It is an interesting time to be an author. By “interesting,” I mean exciting/scary/confusing/revolutionary. All of this excitement/fear/confusion/revolution centers around modern technologies, which are changing the face of reading and publishing. There are two main effects that this technology is having on the industry:

1) Ease of publication: now anyone can cheaply “publish” a book, meaning that they can bind paper together in a nice format, or they can put their book on a e-reader device. What used to be a barrier to entry no longer exists.

2) E-Reading: reading doesn’t have to involve paper anymore. Now we can read on our computers, our phones, our iPads, our Kindles and a whole host of other devices. I have mentioned previously that most people erroneously believe that e-reading is just the next step in reading that everyone will eventually take, but there is no question that e-reading is a major factor in the publishing world now.

So what does this all mean? Some are claiming that old-school publishers are dinosaurs no longer needed in the 21st century. Others believe that the low barrier to entry means that readers need some form of filter to distinguish the wheat from the chaff and therefore traditional publishers are still very much needed. Either way, authors need to be more than just good writers these days; they need to be savvy about all the options available to them when it comes to publishing.

I tend to believe that traditional publishers are still quite necessary, but that they do have to adapt better to modern trends. The dirty little fact of self-publishing is that most of it is crap that the author’s mother wouldn’t even want to read. Most people recognize this and so they put their faith in established publishing companies to find the truly well-written works out there (and they realize that those publishing companies improve those works by their editing staff). But there are very good books hidden among the self-published masses, and some people have been very successful with self-publishing.

But one trend which most publishing companies have resisted is the trend of making more and more writing available for free. Due to the free nature of content on the Internet, most people have become more and more accustomed to paying nothing for something. They don’t mind paying for a book if they think it worthwhile, but they are often unwilling to do so “sight unseen” – they want to be able to at least read some of it first (this is why I got Our Sunday Visitor to agree to allow me to offer the Foreword and Introduction to my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew available as a free download – more details coming soon). Too many publishers, however, feel like the content of their books are not to be tasted until full admission has been paid.

Self-publishing has its place in the publishing world, but only in very specific instances. The authors most likely to be successful in self-publishing are those who already have built a following for their works through traditional publishing means (for example, if J.K. Rowling decided to self-publish a book, you don’t think it would fail, do you?), and also have the ability to pay others to edit their works (almost no author can self-edit – it is just an affliction of the trade). These trusted names do not need the engine of traditional publishers to drive them to success – but such people are few and far between.

That being said, traditional publishing houses must become more adept at not only following the trends in publishing, but setting them. They need to realize that there has been a seismic shift in the publishing world and their continued success depends on remaining in front of it. The world of books would become a chaotic place indeed if traditional publishers were to disappear, so here’s hoping that they can succeed in the 21st century.

I spoke to Our Sunday Visitor recently and my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew is currently at the printers. They expect to receive it by around September 15th, at which time they will send me my copies. So if you have already ordered the book from me (thank you!), I’ll send it out as soon as I get it. If you haven’t ordered yet, you can do so now and you’ll also receive it as soon as it is available.

If you ordered from Amazon, I assume that they will be shipping it shortly after the 15th as well.

I recently created a short video describing my new book, “Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew.” To be honest, dealing with actors can be such a pain – they complain about their working conditions, they constantly claim that “union rules” don’t allow them to work more than a few minutes at a time, and they don’t follow the director’s vision. I think it ended up okay, but see for yourself:

Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of the most influential Scripture scholars who ever lived: Rudolf Bultmann. Bultmann’s impact on the theological world cannot be underestimated; if you pick up just about any scholarly work on Scripture or Christology written in the past fifty years, there is a very good chance that Bultmann’s name will be mentioned.

Bultmann’s greatest influence was in advocating for a complete split between history and faith (see my post yesterday about this subject). He advocated “demythologizing” the New Testament by stripping it of any supernatural content, thus discovering the true history behind it. Actually, he claimed that the Gospels were not even historical documents, but merely the proclamation of the message of the early Christian community. Even though not all the specifics of Bultmann’s teachings are accepted in modern scholarship, his underlying presuppositions and assumptions still rule the world of Scripture scholarship and Christology.

