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.
Proper 18C / Ordinary 23C / Pentecost +15
September 5, 2010
Psalm 139
Booij, Th., "Psalm CXXXIX: Text, Syntax, Meaning," Vetus Testamentum, 2005.
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Abstract: “The speaker is aware that YHWH knows him completely and is near him wherever he might go. The night, he says, may assault him, for in God's presence the darkness is as light to him as the day (vv. lib, 12ba circumstantial clauses). That he can speak like this is because God himself made him the human being he is, with his own specific disposition (v. 13 'kidneys'; v. 15 'frame'). Indeed, of old he has been immensely distinguished (v. 14: niplëti). When there was just his lump of clay, YHWH'S eyes saw it (v. 16). And of all the times that such golems were fashioned (yamïm yussärü), each of which is remembered in heaven, there was that 'day' of his own golem (Qere welo), when he was made the person he is. By night, as a sign of distinction, the speaker may 'see' God's innumerable thoughts, and very precious they are to him. What bothers him a great deal, however, is the existence of the wicked. His hatred of them makes him feel uneasy. It is his prayer that God, who knows him so well, may test him on this point. The prayer in vv. 23f, thus related to the preceding passage, fits in with the structure of the poem. The textual transmission is problematic in v. 20.”
Harmon, Steven R., "Theology Proper and the Proper Way to Pray: An Exposition of Psalm 139," Review & Expositor, 2007.
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Abstract: “Prayer is central to Christian life and worship. Unfortunately, prayer is also one of the most difficult things we do, often because we misunderstand what prayer is and who God is. Psalm 139 offers an understanding of the nature both of God and of prayer. Psalm 139:1-18 has to do with "theology proper," the nature of God as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, but the psalmist describes these attributes not in abstract philosophical categories but rather in terms of intimate personal relationship. Psalm 139:19-22 provides an example of the proper way to pray: since God knows us intimately, we can and must be utterly honest in our prayers. Psalm 139:23-24 shows what happens when we pray honestly: God transforms us, changing our attitudes toward the problems we face.”
Shinn, Roger L., "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," The Living Pulpit, 2006.
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“The self that knows what the universe does not know is a miracle. That miracle includes the human body, organized by those acids that we call genes. The genes know nothing. But they help us know ourselves, our world, and our God.”
Psalm 1
Cole, Robert, "An Integrated Reading of Psalms 1 and 2," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2002.
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Abstract: “An analysis of how Psalms 1 and 2 are integrated reveals that both have as their central theme the identical royal and Joshua-like figure who is given absolute victory in battle. The principal focus of Psalm 1 when read in concert with Psalm 2 is not Torah nor wisdom, but rather this individual of kingly and military trappings. These ascriptions of Psalm 1 are made explicit in Psalm 2, where he is portrayed in close relationship with Yahweh as his anointed king and son. His opponents are the scoffing wicked of Psalm 1, identified more specifically as the conspiring earthly kings and nations in Psalm 2. This cabal revolts against Yahweh and his anointed, an action which elicits the question 'Why?' from the speaker in 2.1 because of the promise in 1.5, 6. Yahweh and his anointed respond appropriately to the earthly scoffing with laughter and derision from heaven. Psalm 2 then concludes with a reaffirmation of the same judgment promised at the conclusion of Psalm 1.”
Tuell, Steven Shawn, "Psalm 1," Interpretation, 2009.
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Between Text and Sermon from Interpretation, 2009. “Psalm 1 says of the righteous, ‘In all that they do, they prosper’ (Ps 1:3). However, this psalm is not about how to be prosperous. The righteous are described in the opening verse of this psalm as happy, but Ps 1 is not about how to be happy.”
Jeremiah 18
Biddle, Mark E., "Contingency, God, and the Babylonians: Jeremiah on the Complexity of Repentance," Review and Expositor, 2004. (See also Jeremiah, issue focus of Review and Expositor, 2004.)
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Abstract: “For Jeremiah, repentance functioned primarily on the plane of national crises, international conflict, and war. Here, the interaction of multiple wills propagates contingencies almost beyond analysis. Jeremiah describes the dynamically shifting possibilities for and outcomes of repentance in a specific situation in Judah's history. Jeremiah 18:7-11 announces a fundamental theological principle: God responds to repentance. Jeremiah offers a case study of this principle in a situation complicated by factors not contemplated in the binary formulation. Jeremiah 3:22-25 raises the possibility that Jeremiah's audience may have, if fruitlessly, met the conditions set by Jer 18:7-11. Jeremiah 14:1-15:4 deals with an instance in which they did so— without result. Baruch, Ebed-Melech, and Gedaliah had acknowledged the truth of Jeremiah's preaching, and had repented of the national sin; nonetheless, like Josiah, they were forced to reap what Manasseh had sown. Finally, after years of warning that the Babylonians were bringing God's judgment, and after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem and finding himself a refugee in his own land, Jeremiah voiced God's admission that God had second thoughts about the whole affair (42:10)! The polarity of God's use of the Babylonians as the instrument of judgment and the Babylonians' free agency had permitted them to exceed God's intentions. Jeremiah's picture of this nexus of interacting wills suggests a number of observations about repentance in the world God has created. First, Jeremiah knows that when the tide in human affairs catches up individuals in its flow individual repentance has limited effect. Second, Jeremiah persistently contends that God was also an actor on the stage; God impels this flow of history. Third, however, Jeremiah argues that, while God is perhaps the most powerful actor on the stage, the play is an improvisation.”
