Acknowledgments xi
INTRODUCTION: “The Purification of Means” 1
I. The Way of Jesus 19
1. Jesus: “I Am the Way.. -- 21
Metaphor -- 24
Discernment -- 27
Temptation -- 28
Ways -- З6
2. Abraham: Climbing Mount Moriah Faith -- 42
Faith -- 44
Sacrifice -- 49
Testing -- 52
3. Moses: On the Plains of Moab -- 59
Moses and the Five Books -- 60
Every Idle Word -- 66
A Congregational Language -- 68
“Gospel Me to the Garden” -- 76
4. David: “I Did Not Hide My Iniquity” -- 78
The Narrative -- 82
The Prayers -- 88
5. Elijah: “Hide Yourself by the Brook Cherith” -- 101
Ahab -- 104
The Widow -- 107
Baal -- 109
Yahweh -- 113
Naboth -- 119
Ahaziah -- 122
6. Isaiah of Jerusalem: “The Holy” -- 127
“In the Year That King Uzziah Died -- 129
“I Saw the Lord Sitting upon a Throne...” -- 132
Midian and Patmos -- 133
“And He Touched My Mouth -- 135 Holy God and Holy Stump -- 138
The Non-Negotiable Holy -- 147
7. Isaiah of the Exile: “How Beautiful on the Mountains” -- 149
Exile -- 150
Your God -- 160
My Servant -- 170
Beauty -- 181
II. Other Ways -- 191
8. The Way of Herod -- 197
Jesus and Herod -- 201
The Pharisees -- 206
Jesus and the Pharisees -- 212
Praying on the Way with Mary -- 2l6
9. The Way of Caiaphas -- 220
Jesus and Caiaphas -- 229
The Essenes -- 233
Jesus and the Essenes -- 239
Praying on the Way with Thomas -- 240
10. The Way of Josephus -- 243
Jesus and Josephus -- 252
The Zealots -- 255
Jesus and the Zealots -- 260
Praying on the Way with the Resurrection Christians -- 264
APPENDIX: Some Writers on Discerning the Way -- 272
INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND NAMES -- 277
INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES -- 285

A way of sacrifice. A way of failure. A way on the margins. A way of holiness. All of these ways prepared the “way of the Lord” that became incarnate and complete in Jesus. But somewhere along the line, have we lost the way? In The Jesus Way Eugene Peterson con¬tinues his stimulating conversation in spiritual theology, considering all the ways that Jesus is the Way compared to the distorted ways the American church today has chosen to follow.
Arguing that the way Jesus leads and the way we follow are symbiotic, Peterson begins with a study of how the ways of those who came before Christ — Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah of Jerusalem, and Isaiah of the Exile — revealed and prepared the “way of the Lord” that became complete in Jesus. He then challenges the ways of the contemporary American church, showing in stark relief how what we have chosen to focus on — consumerism, celebrity, charisma, and so forth — obliterates what is unique in the Jesus way.