01/26/2012

Textweek ATLAS Links Epiphany 6B February 12, 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.

Epiphany 6B
February 12, 2012 

2 Kings 5:1-14

“Take another look in the mirror at the sad face of the world. And tell the truth. Say it simply and directly. Tell where it is that healing is located. Be free... and be thankful.”

“Second Kings 5 offers a place to explore how human beings may relate to God and to one another. The story begins with Naaman coming to Elisha to seek a cure. Surely every resource available in Syria has been called upon to heal someone so important to the king, but the power to heal must be sought in Israel. The general is cured without cost when he submits to the prophet's words. The cure, however, is not based on any magical power in the words or in the water. It is given by the God of Israel who has watched over Naaman and showered him with success.” 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Sumney, Jerry L., "The Place of 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 in Paul's Argument," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2000.
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“9:24-27 is best understood as the introduction to the stories that serve as the foundation for the instructions about sacrificed food in chapter 10, not as the conclusion to Paul's presentation of himself as an example of giving up rights.”

Mark 1:40-45

Abstract: “Embedded in one of the earliest stories of Mark is an engagement with a most critical issue for Jesus, with implications for the rest of his destiny. How the early church understood it, and their ‘memory’ of what was at stake, when the leper interrupted the beginning of Jesus' preaching mission, is explored in this article. Further, the article suggests the power of the story's word for a critical issue before the contemporary church and asks whether it does not address serious questions to the contemporary exegete personally. At stake is: ‘What if we reach out, become unalterably committed, and can never be the same again’?”

01/26/2012 at 04:53 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS Links Epiphany 6B February 5, 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.

Epiphany/Ordinary 5
February 5, 2012 

Isaiah 40:21-31

“There is a tremendous equalizing force at work among the elderly. Much more often, however, it is the proud who are humbled rather than the lowly who are lifted up.”

1 Corinthians 9: 16-23

“Paul's renunciation of freedom for the sake of others' well-being not only cuts across the grain of our society, it slices painfully into our understanding of the gospel itself.”

“How do vv. 19-23 then fit with Paul's refusal and the larger question of 8:1-11:1 ? Paul makes clear there that freedom is of central concern. Though he is free, he has become a slave to all (v. 19).”

 Mark 1:29-39

“Women play an integral role in Mark's proclamation of the good news. The Gospel uses the women to encourage the audience to follow Jesus in discipleship. With the women, we too are called to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom, to be of service to those with less power, and perhaps to undergo persecution for following the way of God.”

Abstract: “God desires health and wholeness for all. The presence of sickness in the world is not what God intended. The Bible presents several explanations for the origin of sickness, but certainly God is on our side in the battle against illness. We are invited to ask God for healing. Sometimes, however, the healing does not come and we are forced to live with suffering that will not go away. Though health and healing in this life are desirable and we should strive for those goals, the Bible speaks of healing as more than attaining physical health. The healing miracles of Jesus are a sign of the coming of God's kingdom on earth, but the removal of all illness is part of our eschatological hope.”

01/26/2012 at 02:25 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

01/08/2012

Textweek ATLAS links Epiphany 4B January 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.

Epiphany 4B

January 29, 2012

 

Mark 1:21-28

“Caught up by addictions, passions or compulsions that destroy us, we are closest to healing when we shout most loudly that we want nothing to do with those who can help. That is the difficult moment when, needing healing, we are called to resist our own resistance.”

Abstract: “There appear to be two main ways of interpreting Mark's secrecy theme: 1) the view that it does not form a coherent whole, and 2) the view that it states Mark's understanding of the "history of revelation", according to which Jesus is revealed as Son of God only in his death and/or resurrection. Contrary to these two views, Mark's secrecy theme is coherent, and is concerned not with the "history of revelation" but with a doctrine of predestination. This must be understood in terms of its social function within Mark's community.”

“Jesus not only teaches in parables, he is himself ‘the parable of God.’ Jesus appears in the synagogue of Capernaum as he appears in the entire Gospel: as an enigma wrapped in a mystery. The things Jesus does and says are straightforward enough to seize our interest, yet sufficiently cryptic to tantalize us into actively pursuing some satisfaction for our wonderment.”