One of the primary purposes of Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth series is to combat the work of Bultmann and his followers; in fact, the pope directly addresses Bultmann and his arguments numerous times in the first volume of Jesus of Nazareth. Pope Benedict recognizes that true faith and history are not in opposition, but instead that the Christian faith is founded on real historical events. Another critic of Bultmann’s false separation has been Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. I was humbled when Fr. Benedict considered my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew, which uses modern scholarship but is not a scholarly work, as one small contribution in combating the false presuppositions and conclusions of Bultmann. Fr. Benedict writes in the Foreword:

Beginning with the pope himself, the effort to present the faithful with an adequate picture of Christ is well underway. It is an effort well supported by Eric Sammons. I hope that in years to come, he will follow this book up with later volumes on the other evangelists. I also hope that we will see more and more books like this, intelligent and erudite, yet accessible, on our Divine Savior and his life and personality. It is time to reject and reverse the influence of writers like Rudolf Bultmann, who dismantled the picture of Christ, leaving us only with remnants. In the place of such destruction we now have books like Who Is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew — books that rebuild or, rather, reveal anew the true picture of Christ.

We must always remember that our Christian Faith is not founded on myths in some pre-historic past, but on the historical and reliable witness of the first followers of Christ.

This sounds a bit like the old standard, “Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?” But of course the answer to many people today is no longer the obvious one: the apostle Matthew.

I have studied the issue of the authorship of the New Testament books for over a decade now, and my own thoughts on the matter have varied over the years. When I was an Evangelical Christian, I unthinkingly accepted the traditional authorship of all the NT books – Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew, Paul wrote the epistles which bear his name, etc. However, a few years after becoming Catholic and studying the issue more in-depth, I began to accept the scholarly consensus: that many NT books, including all of the Gospels except perhaps Luke, were not written by the traditionally-accepted author. After resting on that opinion for a few years, I then revisited the debate and the more I studied the issue, the less confident I grew in the “established” scholarship. So much of it, on further analysis, was based on false presuppositions and wild assumptions. Then, when I was writing my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew (available for pre-order now!), the issue came up again, as I had to decide if I was going to assume that the apostle Matthew was the author of this Gospel or not.

Ultimately, I have stuck to my final conclusion: I find that there is no reason not to accept the apostle Matthew as the author of the Gospel of Matthew. I don’t hold this as 100% scientifically provable, but no scholarly argument convinces me otherwise. In fact, I find many of the hypotheses posited for non-Matthean authorship to require a great deal more faith than just recognizing the apostle as the author. Furthermore, most of the arguments advanced in favor of authorship by a “Matthean community” (which never seems to include Matthew himself) rests on extreme speculation which has no empirical evidence.

I do believe it is quite possible that the Gospel as we have it today is not in every word exactly like the one that Matthew himself wrote. In fact, it is an ancient tradition that Matthew wrote his Gospel originally in “Hebrew” (most likely Aramaic) and then it was later translated into Greek. This process of translation, as well as the process of copying and distribution, might very well have edited the product which Matthew wrote. But, on a whole, the Gospel reflects the writing of Matthew himself (an aside: I also reject the Mark-Q two-source hypothesis and believe that Matthew was the first Gospel written, but I won’t get into that here).

But how important is authorship? As Catholics, we believe that the NT books are inspired by God and canonical because the Church led by the Holy Spirit has declared them to be so. And this belief is not founded on authorship. In other words, if Matthew didn’t write the Gospel that bears his name, it would still be an inspired writing and part of the New Testament. So authorship is not essential to the value of the text. However, most advocates of rejecting the traditional attributions of authorship also subscribe to many problematic presuppositions. For example, many of them reject that the words attributed to Jesus were actually said by Christ himself. Instead, they were inventions of the later Christian community. Obviously, if a first-hand witness like Matthew actually wrote his Gospel, these assumptions are much harder to sustain. But if the Gospel was instead written solely by a later Christian community, such a position becomes much more tenable, and can then lead to the denial of many Christian beliefs.

