Telling Hands and Teaching Feet: Nonverbal Communication in Two of the Narratives of Acts(61 Religions and Discourse)

This book represents an extensive examination of human hands and feet and their functions as media of nonverbal communication in the transmission of the mission and message of Jesus by the early church. Research sources for the task include the Greek text of Acts and the Gospel of Luke as well as Greek Second Temple Jewish writings, contemporary Greek literature and medical works. Scholarly definitions and descriptions from the field of interpersonal communication lend credibility to the enquiry. In the process of discovering whether or not these media of nonverbal communication contribute effectively to the advancement of the mission and message of Jesus, the author's interesting and innovative approach casts light on the text as several new and creative insights emerge. The book concludes with some practical applications of its findings to the life of the church of today.

About the Author :
British-born author Carole Ferch-Johnson developed a love for Scripture and pursued its study over many years. Her education included B.A. (German Major and Religion Minor), Pacific Union College, Angwin, CA; M.A. (Religion), Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI and PhD (with a thesis that forms the substance of this book), Avondale College, Cooranbong, NSW, Australia. A career in the people-helping professions, including pastoral counselling and hospital chaplaincy helped increase her interest in a better understanding of how the principles of the Bible might be brought to bear on human relationships. On the basis that effective communication is a core skill for relating positively and nonverbal communication is demonstrated repeatedly in the pages of Scripture, the themes for this book came into being and were developed from an academic perspective

Review :
«Carole Ferch-Johnson has provided a stimulating and timely study of the meaning of the nonverbal communication using hands and feet found in Acts 3:1-11 and 9:1-19a. She does this by considering the rest of Luke-Acts, as well as the relevant passages from the Septuagint, Philo, Josephus, Aratus, Aeschylus, Hippocrates, Soranus. In her book, Ferch-Johnson has produced a beautifully expressed exploration of the evidence, and this book will be essential reading for any future exploration of the significance of hands and feet in the New Testament.» (Professor Robert K. McIver, Avondale Seminary, Cooranbong NSW Australia). «Dr Ferch-Johnson focuses on two texts in Acts, the healing of the lame man in 3:1-11 and the commissioning of Saul in 9:1-19a. The originality of her thesis is to take the work of Julia T. Wood on non-verbal communication, demonstrate its presence in two classical writers that Luke quotes and in Jewish sources written in Greek from the second-temple era, and apply her findings to these two biblical texts. And this she does convincingly and with great skill.» (Conjoint Adjunct Professor Norman H. Young, Avondale Seminary, Cooranbong NSW Australia).