In a humble, relaxed, and wholehearted effort to improve the book, I am grateful to Byron Belitsos, my publisher at Origin Press, for being willing to bring out a second printing with dozens of improvements only a few months after the first. Readers working with the first printing may wish to know about imperfections I later recognized and how they have been mended in the second printing.
To locate the corrections listed below, note that “P.” refers to the page number, and “par. 1” refers to the first full paragraph unless otherwise indicated. The corrections range from minor clarifications to a small number of more substantial editorial adjustments, all made to improve accuracy and readability for the reader. Thank you for your careful study.
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The copyright page
The second printing still says “first printing.” To find out whether you are looking at a second printing, check to see if you find any of the changes listed below.
Endorsements
P. 2 of the endorsements. The first endorser, Paul McKenna, is described as a “Golden Rule educator” (upper case). These capital letters should be replaced by lower case.
P. 4 of the endorsements. In the first endorsement, line 8, we read of questions that “allow” the reader to engage more deeply; “allow” should be replaced with “invite.”
The last endorsement. The first line says “helps deepens”; delete the word “helps.”
Contents
The Preface originally began on page vii. This was changed to xi.
Preface
P. xii, par. 1. Delete “When I would give a talk.” Instead, the sentence should begin like this. “Later, blogging at UniversalFamily.org, . . . .”
Introduction
P. 4, par. 3. In the phrase “and in growing up with him,” delete “in.”
To page 8, add:
Questions and Invitations
- What does it take for you to experience spiritual unity with another person?
- Do you experience spiritual unity with some people you disagree with significantly about religion? If so, what factors make this possible?
- When you do not experience spiritual unity with other believers, what factors get in the way or make it impossible?
Chapter 2. The Historical Jesus
The most serious proofreading error in the first printing occurs on page 12, par. 1. In the first printing, an editorial note to the typesetter was inadvertently left in the published text (“we need to insert…”). The second printing removes this note and presents the paragraph as intended.
From the teachings of Moses, Jesus chose what he would call “the greatest commandment” and a second one “like it.” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Jesus added “and with all your mind”). And “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Dt 6:5, Lv 19:18, Mk 12:30-31, Mt 22:37, Lk 10:27). It was liberating for many people in Jesus’s day to embrace this simple summary of the law. These commandments represented for him the first great step of putting into practice the truths of our basic relationships with God and humans: that God is our Father, and that we are family.
P. 14, par. 1. Replace “such attitudes” with “prejudiced attitudes.”
P. 16, par. 2. Replace “Joshua” (in quotation marks) with “Yeshua (Joshua)”. The resulting sentence looks like this. “I think it is significant that Yeshua (Joshua) is how Jesus’s name, given by the angel Gabriel, is said in Hebrew.”
P. 18, par. 2. After the word “progress” replace the rest of the sentence as follows: “by doing good to others in a way that is increasingly heavenly.” The resulting sentence is this. “And we can contribute to planetary progress by doing good to others in a way that is increasingly heavenly.”
Chapter 3. The Saving Faith of a Little Child
P. 22, par. 2. Replace “in which he would have recognized and rejoiced in its gems” with “recognizing and rejoicing in its gems.”
P. 26, par. 3. Delete the parenthetical phrase, “(equivalent to the kingdom of heaven).”
P. 28, line 2. Replace “had spoken in the name of God:” by “said in the spirit:”
P. 29, par. 3. In the phrase, “we can receive the kingdom,” italicize the word “receive.”
Chapter 4. The Kingdom of God Within You
P. 35, last par. Replace “God becomes stronger in our hearts” with “God’s influence in our hearts grows.”
P. 36, last line. The sentence begins, “But to find God—a process with no end in sight.” Replace this sentence with a new one: “To find God as a friend and to become a friend of God, the more sincerely, wholeheartedly, and persistently we strive, the more our quest is rewarded.”
P. 38, par. 1, last line. Add one word to the end of the sentence, changing “the kingdom.” to “the kingdom within.”
P. 38, par. 3. Replace “in closer touch with God; I should add, God or a functional equivalent . . .” with “in closer touch with God or a functional equivalent.”
P. 40, line 1. Delete the words “types of.”
Chapter 5. Jesus’s Scientific Knowledge
P. 49, par. 1. Replace “he got a speck” with “Jesus got a speck.”
P. 50, line 2. Replace “helps us not to dehumanize” with “helps us to avoid dehumanizing.”
P. 50, last par. Delete the first word in the paragraph, “But.”
Same par. Replace “On one occasion” with “But sometimes.”
P. 50, last line. Replace “This was in conversation” with “For example, in conversation.”
P. 51, par. 3. Replace “in particular, here,” with “here in particular.”
P. 52, par. 1. Replace “good” with “relaxing” and delete the rest of the sentence after “humor.” The resulting sentence reads like this. “For dessert, he would add relaxing humor.”
Chapter 6. Developing Righteous Character
P. 55, next to last line. Replace “the other qualities” with “many qualities.”
P. 60, par. 2. A phrase reads, “the possible needs of those involved for values, including mechanical, medical, psychological, and spiritual.” It should read: “the possible mechanical, medical, psychological, and spiritual needs of those involved.”
