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J.B. Phillips

      John Bertram Phillips was a Bible translator, writer and clergyman. Phillips was born in Barnes, Surrey. He was educated at Emanuel School and took a degree in Classics from Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was ordained an Anglican clergyman in the Church of England in 1930.

      His work translating the Bible made him one of Britain's most famous Bible communicators. Phillips also translated parts of the Old Testament. In 1963 he released translations of Isaiah 1-39, Hosea, Amos, and Micah. This was titled Four Prophets: Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew. But, he did not translate any more of the Old Testament. He talked of the revelation he made as he translated the New Testament, describing it as "extraordinarily alive" unlike any experience he had had with non-scriptural ancient texts. He referred to the scriptures speaking to his condition in an "uncanny way" similarly to the way the author of Psalm 119 talks. Phillips was a masterful apologist and defender of the Christian faith. He upheld the basic tenets of the faith, and was able to present them fresh to the modern reader and hearer, much as he had done so with his translation of the New Testament.

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J.B. Phillips

Your God is too Small

There are doubtless many reasons for the degeneration of Christianity into churchiness, and the narrowing of the Gospel for all mankind into a set of approved beliefs; but the chief cause must be the worship of an inadequate god -- a cramped and regulated god who is a 'good churchman' according to t... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 1 - Explanation

"New Testament Christianity". The critic will probably ask as he picks up this book: "Is this an attempt to distil the teaching of those early Christian documents which we call the New Testament, or is it an attempt to contrast the vigorous and vivid life of the Young Church with the frequently over... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 2 - The Angels' Point of View

On Palm Sunday many of us sing a hymn containing these lines: The Angel armies of the skies Look down with sad and wondering eyes To see the approaching Sacrifice. That, of course, is "only a hymn", but we have at least one piece of evidence from the Gospels that the angels of God are interested in ... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 3 - God Makes News

That this is a Visited Planet was the heart and core of the Young Church's faith. Many of the very early Christians had of course actually seen the young Prince of Glory during His earthly life. They had by no means always known Who He was, but after the resounding demonstration of the Resurrection,... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 4 - The Faith-faculty

Quite a number of presentday Christians are consciously or unconsciously on the defensive. They are only too well aware that they are a small minority, and many of them are faithfully and strenuously defending their convictions. Their courage and loyalty to Christ in the face of the widespread apath... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 5 - Ground for Hope

The second great quality which New Testament Christianity exhibits seems to me to be Hope. Hope runs high in the inspired pages; it is not a superior form of pious wishful thinking but hope based solidly upon the character and purpose of God Himself. But for us, during the last fifty years particula... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 6 - Love

In Englishspeaking countries at least we breathe such an atmosphere of diffused traditional Christianity that we are apt to take some of the major Christian revelations about God as though they were selfevident, which of course they are not. We assume that kindness is a better thing than intolerance... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 7 - The Love-deficiency

We have already tried to take an imaginative glance at this planet from the angels' point of view. Probably next to the shrivelling of the faithfaculty and the closely allied dying down of hope, the most disturbing symptom of the world's disease in the eyes of Heaven is the lack of outgoing love. It... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 8 - Peace

Despite the fire, energy, daring, hope, and faith that distinguished the Young Church, there is no trace of hysteria or morbid excitement in its re corded life. Some of us have seen people do all sorts of extraordinary things under the influence of religious excitement, and those of us who are pasto... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 9 - Christian Maintenance

In order to live a life of New Testament quality, we shall find it necessary to work out some kind of practi cal plan to keep us alive and sensitive to the Spirit of the living God, which will keep us supplied day by day with the necessary spiritual reinforcement, and which will help us to grow and ... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 10 - Christian Service

The early vigorous Church was essentially a work ing, serving, and forwardlooking Church. Partly because of a sensitivity to the Spirit's direction and partly because of the rising tide of persecution, the Young Church did not have much chance of becoming selfsatisfied and complacent. It expanded an... Read More
J.B. Phillips

New Testament Christianity: Chapter 11 - Some Conclusions

The foregoing chapters have all been given as addresses to groups of people in different parts of this country and in California, and naturally they have been followed by discussion. Speaking generally, I find a widespread desire to recapture the power and energy of the newborn Church, and a very ma... Read More

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