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Textweek ATLAS Links Proper 8B Ordinary 13B Pentecost 5 July 1, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb8.htm

Proper 8B / Ordinary 13B / Pentecost +5

July 1, 2012

Tull, Patricia K., "Jonathan's Gift of Friendship," Interpretation, 2004. (See also, Friendship, issue focus of Interpretation, 2004.)
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“The story of Jonathan and David stands out as the Bible's lengthiest and most complex narrative reflection on friendship. Far from idealizing the mutuality of their devotion, however, this story invites readers to ponder the human freedom to accept, reject, exploit, or reciprocate the gift of a friend's loyalty.”

Britt, Brian, "Unexpected Attachments: A Literary Approach to the Term HSD in the Hebrew Bible," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2003.
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Abstract: “The biblical term HSD, variously translated 'loving kindness' and 'steadfast love', displays a wide range of biblical uses and meanings. This article concentrates on poetic and narrative texts in which HSD appears surprisingly, often to denote unexpected attachments. While HSD is a formulaic term in covenant tradition, some poetic texts, notably Ps. 89, Isa. 54, and Lam. 3, place the term in striking contrast to its immediate context. Narrative cases of unexpected HSD include the attachments between Ruth and Naomi, David and Jonathan, Abraham and Sarah (in the wife-sister scenes), Yahweh and Israel, and three episodes about spies. By attending to the literary uses of HSD, this article illuminates the place of HSD in biblical theology.”

Craddock, Fred., "The Poverty of Christ: An Investigation of II Corinthians 8:9," Interpretation, 1968.
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“The poverty of Christ consists, therefore, in the identification of Christ with the human situation, an identification without reservation.”

Rhyne, C Thomas, "2 Corinthians 8:8-15," Interpretation, 1987.
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“Equality does not impoverish the more affluent. Indeed, both parties will benefit from sharing. Those who share their resources with others will be freed from anxiety. Those who receive from the abundance of others will be sustained in their crisis; and if the church is a microcosm of the world, then surely our text tells us that society may benefit by following the principle of equality.”

· Dube, Musa W., "Fifty Years of Bleeding: A Storytelling Feminist Reading of Mark 5:24-43," Ecumenical Review, 1999.
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“Mama Africa is standing up. She is not talking. She is not asking. She is not offering any more money - for none is left. Mama Africa is coming behind Jesus. She is pushing through a strong human barricade of crowds. Weak and still bleeding but determined, she is stretching out her hands. If only she can touch the garments of Jesus Christ...”

Loader, William, "Challenged at the Boundaries: A Conservative Jesus in Mark's Tradition," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 1996. (Section on this text begins on Page 58.)
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“Even more so will the purity issues have been central in any pre-Markan form of the story, especially in a Jewish setting.49 In such a setting Jesus' response would have most likely been interpreted primarily in relation to the woman's disregard of Torah. Characteristically Markan concerns, such as Jesus' quasi-magical power and the disciples' insensitivity, now govern the narrative, all but obscuring Jesus' response as one which might have been expected from a conservative Jew confronted with such a violation of purity law. This conservative image is strengthened if it was indeed Jesus' tassels that she touched (cf. Mt. 9.20). Yet, challenged at the boundary, Jesus responds as in the other anecdotes by a significant boundary crossing.”

Willimon, William H., "Ready for Interruptions," The Christian Century, 1991.
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“Jesus will have none of our imposed order. He leads us down a road more circuitous than that toward Nazareth. He inserts into the journey those frightened parents and the suffering sick from whom we have averted our gaze…”

Textweek ATLAS links Proper 7B Ordinary 12B Pentecost 4 June 24, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb7.htm

Proper 7B / Ordinary 12B / Pentecost +4

June 24, 2012

Beck, John A., "David and Goliath, a Story of Place: The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of 1 Samuel 17," Westminster Theological Journal, 2006.
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“…the geographical setting allows the reader to draw an unmistakable contrast between the characters of David and Saul. The economic and national security issues associated with an invasion of the Elah Valley by the Philistines opened the door to greatness, and it was David rather than Saul who walked through that door.”

