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 16A Ordinary 21A Pentecost +10
August 21, 2011
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10
- Brenner, Athalya, "Female Social Behaviour: Two Descriptive Patterns within the 'Birth of the Hero' Paradigm," Vetus Testamentum, 1986.
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“The biblical stories can be categorized under two paradigmatic headings, each of which can be sub-divided in turn into two distinct types: (1) The story involves two mothers rather than one. In this case, two possibilities emerge:
a. At least two heroes are born, so to speak. Necessarily, then, one of the newborn children (usually the first) or more will prove to be a '"false" hero; and only one, as time will tell, will become the "real" hero who carries the divine promise (see below).
b. Two mothers (or even three) will produce, between them, one hero (Naomi and Ruth; Moses' biological mother, his sister, and the daughter of the Pharaoh who becomes his adoptive mother).
(2) In stories where only one prospective mother features, two sub-models are in evidence:
a. A single mother has two sons, or more (Eve, Rebecca).
b. A single mother has one son (Samson's mother).”
- Feldman, Louis H., "Philo's View of Moses' Birth and Upbringing," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2002.
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“Inasmuch as Philo's aim in his essay De Vita Mosis is to present Moses as the perfect example of the royal character, he follows the pattern found in other biographies, concentrating, in particular, on the subject's genealogy, birth, upbringing, and handsomeness.”
Romans 12:1-8
- Bryant, Robert A., "Between Text and Sermon: Romans 12:1-8," Interpretation, 2004. (See also, Romans, issue focus for Interpretation, 2004.)
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“To die in Christ and to live in Christ is nothing short of accepting and receiving a whole new way of thinking and living, which is to say that surrendering to God is at the same time an abandonment of the old ways of self-preservation. To be in Christ is to be reconstructed according to God's building plan and to be renewed continuously by the Holy Spirit. In this way, believers are enabled to discern what conforms to God's will, namely that which is holy, pleasing, and perfect. By faith, God gives us new direction and strength to live in the loving, self-sacrificing manner of Jesus Christ. This is the logical worship (often translated as "spiritual service") of the Christian life.”
Matthew 16:13-20
- Hiers, Richard H., "'Binding' and 'Loosing': The Matthean Authorizations," Journal of Biblical Literature, 1985.
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Abstract: “What did ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ mean in the earliest tradition, and what did Matthew understand them to mean? commonplace claims regarding rabbinic usage are contradictory and inconclusive. Intertestamental and NT usages typically refer to overcoming demons and liberating their victims. The synoptic Jesus authorized the Twelve to exorcise demons. The Matthean passages arguably reflect the substance of such authorizations. Other early Christian texts corroborate this suggestion. Matthew, however, probably understood the terms more broadly, as authorizing disciples to overrule the power of death, and to determine matters of doctrine and morality for the sake of the church and its members' salvation.”
- Powell, Mark Allan, "Binding and Loosing: Asserting the Moral Authority of Scripture in Light of a Matthean Paradigm," Ex Auditu, 2003.
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“A majority of scholars now recognize that the terms ‘to bind’ and ‘to loose’ are best understood with reference to a practice of determining the application of scriptural commandments for contemporary situations.1 The words are used in this regard by Josephus and in targumic materials. Jewish rabbis ‘bound’ the law when they determined that a commandment was applicable to a particular situation, and they ‘loosed’ the law when they determined that a word of Scripture (while eternally valid) was not applicable under certain specific circumstances.”
- Suggs, M. Jack, "Matthew 16:13-20, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1985.
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“The article examines the present meaning of the confession-keys passage in Matthew 16. The story in vv. 13-16 is seen as a type of narrative that culminates in the identification of a divine figure or a messenger of God. The lofty identification of Jesus as ‘prophet’ seems to be inadequate; finally, the account identifies him as ‘the Messiah, the Son of the living God’. That identification is approved in a response (vv. 17-19) that pronounces a blessing on Peter and gives him a new name and a special commission.”
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