Fretheim, Terence E., "'I Was Only a Little Angry,' Divine Violence in the Prophets," Interpretation, 2004. (See esp. section beginning on page 374) (See also entire issue: Violence in the Bible, Interpretation, 2004.)
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“A biblical understanding of God's relationship with Israel and the world helps us interpret passages in the prophetic literature that link God and violence. With tears, lament, and regret, God takes into the divine self the violent effects of sinful human activities and thereby makes possible a non-violent future for God's people.”
Deuteronomy 30
Conder, Tim, "Curses & Blessings," The Christian Century, 2007.
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“Just as with the ancient Israelites, our covenant-keeping means living in a rhythm of holistic living and worship. Covenant-keeping fashions an awareness of the goodness of creation, a mandate of creation stewardship, and the ever-present hope of a new (redeemed) creation coming.”
Philemon
Bieberstein, Sabine, "Disrupting the Normal Reality of Slavery: A Feminist Reading of the Letter to Philemon," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2000.
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Abstract: “The letter to Philemon shows the struggle of communities of believers in Christ to find areas in which they could act within the dominating system of the Pax Romana The enslavement of human beings was one of the supports of this system, and the 'case' of the slave Onesimus brings about a rupture in the normality of slavery, making clear the discrepancy between slavery and the liberating message of the gospel The letter creates a critical public which becomes the guarantee of a new mutual relationship between slaves and free persons Our concern today must be to use such individual cases to unmask systems that show contempt for human beings, and to tell the story of the victims.”
deVos, Craig S., "Once a Slave, Always a Slave? Slavery, Manumission and Relational Patterns in Paul's Letter to Philemon," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2001.
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Abstract: “The Graeco-Roman world was a strongly collectivist, authoritarian and patriarchal society that understood people in terms of fixed stereotypes. As such, manumission per se would not have fundamentally changed the relationship between slaves and masters. Therefore, Paul's intention in his letter to Philemon was not to persuade Philemon to manumit Onesimus, but to bring about a fundamental change in their relationship, such that the master would treat his slave no longer as a slave, but as a brother or an honoured guest. As such, Paul was actually asking for something far more radical than manumission.”
Frilingos, Chris, "'For My Child, Onesimus': Paul and Domestic Power in Philemon," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2000.
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“The letter, then, is concerned less with Onesimus s situation than with Paul's own status. This assessment of the epistle resolves somewhat the tension between Paul's ostensible goal of helping Onesimus and his decision to send the slave back to an angry Philemon. If Philemon accepts Onesimus in accordance with the apostle’s terms, then the slaveholder must also acknowledge Paul's authoritative presence in his family affairs. Onesimus will remain "forever" in Philemon's household as a sign of Paul's domestic power.”
Lyons, Kirk D., Sr., "Paul's Confrontation with Class: The Letter to Philemon as Counter- Hegemonic Discourse," Cross Currents, 2005.
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“Just as Paul's praxis served to fill in the lacuna between theology and social reality, our praxis of adjusting the prism from which we view the biblical texts from our world, and conversely, which we view our world through the biblical texts, bridges the chasm between our theological ponder-ings and our social praxis. This process is less encumbered when facilitated through a reflexive theology that warrants recognition of our mutual constitution.”
Luke 14
Brisson, Carson, "Luke 14:25-27, Between Text and Sermon" Interpretation, 2007.
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Between Text and Sermon from Interpretation, 2007. “The call really is to cross bearing. This call truly is impossible for men and women, but possible with God. Some hear the call, but remain committed to hearth or home or to a myriad of other good but penultimate claims. They are convinced that in those things their true life resides. Others hear the call and cast their lot with Jesus above any and all other claims, whatever shape that takes. To them it is revealed, and it can be revealed in no other way than by taking up "the cross" and following Jesus, that this invitation is actually to receive their very lives back as more than they could ever have otherwise imagined they could be.”
Wollenberg, Bruce, "Summoned," The Christian Century, 2004.
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“God risks conditionless love in perfect freedom, knowing it may not be returned.”