P. 61, lines 1-2. Delete the sentence beginning “But people can be liberated . . . .” and replace it with the following. “But we can be liberated by appreciating the abilities that we have.”
P. 63, par. 3. In the phrase “meaning to guide this process was,” replace “was” by “is.”
P. 63, par. 4. In the phrase “I propose four components,” replace “components” by “stages.”
P. 64, in the first of the Questions and Invitations, in the phrase “Please select some areas” replace “some areas” by “an area.”
Chapter 7. Finding God’s Will
P. 69, in the paragraph that begins, “Persistence in prayer,” in the phrase, “do what we want,” replace “what” with “whatever.”
P. 70, par. 3. In the phrase “they could equally be” replace “equally” with “also.”
Chapter 9. The Decisions that Launched Jesus’s Public Ministry
P. 88, par. 2. In the phrase “the covenant with Abraham: Moses” replace the colon by a semicolon, and insert the word “and”. The resulting phrase reads: “the covenant with Abraham; and Moses” . . .
P. 98, first Invitation, delete the first sentence and replace it with this: “Think of a situation that is calling you to grow.”
Chapter 10. Finding Joy in Life
P. 100, lines 3-4. Replace “A comment on” with “Recall.”
P. 100, par. 1. In the phrase “responses on the levels” replace “on the levels” by “in the realms.”
P. 100, par. 2. In the phrase “nearby mountains” delete the word “nearby.”
P. 104, immediately after the indented quotation, in the phrase “value of an individual,” replace “an individual” with “a single person.”
Same par. Replace “circles of a loving community,” with “circles of loving community.”
Chapter 11. How Jesus Taught Living Truth
P. 115, line 9. Replace the sentence that begins with “We are now beginning . . .” with this new sentence: “The more we are living what we teach, the better we can teach living truth.”
Chapter 12. The Living Truth of the Kingdom of God and the Family of God
P. 124, line 4. In the phrase “more a who than a what,” insert the word “like” after “more” so that the phrase reads, “more like a who than a what.”
P. 125, line 5, change the phrase “more like a ‘who’ than a ‘what’ so that this phrase will be the same as on page 124. This way the phrase will read: “more like a who than a what.”
Chapter 12. Loving God Wholeheartedly
P. 142, par. 2. Replace the sentence that begins, “The same thing holds . . . ” with this new sentence: “And divine beauty and goodness are the treasures for those who love beauty and hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
P. 143, last par. In the sentence that begins “When we pray for, and cooperate with,” insert the word “allow” after “pray for.” Thus, the phrase will read: “When we pray for, allow, and cooperate with . . . .”
P. 144, last par. A sentence now reads: “It is more relaxing, less gripped by the mind’s tensons, as we allow ourselves to come into that better place.” Replace this with a new sentence: “Allowing ourselves to come into that better place is more relaxing and less gripped by the mind’s tensions.”
P. 146. The quotation from Psalm 19 concludes and is then followed by comments. This passage should be rewritten as follows.
in keeping them there is great reward (Ps 19:7-11)
In this context, “fear” refers to reverent respect and awe.
Through the author’s words we feel a soul that is brimming with love for our just, wise, and loving Creator. The Psalm connects God’s commandments with perfection, reviving the soul, wisdom, rejoicing, enlightening clarity, purity, permanence, truth, righteousness, the most desirable sweetness, warning, and reward.” [The last two sentences in this paragraph remain the same.].
P. 147, par. 1. Delete the sentence that begins, “In the New Testament . . . .” The rest of the paragraph should continue as follows. “Moses emphasized the whole person consecrated to loving God. Jesus kept the holistic emphasis, but he was also proposing a fuller concept of the human being (Mk 12:30, Mt 22:37, Lk 10:27). He was looking forward to a time when people would recognize that science and philosophy, for example, have a proper place in the intelligent and wise love of God.”
P. 148, line 3. The sentence reads “He said that he would stay with him.” Replace the first “He” with “Jesus” so that the sentence becomes: “Jesus said that he would stay with him.”
P. 150, 8 lines above the bottom. A phrase begins “another opportunity to give us “(again) the taste . . . .” Delete “(again)” and replace “the” by “a”. This way the phrase will read, “another opportunity to give us a taste . . . .”
Chapter 15. Being Merciful and Forgiving
P. 155, line 2. Replace this sentence “It begins slowly and often continues gradually” with this new one: “It may begin slowly and develop gradually.”
P. 155, line 6. Replace this phrase, “one of the guards,” with “one of the white guards.”
P. 156, par. 1. Replace this phrase, “divine mercy, motivated by love, and ultimately accomplished . . . .” with this new phrase: “divine mercy, which is motivated by love and ultimately accomplished . . . .”
P. 157, line 3. A sentence ends “save the lost.” Insert a reference at the end so that the sentence ends: “save the lost (Lk 19:10).”
P. 160, line 3. Replace this phrase: “she was creating another, small artistic blanket . . . . ” with this phrase: “she was artistically creating another small blanket . . . .”