 

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Abstract: “This article: 1) reconstructs the step-by-step procedure by which a particular sermon was prepared; 2) reflects upon that procedure as it is reconstructed, explaining and at times justifying it, that the reader may enter more fully into the entire process; and 3) reproduces the sermon that was the fruit of this labor. Detailed recovery of the preparatory process is possible in part because of the preservation of notes and scribblings antecedent to the sermon. The greater contributor to the recovery, however, is the standard procedure used for sermon preparation. The discipline of a regular routine commends itself for a number of reasons: one is less likely to be a victim of the highs and lows of emotions totally unrelated to the message or its occasion; one is more likely to be thorough in preparation; one is freed by the restraints of routine to explore, ponder, and imagine rather than having one's powers dissipated in the frustrating search for a way to get started. [Ed excerpt].”

01/08/2012 at 04:12 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS links Epiphany 3B January 22, 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.

Epiphany 3B

January 22, 2012

 

Mark 1:14-20

Abstract: “Jesus recruited fishermen following Ezek 47. Naphtalites are natural evangelists under Gen 49:21 and Deut 33:23. Zebulunites are also interested in Seas (Deut 33:18-19, 49: 13-14). Both tribes jeopard their lives (Jdg 5:18). Fishing is a mode of evangelisation, conferring immortality. The Lucan Calling (Lk 5:1-11) incorporates a typical fisherman's confession, with added themes of acquisition, in partnership, for salvation. The parable of the net, based on Ezekiel, shows living water affording some souls redemption. The fishing expedition of John 21, apart from its parallel in Test.Zeb.,shows evangelists guided by the distant partner, who provides, as rations, the symbol by which they were themselves recruited. "153" Might mean QNG, the hunt.”

“Jesus displays audacious personal authority in summoning his followers to join him in advancing the kingdom of God. He does not negotiate with disciples. Moreover, the content of his call implies an alternative political (imperial) as well as religious (spiritual) vocation.”

 

Jonah 3:1-10

Abstract: “The book of Jonah portrays Israel's God as merciful and forgiving. Many interpreters, however, mistakenly assume that this motif runs throughout the book and is counterbalanced by Jonah's consistent cry for retributive justice. In fact, the writer deliberately misleads the reader, initially making God appear powerful and vengeful, while making Jonah appear reluctant to call for Nineveh's destruction. The turning point comes in 3:10. God surprisingly forgives Nineveh, thereby bringing forth Jonah's true retributive character. Because the writer surprises his readers and reverses the flow of the characters, his point regarding God's forgiving nature and man's proper attitude toward that forgiveness becomes more dramatic and convincing.”

Abstract: “Jonah's message to the Ninevites is unusual in specifying a time limit before judgment comes. But while the MT and most manuscripts read "forty days" the LXX reads "three days". The history of interpretation of both "forty" and "three" is briefly surveyed before a fresh proposal is offered. The LXX represents a perception of what would be appropriate for Jonah to say, on the assumption that his message is faithful to his commission. The MT depicts a Jonah who does not want the Ninevites to respond.”

 

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

“Paul takes this further and states that every single status quo principle of this world was criticised, relativised and challenged by the liberating alternative of the future that Jesus Christ inaugurated. In fact this future (of justice, peace, reconciliation and joy) and not the self (or one's own-affairs), must become the regulator of the whole of Christian life.”

“This age is the time of fulfillment and decision, in light of the final plans of God having been set in place.”

01/08/2012 at 03:14 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

01/05/2012

Textweek ATLAS links January 15, 2012 Epiphany 2B

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.

Epiphany 2B

January 15, 2012

 

1 Samuel 3:1-20

       Lewis, Peter E., "Is There a Parallel between 1 Samuel 3 and the Sixth Chapter of the Egyptian Book of the Dead?" Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2007.
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Abstract: “This article offers a comparison of the accounts in 1 Samuel 3 and the Sixth Chapter of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and leads to the conclusion that they may be parallel accounts. The background to the Egyptian text is explained, and it is suggested that the Hebrew author used the Egyptian account in writing this important chapter in the Deuteronomistic History.”

       Ruffin, Michael L., "First Samuel 3:1-20," Interpretation, 1997.
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“1 Samuel 3 invites the preacher to help the members of her or his congregation consider the ways in which they relate to one another as they respond to God's purpose and call in light of changing circumstances.”

 

1 Corinthians 6:11-20

 

       Draper, Jonathan A., "The Tip of an Ice-berg: the Temple of the Holy Spirit," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 1987.
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“The Temple image is certainly given an individual moral application in this passage, but the context makes it very unlikely that Paul is thinking of individual bodies as individual sanctuaries containing the Holy Spirit. The singular nouns soma and naos used with the plural humon make this clear. Rather, Paul is giving the primary community meaning of the image an extended application, because what is done by the individual is understood as affecting the whole community.”

