Luke is back, and he has more lessons for Theophilus! Memoirs of How It All Began allows Luke to step out of the text to communicate with Theophilus his companion–and with all of us–about meeting Jesus for the first time. What is it that drew everyone to Jesus in the first place? Luke brings the characters of his Gospel to life as performers like us–reacting when they run into Jesus in many ways. Then Luke invites us to join in their reactions alongside of them. There is no predetermined outcome for the story. Instead we find ourselves swept up in a “what-if” crisis that makes us rethink and reimagine Jesus and his followers.
The book is a prequel to Memoirs of an Unfinished Tale (2017), the story of the generation of disciples Luke wrote about in Acts of the Apostles. Both books work on the level of individual study and meditation, so anyone can pick them and use them for himself or herself.
Even more powerfully they can work in a group or classroom setting, and that is why they are called “performative” interpretations. There are a couple short videos below to give you a glimpse of how a performative episode from Memoirs might work for a group. It speaks to the academic classroom, the adventurous college and high school program, or even the spontaneous get-togethers. Go through the website to see how these books can become a powerful tool for new understanding about what Luke says about Jesus and his followers .
Buy the Books
You can purchase a copy of Memoirs of How It All Began (published November 2019) and its “sequel” from 2017 Memoirs of an Unfinished Tale at Amazon or Cascade Books.
Memoirs of How It All Began at Amazon Memoirs of an Unfinished Tale at Amazon
Orders for both books can also come through directly through the publisher (with a discount!) via online orders:
Mark Whitters, Author 