"Follow me, as I follow Jesus"

Jesus did not leave us a single word in writing. He chose to send his best friends into the world to make himself known. We only get to know Jesus through these followers. Jesus did not want to share a message on paper but a personal relationship.

Yes, his followers did spread his story and message in gospels and letters, but they also believed that it was about more than words. His envoys, like Peter and Paul, shared their lives with the people they served. Paul wrote: "Follow me, as I follow Jesus."

Entering the story of the people who wrote the New Testament opens up new ways of following them, as they follow Jesus. 

 

This is what you can find here:

  • A very New Testament: A unique way of reading the New Testament as the exiting and encouraging story of the followers of Jesus. They wrote their letters, gospels and revelations in the midst of turmoil, conflict and profound experiences of Holy Spirit. Their experience of following Jesus allows us to deepen our own spirituality.
  • The Calling of God: A personal attempt to follow the gospel writers, through retelling the gospel stories in the present tense and from Jesus' own Point-of-View, as someone who was fully human (Philippians 2:7), and who had to learn through his suffering how to follow the calling of God within him (Hebrews 5:8-9).
  • The Apostles Creed: How can I discuss the faith that I received from earlier followers of Jesus with a new generation in an increasingly global and pluralistic world?

About me

Bas van Os (1967) MSc PhD. I am an industrial engineer and theologian with further training in psychology, economics, and storytelling. I have worked in business and government and still do work as a leadership coach and as a member of our local city council. I have taught New Testament Studies at Utrecht University and Relational Economics, Values and Leadership at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. I was Co-chair of the sections Psychological Hermeneutics and Construction of Christian Identities within the Society of Biblical Literature. My PhD was on the Gospel of Philip: Baptism in the Bridal Chamber (2007) and I published a monograph Psychological Analyses and the Historical Jesus (2011), as well as an introduction to the Gospel of Judas (2019, with Johanna Brankaer). I am a husband, father of six children and live in the Netherlands.

As a biblical scholar and a follower of Jesus, I experience the joy of Matthew 13:52:

“Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven

is like a man, a householder, who brings treasures out of his storeroom: new as well as old.”

About the text

This text a computer-generated translation of my writing in Dutch. Feel free to propose ways to improve the English.

Help is welcome

If you think this work is interesting to share with your friends, please recommend. Or if you want to collaborate online or in person, please write an e-mail to info@followers-of-jesus.org. You can also support Vertellers & Vertalers, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation set up to support this work.