What Christ Said: Revisiting the Countercultural Sayings of Christ Jesus - Paperback

by Isaac Portilla (Author)

Relevant to nonconformist Christians, this book explores the transformative and often overlooked implications of Christ's teachings. The author shows the possibility to still be surprised by the sayings of Christ--to rediscover "the Way" as a liberating path toward freedom. What Christ Said delivers an absorbing experience, rich in unexpected turns and insights to ponder and meditate into. Taking the New Testament text as the raw material, the author builds a coherent picture of Christ's Way in which themes such as Fire, Life, Light, and Consciousness take the central stage. This work also offers a very personal contribution to scholarship: a provocative hermeneutics focused on truth and freedom, echoing the efforts of the apostles, early Christians, the fathers, and the mystics to reconcile the sayings of Jesus with their own experience--mystical and worldly. Infused with poetry and mysticism, yet without compromising theological and intellectual rigor, each chapter makes the reader a participant in explorations evocative of a Christ-like apprehension of life and reality. This inquiry reflects mental and emotional patterns that keep us bound, at the same time providing a path through which the Christian Way could be inspiring--in an original and sometimes radical manner.

Author Biography

Isaac Portilla is an author, scholar of divinity, and teacher of exploratory mysticism. His research focuses on interfaith dialogue, mystical consciousness, hermeneutics, and phenomenology. He is author of The Possibilities of Spiritual Experience: An Autobiographical and Philosophical Exploration (2017) and My Poetry Is Silence: Verses in The Light of Truth (2013). Isaac's project covers four areas: academic studies; development of spiritual teachings; contemplative practices research; and explorations of integral life. He lives in Scotland. www.isaacportilla.org