Thompson, Kenneth, Jr., "Out of the Whirlwind: The Sense of Alienation in the Book of Job," Interpretation, 1960.
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Taylor, Barbara Brown, "On Not Being God," Review and Expositor, 2002.
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“Humankind's most basic theological problem, says Franciscan Richard Rohr, is that God is God and we are not.”

King, Michael A., "Storm System," The Christian Century, 2006.
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“Amid an almost endless list of hardships, calamities, beatings and persecutions, [Paul] celebrates the power of God. There turns out to be a kind of spiritual immune system for someone enduring storms for Christ, a system that turns ‘having nothing’ into ‘possessing everything.’”

Wink, Walter, "The Projector Is Running," The Christian Century, 1994.
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EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials“Mark adds the hilarious tag: ‘And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened’ (Mark 6:45-52). Again, they miss it, but each shot is higher, and each failure more sublime.”

Textweek ATLAS Links Proper 6B Ordinary 11B Pentecost +3 June 17, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb6.htm

Proper 6B / Ordinary Time 11B / Pentecost +3

June 17, 2012

Prince, Robert, "Top Ten Preaching Texts from 1 Samuel," Review and Expositor, 2002. (Section begins on page 211.)
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“The initial part of Samuel's search shows how humans normally proceed. We look on outward appearances and make snap judgments. Our culture reinforces the importance of physical appearances.”

King, Michael A., "Arguing with Paul," The Christian Century, 2006.
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“So we don't talk much about being new creations. We look for Christ within our human lives rather than try to leave our human lives to be with Christ. Still, how often do we ask, ‘What does Jesus teach about this? How is his Spirit nudging there? What would Paul say if writing to us? If we tried that instead of this same-old same-old, what would happen then?’”

Willimon, William H., "The Greatest of All Shrubs," The Christian Century, 1991.
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“Our encouragement is the parable's proclamation that, though beginnings seem small and though results appear insignificant, there will be a harvest. The Lord of the harvest gives growth, though not always the growth we expect, and there will be harvest, though not always at the times or in the mode for which we plan.”

Perkins, Pheme, "Between Text & Sermon, Mark 4:30-34," Interpretation, 2004.
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“To those who expect God's Messiah to establish a renewed Israel that is the empire to end all empires, Jesus urges caution. His God is no lumberjack. Instead, Jesus' tone is closer to the final sentiment in Dan 4:17: ‘[He] sets over it the lowliest of human beings.’ Within the larger context of Mark's gospel, we see Jesus cautioning his disciples against enthusiasm for the grandeur of imperial architecture, Herod's temple (Mark 13:1-2), or for the messianic politics that expects to topple empires (Mark 13:3-8, 14-23). The disciples' destiny is to be suffering witnesses for the gospel (Mark 13:9-13).”

Textweek ATLAS links June 10, 2012 Proper 5 Ordinary 10 Pentecost +2

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb5.htm

June 10, 2012
Proper 5 / Ordinary Time 10 / Pentecost +2

 

Fretheim, Terence E., "Is Genesis 3 a Fall Story?" Word
& World, 1994.

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 “I return to the question of the ‘fall’ as a metaphor for
what happens in this text (whether it is a legitimate metaphor apart from this
text is a larger issue). At least two issues present themselves: (1) the congruence
of this metaphor with those in the text; (2) the idea of this sin as a decisive
rupture in the history of the God-human relationship.”

 

Miller, Patrick, "Psalm 130," Interpretation,
1979.

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 “The Psalm speaks out of the paradoxical but very real and
human experience of an encounter with God that is the source of the despair in
the depths and at the same time the only way out.”

 

Fredrickson, David, "Pentecost: Paul the Pastor in 2
Corinthians," Word & World, 1991.

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 “What accounts for Paul's insistence that human existence
is, even in the transformation worked by the Spirit, always given in a body?
Certainly, his Judaism is part of the answer. Yet notice also the role of the
body in the eschatological judgment envisioned in 5:10…”

 

Busch, Austin, "Questioning and Conviction: Double-voiced
Discourse in Mark 3:22-30," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2006.