Therefore, I have seen no strong reason to reject the traditional consensus of the Church that the apostle Matthew is the author of the Gospel which bears his name. I do think the process in which this Gospel was produced was not as simple as Matthew merely writing exactly the Gospel we have today, but at the same time, the title “author” is a legitimate one for the former tax-collector.

I received the proofs for my book “Who is Jesus Christ?” yesterday, and I was happy to see that Our Sunday Visitor obtained an imprimatur for the work. An imprimatur (which is Latin for “I’m the bishop and I say that you really need to buy this book if you are a Catholic and if you don’t I might excommunicate you, and if you are not Catholic, you should still buy this book” or something like that) is not required for such a book as mine, but I felt it would be nice to have to make clear that nothing in the book is contrary to the Catholic Faith.

When I asked Fr. Benedict Groeschel to write the Foreword to my book, he told me an interesting story. An old friend of his, who was a Cardinal, was asked to write the Foreword to a friend’s book and he did gladly. However, he didn’t actually read the whole book and it ended up containing heresy. The Cardinal, needless to say, was mortified. Fr. Benedict said that because of that incident he never writes a Foreword or endorsement for a book without reading it entirely. I told him that if he did happen to find any heresy in my book, please tell me and we’ll trash the book immediately! Fortunately, “Who is Jesus Christ?” survived his close examination.

In two months my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew will be published by Our Sunday Visitor. A number of people have asked me where the idea for the book came from and why I ended up writing it.

Who is Jesus Christ? is the result of a personal bible study I did three years ago. In the summer of 2007, I was reading Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict, as well as a book on Origen, the first great Scripture scholar of the Church. In the Origen book, the author noted that Origen loved to contemplate the titles given to Jesus, such as “Son of God,” “Teacher,” and “Emmanuel.” He would meditate on these titles over and over and this would allow him to know Christ better. Our Lord is like a diamond which can be appreciated from a multitude of angles, each one deepening our love for different aspects of his person and work.

I thought this type of study sounded like a great idea, so I decided to start by meditating on the titles in Matthew, my favorite Gospel. I first found the twenty-five titles given to him in this Gospel and then reflected on them in light of their immediate context in Matthew’s Gospel, as well as the rest of Scripture and then also in the Church Fathers and the Church’s teachings through the centuries. I had no desire to invent my own meanings to these titles, but instead wished to see how those who came before us in the Faith understood them. I took notes along the way so that I could more deeply integrate what I was discovering.

Although I never directly used Jesus of Nazareth in my research, I found that my whole outlook was impacted by the Pope’s book, and by his other works on Jesus Christ and Scripture. After a month or two of study I was becoming more and more consumed with this project when my wife took the kids on a trip to visit family in Ohio. While they were away, I used all my free hours researching the titles of Christ in Matthew, and by the time I was finished I had compiled over 100 pages of handwritten notes.

It was at this time I began to think that this study might be useful to others and that it might make a good book. Of course, it is a big leap from personal study notes to a finished book, but I really believed that others could profit from my work and draw closer to Christ through it. So I began the slow process of “translating” the content of my notes to a readable format (with the immense help of my wife, the greatest editor on earth) and after two more years I had the book completed. Now I hope and pray that others will come to know Christ more deeply through this book as I did researching and writing it.

Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew will be published in September, although you can pre-order it now through Amazon or my own website.

Longtime readers of this blog know about my schizophrenic view of modern technology. On the one hand, I have been deeply involved in technology for over 15 years and I greatly appreciate its many benefits. I blog, I have a facebook page, and I see how technology helps to spread the Gospel in many ways. On the other hand, I recognize that these benefits do not come without a cost: increased access to pornography, a disconnect between people, and increased emphasis on consumption are just a few downsides to new technologies. As Catholics, we are to use technology for divine purposes, but we must be honest about the downsides as well.