 

John 1:43-51

 

       Gomes, Peter J., "John 1:45-51," Interpretation, 1989.
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“This then is the end of the beginning of the end. The Disciples are in place, the Lord is ready to reveal himself for what he is by what he does, the finding is completed so that the proclamation may begin. What is promised to Nathaniel and all the faithful, that grand climax whereby Jacob's old dream is to be made fresh and real, begins in the unlikely setting of a modest and socially embarrassed wedding party in which the steward of the feast, as unwitting an evangelist as can be imagined, observes that the best has been saved to last.”

 

01/05/2012 at 02:46 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

01/02/2012

ATLAS/Textweek Links: Baptism of Jesus B, January 8, 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.

Baptism of Jesus B

January 8, 2012

 

Genesis 1:1-5

“We have encountered a wide range of associated motifs—thw wbhw, blymh, thwm, mym, \s and hsk—which are figures for the same thing, the invisibility of God with particular reference to the primordial context of cosmogony.”

“…in examining creation narratives, we can learn about the ancient societies that produced these accounts in addition to appreciating their theological/ideological message concerning the origins of the cosmos.”

 

Psalm 29

“Where physics and biology are allowed to empty the mythopoetic vision, our lives are cramped within horizons of our own making. 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.”

 

Mark 1:4-11

“We may therefore conclude (1) that Mark did indeed have in mind the outer veil, and (2) that Mark did indeed imagine a link between the tearing of the heavens and the tearing of the temple veil—since we can now see that in fact in both cases the heavens were torn—and that Mark intentionally inserted the motif of the "tearing of the heavenly veil" at both the precise beginning and at the precise end of the earthly career of Jesus, in order to create a powerful and intriguing symbolic inclusio.”

“In the gospel of Mark, Jesus' baptism marks the change of ages and the dawning of God's kingdom on earth. It demonstrates God's identification with sinners and serves to inaugurate the divine mission of salvation through the cross. Christian baptism, therefore, by its identification with the baptism of Jesus, involves death. By the same token, however, it also involves eternal life.”

01/02/2012 at 04:54 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

12/01/2011

Textweek / ATLAS links for December 25, 2011 Christmas Eve Christmas Day

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.

Christmas Eve/Day

December 24/25, 2011

 

Isaiah 9:2-7

Isaiah 62:6-12

“It occurs to this writer, however, that the eschatological hope of Isa 62:6-12 has a greater relevance not confined to Christmas Day, one that belongs to every day and every act of proclamation. The purpose of preaching is to articulate the invitation of God into a new reality, one so different in kind from that which we presently call "real" as to be visible only to the faithful imagination.”

 

Psalm 98

“Because of its theme of judgment, along with the strains of both celebration and hope, Psalm 98 is particularly suited for use from Advent through Epiphany. In six weeks the church moves from early Advent's sober preparation for the coming of Christ in judgment, through the joyous Feast of the Incarnation, to Epiphany, the great season of Christian hope, which looks toward judgment, now with eagerness, as the full realization in glory of the power once glimpsed in a Judaean corncrib.”

 

Titus 2:11-14

“We currently live and respond to God's miraculous and loving actions for us somewhere between Christ's first coming and second coming, somewhere between the epiphany of God's grace and the epiphany of God's glory. This time-between-the-times is an arena of active waiting for God's ultimate completion and fulfillment of the creation—a creation that we can neither complete nor fulfill.”

 

Luke 2:1-20

“Joy involves a felt sense of connectedness to what is. It involves the union of heaven and earth, of spirit and flesh.”

“Luke's story of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus presents a compelling narrative that shapes a Christmas message of the promises of God for today and has power to awaken faith and transform hearers into witnesses of the gospel.”

12/01/2011 at 03:36 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek / ATLAS links - December 18, 2011 Advent 4B

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.

Advent 4B
December 18, 2011 

Psalm 89

“It serves the purpose of the vision best if a systematic and conceptual condensation is not attempted as a conclusion. Such an abstraction easily becomes itself the subject of thought. The vision is best considered in attempted descriptions that are responses to particular texts and their literary and canonical connections. The vision is never fully in focus, never complete in some logical form. In each text it is a refraction of what the text speaks about.”

