ATLAS Textweek Recommendations Proper 13A Ordinary 18A Pentecost +7 July 31, 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.

Proper 13A/Ordinary 18A/Pentecost +7
July 31, 2011

 

Matthew 14:13-21

• Summers, Charles A., "Between Text and Sermon: Matthew 14:13-21," Interpretation, 2005.
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“Jesus' feeding the multitude is found in all four gospels. People want to be reminded of the compassion of Christ, the bountiful care of God, and the connection that we have to our neighbors, both now and in the kingdom that is coming.”

 

 

Isaiah 55:1-5

• Sanders, James A., "Expository Article: Isaiah 55:1-9," Interpretation, 1978.
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“The cost of faithful discipleship includes the hard lesson of accepting the injustice of divine grace, and grace is a challenge to all our notions of ‘meritocracy,’ about who deserves what. But the invitation, thank God, is to all: Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters . . . and inquire of God while he is near.”

 

 

Genesis 32:22-31

• Bruggemann, Walter, "A Case Study in Daring Prayer: Genesis 32:9-12," The Living Pulpit, 1993.
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“These old texts might again ‘teach us to pray’ (cf. Matt. 6:9). Were that to happen, church practice in prayer might again have a sharp edge of urgency and buoyancy against the denial—therapeutic and consumerist—so powerful among us. As in the ‘model prayer’ of Jesus, true prayer is unabashed imperative, in which the speaker for a daring moment becomes the governing party to the conversation with God, and conversely, is cast as a willing respondent, available for the legitimate ‘commands’ of the one who hears the prayer.”

 

• Frolov, Serge, "The Other Side of the Jabbok: Genesis 32 as a Fiasco of Patriarchy," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2000.
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“The purpose of the paper is to answer a question that is hardly ever asked by the exegetes: 'Where were Jacob's wives and children during his famous single combat at the Jabbok?' Identifying and analyzing topographic data scattered in Genesis 32, especially in vv. 23-24 (Eng. vv. 22-23), I argue that the text shows the patriarch trying to survive not only by fleeing the Promised Land—in spite of the deity's command to return there—but by using his family as a human shield against approaching Esau. Skillfully using the geographical setting of the episode, the narrator represents Jacob's outrageous treatment of his household as a part and parcel of his overall cowardice and faithlessness and thereby implicitly denounces patriarchy as a corrupting, ineffective and ultimately ungodly system.”

 

• Vonck, Pol, "The Crippling Victor: The Story of Jacob's Struggle at the River Jabbok," AFER, 1984.
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“Ultimately, an authentic Christian reading of the Bible calls for appropriating the story ‘out there’" in such a way as to create a new story, our story, my story. What the actual scene in biblical interpretation seems to be saying is that the interpreter must free the Scripture from all that prevents its being heard on its own terms. The classic critical methods remain valid. But we are called to move beyond. After having been caught up, too much perhaps, with a scholarly study of the background and the elements of the text, a return to the powerful immediacy of the text, of the actual story, is salutary. Structural methods force us to do just that. Psychoanalysis confronts us with the depth-dimension of symbols. A political exegesis can help us to unmask our ideological biases. But each approach, by itself, runs the risk of becoming partial. The full impact of the scriptural story will be enhanced if we are willing to trust in a complementarity of methods.”

 

• Wessner, Mark D., "Toward a Literary Understanding of 'Face to Face' in Genesis 32:23-32," Restoration Quarterly, 2000.
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“As in all five biblical occurrences of [face to face], the four inherent elements of divine initiation, profound intimacy, intentional solitude, and supernatural verification are clearly evident in Gen 32:23-33. For example, Jacob's wrestling match was caused by the sudden appearance and unexpected attack of the heavenly sent "man" during the night. Ironically, Jacob had spent the previous day preparing for a dramatic encounter, but he was expecting to meet his brother Esau, not the powerful messenger who was declared to be “D^H^K”. Not only was Jacob's encounter physically intimate, but it also involved the very essence of his identity—the identification and the change of his name. The physical touch, the name change, and the personal blessing all serve to portray the profound intimacy experienced between Jacob and the divine messenger.”

Comments

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I would like to thanks you a million for providing these references! I am the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school and I really appreciate your sharing!