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 “Mark is not ultimately interested in settling these
questions to establish that God and his representatives are, in the end,
unambiguously good and holy. He rather recognizes that the problems latent in
the apocalyptic eschatological world-view that he holds, especially the
"Holy" Spirit's willingness to cooperate with demons hostile to God
and to God's Son (1:10-13), raise troubling and irresolvable questions about
the character of God and Jesus. But despite the evangelist's commitment to
skeptical interrogation of Jesus's ministry and message in a Jewish apocalyptic
eschatological context, Mark will not go so far as to reject Jesus outright as
a representative of Satan.”

Textweek ATLAS Links June 3, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/trinityb.htm

Trinity Sunday

June 3, 2012

 

Yaqob,
Olga, MVM, "The Face of God in Suffering: Iraq," Theology Today,
2006.

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“Media coverage of Iraq generally has overlooked the daily
lives of ordinary Iraqis. In all the wars Iraq has endured since 1980, we have
lost sight of human faces. Every nation is its people, not merely its geographic
territory, and these people are all made in the image of God. The illustrations
accompanying this article include both images of Iraq's geography (the land)
and an image, in the shape of Iraq, formed out of the faces of many different
ordinary Iraqi people, from all different religious and geographical areas of
the country. In the center of this image is the face of Jesus on the cross. In
the suffering of the Iraqi people, I have seen the face of God.”

 

Mays, James L., "Expository Article: Psalm 29," Interpretation,
1985.

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 “Religion and theology are increasingly dominated by
psychology and existentialism because they have retreated to inner space to
contemplate the human psyche and consciousness. The thunderstorm as theophany
is a sign that the Lord is God also of outer space. Perhaps Psalm 29 is in the
canon of Scripture to call us to see the world afresh as creation — and say
‘glory!’ before ‘the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.’”

 

Carlson, Richard P., "Between Text and Sermon: Romans
8:12-17," Interpretation, 2004. (See also, Romans, issue focus for Interpretation,
2004.)

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 “One way to proclaim Paul's vision here is to highlight how
Christian life in the present is a matter of ‘No Longer, Already, Not Yet.’
That is, we are no longer in sin's dominion so that we no longer utilize the
self-centeredness of the flesh as our motivation and guide in
life…Nevertheless, we have not yet received the full inheritance of
eschatological life and glory that awaits us. Our life in the present as God's
spirited-children entails the cross, for that was precisely the way of life set
forth for God's Son, Jesus Christ.”

 

Munro,
Winsome, "The Pharisee and the Samaritan in John: Polar or Parallel?"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1995.

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 "Despite the tension of contrasting polarities in the
juxtaposition of the woman of Samaria, who was possibly a slave, and Nicodemus,
the Jewish Pharisee and member of the Jewish council, the Gospel seems to hold
these two figures together as parallel, rather than polar, opposites.”

Textweek/ATLAS Links Pentecost May 27, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/pentecdb.htm

Pentecost
May 27, 2012

Willimon, William H., "Taking It to the Streets," The
Christian Century, 1991.

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 “The Spirit which evokes the church, forming family out of a
mob in the street, is as ‘intellectually valid’ and ‘morally effective’ as
‘public speech’ which panders to the powers. After we have jettisoned our
‘confessional particularities’ and ‘exclusive histories’ we may find that we
have not gone public. We have merely capitulated to the university, the
corporation and the nation.”

 

Taylor, Barbara Brown, "God's Breath," Journal for
Preachers, 2003.

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 “Here, then, is an alternative birth story for an
alternative kind of church—not a Gentle Breath congregation but a Violent Wind
congregation—propelled more by God's sneeze than God's breath?—where there is
such a strong wind blowing toward the open doors of the church that people
would have to lash themselves to the pews in order to stay inside.”

 

Wink, Walter, "These Bones Shall Live," The Christian
Century, 1994.

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 “God is at work m our malaise today. It may be that the
parish-based church will continue to wither away even as people experience
unprecedented levels of spiritual hunger and restlessness…It may be that the
new forms of the church's faithfulness are already present among us,
unrecognized It may be that they are still waiting to be birthed. This will be
one of the most turbulent and innovative periods in the church's entire
history. The very depression that wracks so many may be the pry bar that will
separate them from dying forms In any case, God is already bringing these dry
bones to life.”