 

Luke 1:26-38

“Following the same format he used to introduce the annunciation to Zechariah, Luke introduces this scene with notes on time, place, and the primary characters. The time (the sixth month, that is, of Elizabeth's pregnancy) helps to call the reader's attention to the relationship between the two annunciations. For the previous annunciation, the place was Jerusalem and the heritage was priestly — circumstances befitting Old Testament characters like Zechariah and Elizabeth. In this annunciation the place is Nazareth in Galilee and the heritage is Davidic — circumstances befitting gospel characters like Mary and Joseph intimately involved with Jesus, whose public ministry will be in Galileee and who is the Messiah of the house of David.”

“The truly important questions about the birth stories are not whether Jesus was born of a virgin, or whether there was an empire-wide census that took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, or whether there was a special star leading wise men from the East. The important questions are, ‘Is Jesus the light of the world? Is he the true Lord? Is what happened in him 'of God'?’ Answering these questions lays claim to our whole lives.”

“Is it actually easier to believe that God in that Nazarean carpenter was reconciling the world to himself? If one wants to believe in a miracle, there's one! Is it really less offensive to the assumptions and tastes of modern man that God chose to make himself known through a rejected son of a persecuted people?”

“If the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two of Luke had never existed, I do not suppose that my own Christian faith, or that of the church to which I belong, would have been very different. But since they do, and since for quite other reasons I have come to believe that the God of Israel, the world's creator, was personally and fully revealed in and as Jesus of Nazareth, I hold open my historical judgment and say: If that's what God deemed appropriate, who am I to object?”

12/01/2011 at 03:04 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

ATLAS / Textweek Links Advent 3B December 11, 2011

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.

Advent 3B

December 11, 2011

 

Isaiah 61:1-11

“Jesus Christ removes the judgment of exile from us. That is what Jesus' mission was all about. As the incarnation of God, Christ restores us to communion with our Creator. Exiles are brought home to God. Humanity is restored to those who had become less than human. All creation can know recreation because the Spirit of the Lord has anointed this.”

“This essay considers the way in which Jewish readers of scripture and Christian readers of scripture may move some distance together in the reading of scripture, in an acknowledgement of much that is shared in scripture…Several biblical texts are cited to indicate that the biblical texts permit no such reading monopoly, because more than one reading is legitimate in distinct faith traditions. While Jews and Christians cannot finally—or cannot yet·—read all the way together, it is agreed that Jews and Christians can read much further together than had been thought or permitted in the longstanding environment of Christian monopolistic reading. The text itself testifies against such monopolistic readings that have been imposed hegemonically on the text.” Section on Isaiah 61:1-4 begins on page 393.

The section on Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11 begins on page 388. “By skipping over verses 4-9, the lectionary draws attention to the connections between verses 10-11 and verse 3 by which the promise to Israel is given an individual realization.”

 

Psalm 126

“Psalm 126 provides a description of the early Judaic commimit/s response to their catastrophic experiences of life's ebbs and flows. This article will note how Ps 126 depicts the relationship between lament and praise as the psalmist petitions God for a future turn of fortune. The article will close with a description of how the message of this psalm might be applied to the contemporary Christian church.”

 

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

“Paul not only commanded the parénesis of 5:12-22 as a form of non-negotiable behavior for the Thessalonians, he also took the commands upon himself as a model for them. Paul, the Christ-haunted apostle, lived his life and urged the Thessalonians to live their lives openly before God, community and society. For Paul knew that in this Age and in the Age to Come, ‘you cannot hide the soul.’”

 

John 1:6-28

“Effective witnessing calls for spending time with Jesus. Then the other things—knowing that believers are not the Light, pointing others to the Light, and urging people to believe the Light—these will come naturally.”

“In one sense we are all John the Baptists, trying to point to a gospel and a salvation that we do not adequately understand.” 

Advent 3B

December 11, 2011

 

Isaiah 61:1-11

·         Barnes, M. Craig, "The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me: A Meditation on Isaiah 61," Calvin Theological Journal, 2004.
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“Jesus Christ removes the judgment of exile from us. That is what Jesus' mission was all about. As the incarnation of God, Christ restores us to communion with our Creator. Exiles are brought home to God. Humanity is restored to those who had become less than human. All creation can know recreation because the Spirit of the Lord has anointed this.”

·         Brueggemann, Walter, "Dialogue between Incommensurate Partners: Prospects for Common Testimony," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2001.
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“This essay considers the way in which Jewish readers of scripture and Christian readers of scripture may move some distance together in the reading of scripture, in an acknowledgement of much that is shared in scripture…Several biblical texts are cited to indicate that the biblical texts permit no such reading monopoly, because more than one reading is legitimate in distinct faith traditions. While Jews and Christians cannot finally—or cannot yet·—read all the way together, it is agreed that Jews and Christians can read much further together than had been thought or permitted in the longstanding environment of Christian monopolistic reading. The text itself testifies against such monopolistic readings that have been imposed hegemonically on the text.” Section on Isaiah 61:1-4 begins on page 393.