One of the biggest potential downsides, and one I think often overlooked, is how use of the Internet changes the way we think. I have noticed in my own life that increased use of the Internet affects my thought processes, making them less focused and more “jittery.” It appears that my experience is not unique:

The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains

During the winter of 2007, a UCLA professor of psychiatry named Gary Small recruited six volunteers—three experienced Web surfers and three novices—for a study on brain activity. He gave each a pair of goggles onto which Web pages could be projected. Then he slid his subjects, one by one, into the cylinder of a whole-brain magnetic resonance imager and told them to start searching the Internet. As they used a handheld keypad to Google various preselected topics—the nutritional benefits of chocolate, vacationing in the Galapagos Islands, buying a new car—the MRI scanned their brains for areas of high activation, indicated by increases in blood flow.

The two groups showed marked differences. Brain activity of the experienced surfers was far more extensive than that of the newbies, particularly in areas of the prefrontal cortex associated with problem-solving and decisionmaking. Small then had his subjects read normal blocks of text projected onto their goggles; in this case, scans revealed no significant difference in areas of brain activation between the two groups. The evidence suggested, then, that the distinctive neural pathways of experienced Web users had developed because of their Internet use.

Continue reading…

The gist of this article is that the Web is increasing our brain’s ability to search and collect data, but it is also decreasing its ability to focus and do deep thinking. This is troubling on many levels, but it also could have serious implications for the spiritual life.

A few months ago, I wrote a multi-part series on The Nine Levels of Prayer. The first four levels of prayer are “ascetical prayer,” in which man is the initiator of prayer, not God. These levels include vocal prayer, meditation, affective prayer, and acquired recollection. These levels eventually lead one to the higher levels of prayer, such as contemplation, where the Holy Spirit initiates the prayer and leads the soul closer to God. But to get there, one typically needs to go through ascetical prayer, which means one needs to use his brain for focused, deep thinking. But what happens if the brain, through constant use of the Internet, no longer can do this type of thinking? Will we be able to pray as we ought?

This has not just been theoretical in my own life. Fr. Benedict Groeschel wrote in the Foreword to my book Who is Jesus Christ?:

I suggest that no one read this book quickly, for although it is not lengthy, it contains a great deal of information as well as many opportunities for prayer and meditation.  I also suggest that the reader delve into one chapter at a time, preferably with a copy of the Bible on hand.  Eric Sammons has not written the kind of book you can pick up and put down, simply picking up where you left off at some later time.  He has written instead a careful and thoughtful study that requires the reader to approach it with the same care with which it was written.

Fr. Benedict says that my book is not one to pick up and put down while reading, but it was also not one that I could pick up and put down while writing. I wrote the book originally as personal meditations, and much of it was composed while on retreat at a monastery, and the rest was done at libraries with my cell phone and laptop left at home. Not that I didn’t try to write elsewhere, but whenever I tried to write while sitting at my desk, I was unable to get anywhere: I simply cannot write reflections of any value if I have easy access to email or the Internet – I am too likely to be distracted and lose my focus.

This is one reason why one of my rules for the Internet includes #6: Take at least one day off a week from the Internet. If we are constantly “connected” then we run the risk of being disconnected in the spiritual life. We have to give ourselves the opportunities for focused attention on the Lord through prayer, lectio divina, and other spiritual practices. Otherwise, the focus of our lives will end up being Google, not God.

Just a reminder: my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew is now available for pre-order. The current price at Amazon is $10.08, or you can buy a signed copy from my website for $12+$3 shipping. And if you want free shipping from Amazon, just buy three copies and give two to family and friends!

Here is what Fr. Benedict Groeschel had to say about the book:

“Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew is a very serious and well-thought-out attempt to teach us once again just who is being proclaimed in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. It is a slow, steady journey through this Gospel, a journey that pauses over and over again to examine in a thoughtful and prayerful way the names and titles given to our Lord in this Gospel… I hope that in the years to come [Sammons] will follow this book up with later volumes on the other evangelists. I also hope that we will see more and more books like this, intelligent, erudite, yet accessible, on our Divine Savior and his life and personality.”

And for those who are wondering, I do plan to make this a series; in fact, I am currently writing the volume on the Gospel of John. Talk about some power-packed titles for Jesus!

More details about the book can be found here. Orders will ship in September.

