Awareness of whole person contributes to healing

In his sermon "Are You Feverish?" from 4 February 2018 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago, Craig Mueller refers to Thomas Moore's new book Ageless Soul: The Lifelong Journey Toward Meaning and Joy while discussing Mark 1:29-39.

"Moore says that most of us think of illness as a physical breakdown that needs repair. Yet illness affects us emotionally, intellectually, and relationally. And it forces us to 'reexamine our lives, face our mortality, and sort out our values.' Spiritually speaking, we might ponder what kind of invitation lies behind each illness. And illness is something we will all face — whether our own or that of a loved one."

Mueller also echoes Moore's themes of desire, using gifts and passions, and "serving":

"When Jesus raises up Simon’s mother-in-law, it is the first resurrection story in Mark. The woman rises up and begins serving. Perhaps that is our great desire also. Whether a student, whether in our working years or in retirement, we desire to have a purpose, to use our gifts and passions, and to join in God’s mission of mending the world — something Jews call tikkun olam."

Review: Book of Matthew mostly Quaker-friendly

Rob Pierson reviews GOSPEL The Book of Matthew: A New Translation with Commentary, Jesus Spirituality for Everyone in Friends Journal, 1 June 2017.

Although Pierson questions aspects of Moore's approach, he states:

"However, in the Gospel itself, many of Moore’s translation choices illuminate and enliven what has become, for many, a brittle, faded manuscript. Moore replaces time-worn and doctrine-laden phrases like “heaven,” “faith,” “sin,” and “repentance” with stripped down (but faithful) translations. For example, “sin” becomes “tragic mistakes,” and “repentance” becomes the kind of deep change that averts these tragic mistakes. “Faith” is rendered as “trust.” “Trust more” becomes Jesus’s persistent refrain for entering life in the kingdom. 

Moore also emphasizes concrete symbols at the core of the Gospel — “bread,” for example, as symbol of what is truly essential. More startlingly, Moore replaces “heaven” (an increasingly abstract concept) with its most basic translation, “sky.”

Pierson concludes, "Moore’s Gospel does provide a faithful, readable, and mostly Quaker-friendly rendering of the text with some compelling insights and a few idiosyncratic quirks."