Chapter 16. Doing Good to Others
P. 178, the last line. Change “chapter 17” to “the next chapter.”
Chapter 17. Responding to Different Levels of Hostility
P. 183, par. 2. Replace this phrase, “This heated opposition . . . .” with “Many heated opponents . . . .”
P. 184, par. 1. It should read:
This chapter reviews three brief skirmishes with opponents. Then we turn to John 6, looking at two dramatic actions, Jesus’ feeding the five thousand and his refusal to be made king, before we examine the pivotal clash in his public ministry.
P. 187, par. 1. In the phrase, “There were two more dramatic events . . . ,” delete “more.”
P. 187, par. 3. Replace “This first of these two events . . . .” with “The first of these two events . . . .”
P. 188, par. 3. Replace “Surrounding these words, . . .”. with “Before and after these statements, . . . .”
P. 188, par. 4. Replace “Jesus had now proclaimed himself as having come down . . . .” with “Jesus had now proclaimed that he had come down . . . .”
Chapter 18. The Advanced Level of Jesus’s Gospel
P. 193, line 2. Replace “good news” with “great news”.
P. 195, par. 4. Replace “Jesus had something else in mind . . .” with “Jesus had something more in mind . . .”
P. 196, par. 1. A phrase says that Jesus took this “messianic title” . . . . Delete the word “messianic.”
P. 197, par. 2. Replace this phrase: “to speak sharply to his enemies and about them, and to expand . . . .” with: “to speak sharply to his enemies and to expand . . . .”
P. 199, par. 1. Replace: “we need first to understand at least something about his life and teachings” with: “we need to have faith in some of the basic truths he taught.”
Chapter 19. Strong Peacemaker
P. 203, line 3. Replace: “to exterminate Jesus . . . .” “to exterminate him.”
P. 210, par. 1. Replace “On this evening ” with “Regarding this evening.”
P. 210, same par. Replace “Jesus’s last day” with “Jesus’s last evening.”
P. 210, same par. Replace the last sentence: “On this evening, we shall focus on learning the ways of spiritual unity” with this: “We will focus on what we can learn about spiritual unity.”
Chapter 20. How Jesus Led His Followers into Spiritual Unity
Page 217, par. 2. Replace “The Comforter reveals the friendship of Jesus” with: “The Comforter reveals Jesus as our friend.”
Chapter 21. How Jesus Interpreted His Death on the Cross
P. 222, par. 2. Add Biblical references so that sentences end as follows. First, “irresponsible shepherds (“(Jer 23:1-4, Is 40:11, Ezek 34, Zech 10:2).” And second, “compassion for a crowd (Mt 9:36).”
P. 224, at the end of the indented quote. Add a period at the end of this sentence: “And I lay down my life for my sheep”
Chapter 22. Resurrection in This Life and the Next
P. 234, line 6. At the end of the paragraph, insert this sentence. “Each gospel adds pieces of the story.”
P. 234, three lines above the bottom. A sentence begins, “Unchanged, his message . . .” Delete this phrase, and insert this new beginning of the sentence: “The living truth of his message provided the basis for appreciating the fact of Easter, even as Easter places another exclamation point after the original message.”
P. 235, par. 1. Replace this phrase “passed through locked doors, appeared and disappeared suddenly” with this: “passed through locked doors and suddenly appeared and disappeared.”
Chapter 23. What the Spirit Does—and Does Not Do—for Us
P. 241, next to last par. Replace “Isaiah delights” with “Isaiah delighted.”
P. 242, line 3. Replace: “A more general kind of endurance, stamina is needed . . .” with this: “Endurance, stamina, is needed . . .”
Chapter 25. Jesus and His Gospel: The Agenda
P. 255, par. 3. The portion of the paragraph to be modified now reads this way.
Today we face a secularism that is increasingly aggressive. In some places, especially in the northern hemisphere, Christianity is in decline. Increasingly, young people regard it as stale and hypocritical. People seeking wisdom for daily living often turn to Eastern philosophies, religions, and practices.
Replace this with the following.
Today we face a secularism that often dismisses religion. In many regions, especially in the northern hemisphere, Christianity is in decline. Increasingly, young people regard it as judgmental and hypocritical. Many who seek wisdom content themselves with Eastern philosophies and mindfulness practices.
P. 259, par. 2. Replace “other religions’ teachings and practices” with “concepts in other religions.”
After p. 259, insert a new p. 260 that contains the following.
Questions and Invitations
- What do you think about participating actively in giving voice to Jesus’s original message?
- Are you prepared to seek spiritual unity with other followers of Jesus with whom you disagree significantly?
- What can you do to promote understanding and cooperation in non-Christians in the family of faith?
- In the coming year, how can you exemplify in your life the spiritual renaissance that you want to see in the world?
Acknowledgements
This used to be 263; now it’s 264. Replace “Byron Belitsos was my highly engaged and inspiring publisher . . . .” with “Byron Belitsos was my highly experienced and creative publisher . . . .”
P. 263 (will be p. 264), par. 4. Replace “beginning on page 2086 (Paper 195, section 10)” with “on page 2086 (Paper 195, section 10, paragraph 16).”