>
Tom Harpur, former columnist for the Toronto Star, Rhodes scholar, former Anglican priest, and professor of Greek and the New Testament, is an internationally renowned writer on religious and ethical issues. He is the author of ten bestselling books, including For Christ’s Sake and The Pagan Christ. He has hosted numerous radio and television programs, including Life After Death, a tenpart series based on his bestselling book of the same name.
Water into Wine
ALSO BY TOM HARPUR
Living Waters
The Pagan Christ
The Spirituality of Wine
Harpur’s Heaven and Hell
For Christ’s Sake
Always on Sunday
Life After Death
God Help Us
The Uncommon Touch
Would You Believe?
Prayer: The Hidden Fire
Finding the Still Point
TOM HARPUR
WATER
INTO
WINE
An Empowering Vision
of the Gospels
Thomas Allen Publishers
Toronto
Copyright © 2007 by Tom Harpur
First paperback edition copyright © by Tom Harpur 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior written permission of the publisher, or in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Harpur, Tom
Water into wine : an empowering vision of the Gospels / Tom Harpur.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-88762-277-9 (bound).
ISBN 978-0-88762-364-6 (pbk).
1. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
2. Jesus Christ—Parables 3. Jesus Christ—Miracles I. Title.
BS2555.52.H28 2007 226'.06 C2006-906995-6
Editor: Patrick Crean
Cover image: istockphoto/Olympus
The excerpts from Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire in Appendix C are by permission of the author, Karl W. Luckert, Ph. D.
Published by Thomas Allen Publishers,
a division of Thomas Allen & Son Limited,
145 Front Street East, Suite 209,
Toronto, Ontario M5A 1E3 Canada
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council for its publishing program.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.0 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada.
We acknowledge the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.
12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
Printed and bound in Canada
Dedicated to Joan and Bud whose loving union blessed me with the priceless gift of Susan.
If they say to you, “Where have you come from?” Say to them, “We have come from the light, From the place where the light came into being by itself . . .”
– THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS, Saying #50
Contents
3 The Virgin Birth and Jesus’ Childhood
4 Transformative Stages in the Jesus Story
5 Miracles of Wholeness
6 Nature Miracles
7 The Sermon on the Mount
8 The Parables
9 Palm Sunday
10 The Passion
11 Entering into Glory
12 Reaching for Transcendence
Appendix A: Differences between John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