 

Peterson, Eugene, "The Story Behind the Story: John 15:26-27;
16:4b-15," Journal for Preachers, 2003.

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 “John is slowing us down. John is quieting us down. John is
asking us to shut up and listen. John is telling us to turn off our cell
phones, stow our palm pilots, and pay attention to this story that we think we
know so well. John is inviting us into the company of Jesus for a time of
spiritual formation. John is getting us ready for Pentecost.”

Textweek ATLAS Links Easter 7B May 20, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb7.htm

Easter 7B
May 20, 2012 

Novick, Tzvi, "Succeeding Judas: Exegesis in Acts
1:15-26," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2010.

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“Peter highlights a contradiction between Ps 69:26 and Ps
109:8: How can Judas s office both remain unfilled and be occupied by another?
Peter provides the solution in the next two verses (1:21-22). Judas s successor
must already have been active among the apostolic group from the moment of
Jesus' baptism until his ascension.”

 

Creach, Jerome F.D., "Like a Tree Planted by the Temple
Stream: the Portrait of the Righteous in Psalm 1:3," The Catholic
Biblical Quarterly, 1999.

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“Whatever else may be said about the introductory role of
Psalm 1, Ps 1:3a gives a particular cast to subsequent references to the temple
as security (in Pss 52:10; 92:13-15). It is now meditation on tôrâ that makes
the righteous steadfast, like a tree planted by the temple stream.”

 

Tuell, Steven Shawn, "Psalm 1," Interpretation,
2009.

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 “Psalm 1 was not placed at the opening of the Psalter by
accident: indeed, this poem may have been composed to introduce the book.”

Cadier, Jean, "The Unity of the
Church: An Exposition of John 17," Interpretation, 1957.

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Fascinating – written in 1957. “But this glory, this
heavenly life which has appeared on earth, is only a seed, whose full opening,
whose full ripening and harvest will, one day, be granted in the Kingdom.”

Textweek ATLAS links Easter 6B, May 13, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb6.htm

Easter 6B

May 13, 2012

Matson, David Lertis and Warren S. Brown, "Turning the Faith: The Cornelius Story in Resonance Perspective," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2006.
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“The decision to admit Gentiles into the community of faith without the benefit of circumcision will have earth-shattering consequences in the subsequent history of the Christian church. Yet that far-reaching decision, observes Johnson, ‘is not made all at once. It is not made by the entire church from the beginning. It is not made on the basis of a priori principles and practices. Even the Scripture and the words of Jesus are reread. The decision, rather, is the result of a long process, involving many believers in many places, and the decisions of many local communities.’ It is also, we might add, the result of a long and fruitful process of ‘tuning the faith,’ which allowed those early Christian communities to hear God's voice and do God's will.”

Persaud, Winston D., "Believing in Jesus Christ in This Postmodern World," Word & World, 2007.
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"…in the baptism of Cornelius and his household, we have a timely reminder that the Christian message is transcultural, transpolitical, and intergenerational.”

Davis, Ellen F., "Expository Article: Psalm 98," Interpretation, 1992.
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“Praise is, then, properly understood as an expression of shared commitment to the world. It is the motive force for the ongoing conversation between God and humanity that extends through history and is, from an Israelite perspective, the only real content of history.”

Textweek ATLAS links: Easter 5B, May 6, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb5.htm

Easter 5B
May 6, 2012

Brueggemann, Walter, "Dialogue between Incommensurate Partners: Prospects for Common Testimony," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2001.
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The section on the Acts text begins on page 389. “These two references to ‘the Spirit’ are signals that this is no ordinary exegesis of the text; rather, it is a God-given interpretation that inescapably links the best hope of Israel for a bearer of sin and the reality of Jesus in that role. The linkage is essential to the early church, but it is a linkage made only by a leap of interpretation that is not required by the text itself.”

