I was introduced to the work of Jim Jordan many years ago with his wonderful book “Through New Eyes.” In it, Jordan suggests there is “a real need for books that dig into the Bible and set out the Bible’s own worldview, explaining the Bible’s own language. The Biblical worldview is not given to us in the discursive and analytical language of philosophy and science, but in the rich and compact language of symbolism and art. It is pictured in ritual and architecture, in numerical structures and geographical directions, in symbols and types, in trees and stars. In short, it is given to us in a premodern package that seems at places very strange.” Among other things, Jordan has helped me see the importance of patterns and typology in beginning to understand this strangeness; of backing way up to see the entire forest then zooming in to examine the trees. Jordan has also convinced me of the value of not only reading and examining the Word of God, but of singing it – wielding it as a powerful weapon against the principalities and powers of this world. The Bible is a diamond mine of inexhaustible treasure. But digging for diamonds is hard work. I’m thankful for teachers like Jim Jordan who labor to put the right tools into the hands of the Church.

Angie Brennan, author of My Life Behind the Brick Wall and Beneath the Chipvole Mountains