·         Jacobson, Diane, "Isaiah in Advent: The Transforming Word," Word & World, 1990.
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The section on Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11 begins on page 388. “By skipping over verses 4-9, the lectionary draws attention to the connections between verses 10-11 and verse 3 by which the promise to Israel is given an individual realization.”

 

Psalm 126

·         Flesher, LeAnn Snow, "Between Text & Sermon: Psalm 126," Interpretation, 2006.
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“Psalm 126 provides a description of the early Judaic commimit/s response to their catastrophic experiences of life's ebbs and flows. This article will note how Ps 126 depicts the relationship between lament and praise as the psalmist petitions God for a future turn of fortune. The article will close with a description of how the message of this psalm might be applied to the contemporary Christian church.”

 

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

·         May, David M., "'You Cannot Hide the Soul': 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22," Review & Expositor, 1999.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
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“Paul not only commanded the parénesis of 5:12-22 as a form of non-negotiable behavior for the Thessalonians, he also took the commands upon himself as a model for them. Paul, the Christ-haunted apostle, lived his life and urged the Thessalonians to live their lives openly before God, community and society. For Paul knew that in this Age and in the Age to Come, ‘you cannot hide the soul.’”

 

John 1:6-28

·         MacLeod, David J., "The Witness of John the Baptist to the Word: John 1:6-9," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2003.
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“Effective witnessing calls for spending time with Jesus. Then the other things—knowing that believers are not the Light, pointing others to the Light, and urging people to believe the Light—these will come naturally.”

·         Theiss, Norman C., "Between Text and Sermon: John 1:6-8, 19-28," Interpretation, 1996.
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“In one sense we are all John the Baptists, trying to point to a gospel and a salvation that we do not adequately understand.”

12/01/2011 at 02:00 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

11/30/2011

ATLAS / Textweek Links: December 4, 2011

Advent 2B
December 4, 2011 

Isaiah 40:1-11

“In ancient Near Eastern literature the ideal king was the shepherd of his god's people. He promoted justice within the flock while at the same protecting it from predators without. The fact that the shepherd image occurs so widely throughout the ancient world suggests that it reflects innate longing in the human heart.”

“If preaching is going to be relevant, it has to be directed to questions raised by people of our time. We can not afford the luxury of providing answers to questions no one is really asking, even if those answers are correct ones!”

Van Seters, Arthur, "Isaiah 40:1-11," Interpretation, 1981.
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“This was indeed a surprising message for a suppressed people. It was also profoundly comforting. According to this Advent theology, the way through the desert of human existence does not focus on the people as those who journey, but on their God who commands, enables, and becomes present once again to them. Their humanity is apparent, their sinfulness alluded to. Their faith or struggle is not even mentioned. Their position is covenantal by the grace of God who continues to choose them and speaks of himself in relation to them.”

 

2 Peter 3:8-15

“This Advent will find the preacher again looking at the lectionary texts and wondering how to use them without sounding like a Left Behind survivor or trying to preach the text away rather than deal with it. Advent is more than an ecclesiastical way of counting the shopping days to Christmas: it is in its own right the time when we are presented with texts about the Second Coming of Christ and other equally unusual passages.”

 

Mark 1:1-8

Abstract: “The thesis advocated in this paper is that the Gospel of Mark is a narrative structured with some care, divided into a bipartite outline determined by the author's Christology, and provided with a title and introduction carefully composed in a manner appropriate to introduce the narrative as a whole. The variety of textual readings and syntactical options, as well as Mark's purpose, are best understood by construing Mark 1:1 as the title to the whole narrative, with the introduction extending through 1:15. The introduction is itself carefully structured into two sections paralleling John and Jesus, while simultaneously subordinating John to Jesus. The introduction functions to introduce the main characters, introduce the main themes of the narrative as a whole, to focalize the narrative, and to relate the time of the Gospel to that of the readers, i.e. to contemporize the message of the narrative set in another time and place.”

 

“As should be clear by now, it was never Marks intention simply to say a few interesting things about Jesus, what he said and did. Rather Mark's message, centering around the themes of movement, messiah and mission poses a sharp challenge for the church today. But how might we distill that challenge?”

 

 

11/30/2011 at 05:49 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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