Smith, Abraham, "'Do You Understand What You Are Reading?': A Literary Critical Reading of the Ethiopian (Kushite) Episode (Acts 8:26-40)," Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, 1994.
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“Acts 8:26-40 cannot be seen as an isolated and unconnected episode. As we have seen through this careful literary critical reading, the Ethiopian episode has at least four functions…”

Martin, Clarice J., "A Chamberlain's Journey and the Challenge of Interpretation for Liberation," Semeia, 1989.
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Abstract: “A survey of the literature on the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion in Acts 8:26-40 reveals a predominant interest in its prophecy-fulfillment character and apologetic tenor. The Ethiopian's ethnographic identity and geographic provenance have, by contrast, received negligible attention. In fact, his ethnographic identity in particular has been characterized as both ‘indeterminable’ and ‘inconsequential’ for Luke's theological purposes in Acts. These theses have been roundly challenged in this essay, with the methodological issues engendered by a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ receiving particular analysis. An introductory review of (1) some of the theological trajectories of the pericope is followed by (2) a documentary assessment of the Ethiopian's ethnographic identity, (3) his geographic provenance, and finally (4) an analysis of the impact of how a ‘politics of omission’ has been operative in perpetuating a lack of familiarity with Ethiopians in antiquity and in contemporary culture.

Mesle, Bob, "A Friend's Love: Why Process Theology Matters," The Christian Century, 1987.
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“Process theology may not be true, but those who argue that it is irrelevant or unimportant have chosen the wrong ground. How can Christians look at the crucified Christ and say that it does not matter if God is "the great companion—the fellow-sufferer who understands"? How can Christians who both respect the integrity of honest searchers and believe that God actively seeks to reveal the divine love fail to appreciate the way in which process theology makes sense of the world's ambiguity? How can Christians affirm with I John 4:19 that we love because God first loved us and think it religiously unimportant that the world's evolution is grounded in creative, responsive love? I once knew such a divine Friend's love, and it mattered. It matters whether process theology is true because it matters whether Someone loves us.”

Derickson, Gary W., "Viticulture and John 15:1-6," Bibliotheca Sacra, 1996.
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When Jesus gave the analogy of the vine and the branches, He based it on the cultural practice of His day, which was to clean up only the fruit-bearing branches and tidy up the rows during the early spring growth following blooming. Severe pruning and removal of branches did not occur until the grapes were harvested and dormancy was being induced.

Textweek ATLAS links Easter 4B April 29, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb4.htm

Easter 4B

April 29, 2012

Boesak, Allan Aubrey, "In the Name of Jesus: Acts 4:12," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 1985.
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“If people are being changed, if the structures of the world are being confronted, if the very world itself is faced with the challenge to be transformed, then no longer hatred but love shall rule, no longer fear but boldness shall rule, no longer injustice but justice shall rule.”

Sharma, Arvind, "Christian Proselytization: A Hindu Perspective," Missiology, 2005.
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“Proselytization in some form is usually perceived as an inalienable aspect of Christian identity, yet this aspect of Christianity is quite baffling to the modern Hindu, who is not disposed to doubt the salvific potency of other religions. This paper is an attempt to try to create some openings in this wall of mutual incomprehension so that both sides gain a better appreciation of the others' position and to indicate the ‘concessions’ they could make to each others' position without compromising their own integrity.”

Calhoun, David B. "Poems in the Park: My Cancer and God's Grace," Presbyterion, 2008.
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“During a period of intensive chemotherapy treatment some years ago, I found that it helped me to walk. Day after day I walked around and around a half-mile path in a park across the street from my house. I usually took with me a little book of poems or a small hymnbook. As I walked, I read the poems and hymns slowly, out loud. As the medicine flowed into my body each week in the hospital next to the park, so the words of the poetry flowed into my heart and mind every day as I walked, giving me a new infusion of courage, patience, hope, and trust.”

Gomes, Peter J., "Good Shepherd, Good Sheep," Currents in Theology and Mission, 2003.
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“For us, where the metaphor ends and the good news begins is that we are gathered and guarded not for the slaughter, and not to be eaten, but for love and redemption. That is where we take leave of the metaphor and embrace reality. What do we do in response to this truth and this reality?”

Long, Kimberly Bracken, "The Shepherd Jesus," Journal for Preachers, 2006. Sermon.
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“From womb to tomb, font to grave, on whatever roads we take (or find ourselves on), the shepherd leads us as one flock, gracing us with constant companionship and food for the journey, until he leads us safely home.”