Richard V. Shriver

The Return of Gabriel Richard V. Shriver

This collection of letters is a continuation of my earlier collection, The Gabriel Letters. I stumbled on the idea of writing imagined letters from an archangel advising a young guardian, while reading an introduction to C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. It has been a marvelous way - perhaps delusional - of standing back and imagining that I can see the world through angel eyes. The amazing result for me has been a sense of objectivity and good will. The intended purpose of the letters is to apply to all things the idea of God's complete love (self-sacrificing, eternal, parent-like love). This idea is the center of Christianity. It is Jesus' message, and it is St. Paul's 'good news." If we desire to be Christian, we should begin, it seems to me, by attempting to apply Jesus' teachings to all things: to our behavior; to our human relationships, especially family; to our work and our business dealings; to the way we run our churches; and to the way we study the scriptures. If we take Jesus seriously, we must reevaluate much of the Bible - the parts which are not specifically the teachings of Jesus. Jesus, Himself, questioned much of the scriptures. These letters cover a variety of subjects, many of them Biblical. Some Biblical passages need correction in light of Jesus' ideas. Some Biblical passages are so marvelous that we need to lift them to the sky and shout, 'Look at this!" Some Biblical passages are confusing, and we need to wrestle with them. But in all, we should be trying to see them through Jesus' eyes. To see through Jesus' eyes is, I suspect, what the true Gabriel wants, and it is the intent of this book. - Richard V. Shriver