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.
Lent 5A
April 10, 2011
Ezekiel 37:1-14
- Callahan, Allen Dwight, "Perspectives for a Study of African American Religion from the Valley of Dry Bones," Nova Religio, 2003.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
ABSTRACT: In "Perspectives For a Study of African American Religion," Charles Long wrote of "three interrelated perspectives for the study of black religion": "Africa as historical reality and religious image," "the involuntary presence of the black community in America," and "the experience and symbol of God." I essay to show how Long's categories illumine a celebrated instance of African American biblical appropriation, the prophet's vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14, as emblematic of the perspectives of symbolic African absence, involuntary American presence, and collective theological experience of the slaves and their descendent».
- Seitz, Christopher R., "Ezekiel 37:1-14, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1992.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The dilemma is that God's justice leads to death, and in death the knowledge of God would seem to be extinguished, finally and forever. It is here, in this Valley of Bones, that the God of extreme judgment reveals to the prophet the utter divine freedom to save and to fashion a new people out of utterly dead bones.”
- Taylor, Barbara Brown, "Can These Bones Live?" The Christian Century, 1996.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“God puts an end to death by working through it, not by going around it.”
Psalm 130
- Tanner, Beth, "Preaching the Penitential Psalms," Word & World, 2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“In a day when confession of sins is often seen as out of step with culture, preaching and teaching the penitential psalms can awaken people to the power of this central aspect of the good news of Christian faith.”
Romans 8:6-11
- Hedin, Barbara Ann, "Between Text and Sermon, Romans 8:6-11," Interpretation, 1996.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“Perhaps the most hope-filled verse is the last. It strikes me as a promise for the present generation. For those who may want to say that the task of setting our minds on the Spirit is too much for God to accomplish in us, this verse announces that "your God is too small." After all, this is the same God who raised Christ from the dead!”
John 11:1-45
- Guthrie, Suzanne, "Back to Life," The Christian Century, 2005.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“Double irony. Lazarus comes forth from death for death, this time not by disease but perhaps by the disturbed Sanhedrin—to be put to death for responding to life. Just as Jesus would be put to death for bringing forth life.”
- Robertson, Anne, "Between Text & Sermon: John 11:1-53," Interpretation, 2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The story of the raising of Lazarus could keep a preacher busy well beyond the lectionary's recommended times of Lent 5 in Year A and All Saints Day. I have used it as an Easter text, and the dialogue with Martha is a common reading at funerals. This text can be used as a comfort, as a hope, and as a challenge.”
- Wardlaw, Theodore J., "When Jesus Wept: John 11:1-45," Journal for Preachers, 2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“When Jesus was done weeping, he handed his own life to God for safekeeping, and then he shouted into the darkness of the tomb where Lazarus lay. If the truth be known, he didn't just shout but he screamed. He screamed out everything he had to give, and it was a scream which echoes down throughout all of time. It was a scream loud enough to wake the dead.”
Lent 5A
April 10, 2011
Ezekiel 37:1-14
· Callahan, Allen Dwight, "Perspectives for a Study of African American Religion from the Valley of Dry Bones," Nova Religio, 2003.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
ABSTRACT: In "Perspectives For a Study of African American Religion," Charles Long wrote of "three interrelated perspectives for the study of black religion": "Africa as historical reality and religious image," "the involuntary presence of the black community in America," and "the experience and symbol of God." I essay to show how Long's categories illumine a celebrated instance of African American biblical appropriation, the prophet's vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14, as emblematic of the perspectives of symbolic African absence, involuntary American presence, and collective theological experience of the slaves and their descendent».
· Seitz, Christopher R., "Ezekiel 37:1-14, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1992.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The dilemma is that God's justice leads to death, and in death the knowledge of God would seem to be extinguished, finally and forever. It is here, in this Valley of Bones, that the God of extreme judgment reveals to the prophet the utter divine freedom to save and to fashion a new people out of utterly dead bones.”
· Taylor, Barbara Brown, "Can These Bones Live?" The Christian Century, 1996.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“God puts an end to death by working through it, not by going around it.”
Psalm 130
· Tanner, Beth, "Preaching the Penitential Psalms," Word & World, 2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“In a day when confession of sins is often seen as out of step with culture, preaching and teaching the penitential psalms can awaken people to the power of this central aspect of the good news of Christian faith.”
Romans 8:6-11
· Hedin, Barbara Ann, "Between Text and Sermon, Romans 8:6-11," Interpretation, 1996.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“Perhaps the most hope-filled verse is the last. It strikes me as a promise for the present generation. For those who may want to say that the task of setting our minds on the Spirit is too much for God to accomplish in us, this verse announces that "your God is too small." After all, this is the same God who raised Christ from the dead!”
John 11:1-45
· Guthrie, Suzanne, "Back to Life," The Christian Century, 2005.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“Double irony. Lazarus comes forth from death for death, this time not by disease but perhaps by the disturbed Sanhedrin—to be put to death for responding to life. Just as Jesus would be put to death for bringing forth life.”
· Robertson, Anne, "Between Text & Sermon: John 11:1-53," Interpretation, 2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The story of the raising of Lazarus could keep a preacher busy well beyond the lectionary's recommended times of Lent 5 in Year A and All Saints Day. I have used it as an Easter text, and the dialogue with Martha is a common reading at funerals. This text can be used as a comfort, as a hope, and as a challenge.”
· Wardlaw, Theodore J., "When Jesus Wept: John 11:1-45," Journal for Preachers, 2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“When Jesus was done weeping, he handed his own life to God for safekeeping, and then he shouted into the darkness of the tomb where Lazarus lay. If the truth be known, he didn't just shout but he screamed. He screamed out everything he had to give, and it was a scream which echoes down throughout all of time. It was a scream loud enough to wake the dead.”