, Jr. -- The business of our lives / Tom Head -- Anthony Benezet, the true champion of the slave / Irv A. Brendlinger -- The Indians' friends / James D. Le Shana -- Rufus Jones and Quaker unity / Hugh Barbour -- The nature of mysticism / Gayle Beebe -- Thy obedience is perfect freedom / T. Canby Jones -- Christ is still the answer / Dean Freiday -- What future for evangelical Friends? / Charles Mylander -- Some reflections on Quakers and the evangelical spirit / John Punshon -- The mother tongue : acquiring language and being human / Rebecca Thomas Ankeny -- The anti theatrical prejudice and the Quakers / Michael P. Graves -- A nature nudge / Gary K. Fawver -- Poems / Ed Higgins -- Poems / Nancy Thomas -- Poems / Michael P. Graves -- Darkness at noonday / Ralph Beebe -- Abigail v. Harvey / Lee Nash -- Herbert Hoover as an enduring model for American leaders / Mark O. Hatfield -- Evangelical Quakers and public policy / Lon Fendall -- A basis for civility / Philip E. Smith -- Arthur O. Roberts, a select bibliography.… (mer)

Anderson points out that the Gospel of John is both a favorite of devotional reading and an important and theologically controversial text. A Biblical scholar, he gives a helpful interpretation that makes this Gospel more accessible without undermining its powerful inspirational qualities. The greater clarity about the Gospel that he offers leaves the reader with a better understanding and more informed questions to ponder.
Anderson does not address directly why Friends have long found that John's Gospel particularly speaks to them and even called it "the Quaker Gospel," so look elsewhere for that. Try PHP 179, Light and Life in the Fourth Gospel, by Howard Brinton. Anderson does assert that John in his Gospel sought to evoke a transformative encounter for the reader, and emphasizes that in John, believing means coming into a faith relationship with God rather than adhering to creeds, rules, and rituals. These surely are clues to Friends' response to this Gospel.… (mer)