A few updates regarding my book, Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew:

First, I am now taking pre-orders for signed copies on my website via Paypal. The cover price for the book is $14.95, but I’m making it available at a discounted price of $12. Recently, Amazon dropped their price to $10.17, so you can also pre-order it there. If you order it now, I will ship it to you as soon as I receive copies, which should be in early September.

Also, I recently received the Foreword to the book, written by Fr. Benedict Groeschel. I was very humbled by the kind words he wrote. A few excerpts:

As I read Who Is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew, it seemed to me that I was in the presence of someone who was hard at work on the creation of a beautiful mosaic or an exquisite tapestry.  In this book, Eric Sammons presents us with a fascinating and truthful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is a picture he fashions for us step by slow step from material found primarily in the Gospel of Saint Matthew but with fitting additions taken from other parts of Holy Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, and from many writers in the Catholic tradition, as well…

I suggest that no one read this book quickly, for although it is not lengthy, it contains a great deal of information as well as many opportunities for prayer and meditation…Working through Sammons’s book is like taking a course by a well informed and highly intelligent teacher.  At the same time it is like making a retreat led by a prayerful and spiritual retreat master…

Sammons’s work is a very serious and well-thought-out attempt to teach us once again just who is being proclaimed in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. It is a slow, steady  journey through this Gospel, a journey that pauses over and over again to examine in a thoughtful and prayerful way the names and titles given to our Lord in this Gospel.  In each name we find something significant.  Every title, we learn, offers us a slightly different way to look at Christ, a new prism through which to see him. What we glean from each name or title contributes to the total picture of our Savior, a picture that gradually becomes clearer and clearer until it is luminous…

I hope that in the years to come [Sammons] will follow this book up with later volumes on the other evangelists.  I also hope that we will see more and more books like this, intelligent, erudite, yet accessible, on our Divine Savior and his life and personality.

I was also quite honored to have Archbishop Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C., recommend my book:

Drawing on his own faith journey and his personal experience, Eric Sammons demonstrates how the lived Word of God — reflected in the lives and writings of the saints and prayers of the Church can help us to better know Jesus and to strive to form our daily lives into his likeness. Who Is Jesus Christ? is a work of devotion and readers should find it both inspiring and encouraging.

Needless to say, I’m getting more and more excited as we get closer to the publication date!

I just discovered that my book is now available for pre-order on Amazon! I’ll be selling signed copies online when it comes out in September, but if you just can’t wait to make the order, go to Amazon today!

One of the unheralded aspects of Pope Benedict’s papacy (as well as his legacy before becoming pope) is his emphasis on Scripture. Yet those who follow him closely have seen how much he desires to bring Scripture to the forefront of Catholic theology as well as daily Catholic life. His committment to making the inspired Word of God a central focus of our Faith and a sure means of drawing closer to the incarnate Word of God was a main inspiration for my book Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew. And I am not the only one who has noticed this emphasis of our Holy Father. Scott Hahn writes,

As I write this, I’m looking at the cover of one of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s books, now reissued under his papal name. The book is titled God’s Word, and the cover shows a photograph of the Holy Father.

He’s slightly off-center because he’s holding up the book of the Gospels — covering himself, as it were, with the word of God.

For me, that cover is emblematic of his pontificate thus far. His hallmark is the centrality of the word of God. That’s where he has kept our focus — not on fads or scandals or the world’s alarms. Christ, the Word Incarnate, is the solution to every world crisis. Pope Benedict has invited us, insistently and consistently, to encounter Christ in the word inspired, the sacred Scriptures.

And he has done this through some very large labors.

In 2008 he summoned the world’s bishops to a Synod on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”

From that synod, a post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Scriptures will soon be published — a major act of the Pope’s teaching office.

In 2007, he declared a Year of St. Paul, in which he dedicated himself and the Church to intensive study of the great apostle. But even before that, he had devoted his weekly audiences to close-up studies of the individual men and women of the New Testament. Afterward, he went on to the Church Fathers and the medieval teachers, considering them especially as biblical interpreters.

Meanwhile, he has spent every moment of his “spare time” writing his multivolume study Jesus of Nazareth.

These acts of Benedict’s papacy are certainly continuous with the labors of his pre-papal lifetime. It’s as if God’s grace has brought his life’s work as a theologian to a kind of completion, or perfection, with the gift of Petrine authority.

As a theologian, Joseph Ratzinger had proposed some astonishing and radical ways of looking at Scripture. He said “Catholic dogma … derives all its content from Scripture,” and “Dogma is by definition nothing other than an interpretation of Scripture.”

He taught that the “normative theologians” are not the tenured faculty at any Catholic institution, but rather “the authors of holy Scripture.”

One of the greatest gifts God has given the Church is the Holy Bible, and He wants us to use it to draw into a deeper relationship with His Son. Follow the Pope’s lead and spend some time today with the Sacred Scriptures.

One of the inspirations for my book “Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew” (coming this September) is the Christology of Pope Benedict XVI. The depths in which the current pontiff has delved into the mystery of Christ is quite remarkable and has helped me in my own understanding of the person of Christ. His book “Jesus of Nazareth” introduced much of the world to his Christology, but he has been exploring the reality of the person of Jesus for decades.

Amy Welborn, author of numerous books and host of the popular “Charlotte was Both” blog, has just published a book entitled Come Meet Jesus: An Invitation from Pope Benedict XVI which explores the Pope’s Christology in some depth. I’m sure it will be very insightful. Click on the link of the book title to read more details from Amy.

I received an email today from my editor and he told me that Our Sunday Visitor had decided to change the title of my book (because it was being used in over 10 other books). I admit, my first thought was “No!” But after I saw the new title, I thought “Yes!”

Without further ado, it will be called:

Who Is Jesus Christ?
Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew

I am very pleased with this title because I think it succinctly encapsulates what I am trying to do with this book: help people to know Jesus better through the reading of Sacred Scripture. It also implies that fact that for many, the Bible is a mystery and help is often needed to understand it. Hopefully, come September, help will be on the way.

In my previous post, I listed the various saints, doctors, Fathers, and other Christians whose work I quote in “Who Do You Say That I Am?” As I mentioned in that post, I don’t want to invent any new interpretation or new doctrine; instead, I want to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before us in the Faith.

But the greatest literary giants of Christianity of course are the authors of Scripture itself. These men were theologians of the first order, and unlike any other authors, their work was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is the primary source for theology and any Catholic work should be soaked in the Sacred Page. And this is true of any Scriptural study as well: you must use the Scriptures to understand the Scriptures. One must always recognize the context in which a biblical book was written – not only the cultural context, but the canonical context. By placing these books in one Bible, the Church tells us that they are all interrelated on a deep level. So if we want to understand what Matthew is saying about Jesus, we must look also to the other biblical books to see what they also say about Jesus.

With that in mind, here is a list of all the biblical books I quote, along with the number of times the book was quoted:

Old Testament

• Genesis (13)
• Exodus (5)
• Leviticus (1)
• Deuteronomy (1)
• 1 Samuel (3)
• 2 Samuel (3)
• 1 Kings (3)
• 2 Maccabees (1)
• Psalms (5)
• Proverbs (1)
• Song of Songs (1)
• Isaiah (7)
• Jeremiah (4)
• Ezekiel (2)
• Daniel (1)
• Hosea (2)
• Micah (1)
• Zechariah (1)
• Malachi (2)

New Testament

• Matthew (109)
• Luke (8)
• John (9)
• Acts (6)
• Romans (6)
• 1 Corinthians (11)
• 2 Corinthians (2)
• Galatians (4)
• Ephesians (2)
• Philippians (5)
• Colossians (5)
• Hebrews (1)
• James (1)
• 1 Peter (1)
• 2 Peter (1)
• 1 John (4)
• Revelation (4)

I’m happy I was able to include such a wide breath of biblical texts. The only omission that might stand out is that I didn’t quote the Gospel of Mark at all. This is mostly because whenever I had a text which was shared by both Matthew and Mark, I always chose Matthew, since that is the basis of the book. No slight was intended to Mark!

The moral of the story: if you want to understand Scripture, read Scripture!