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 19 / Ordinary Time 24 / Pentecost +13
September 11, 2011
Exodus 14:19-31
- Fretheim, Terence E., "God and Violence in the Old Testament," Word & World, 2004.
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“The Bible, in both Old Testament and New, speaks candidly about violence—both human violence and divine violence. We must take the reports of God's violence seriously, over against ourselves, while also exercising the appropriate critique already begun by people within the Bible itself. Finally, we will see that, in everything, including violence, God seeks to accomplish loving purposes.”
Genesis 50:15-21
- Berman, Joshua, "Identity Politics and the Burial of Jacob (Genesis 50:1-14)," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2006.
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“Throughout his career, Joseph struggles for equilibrium, for the balanced expression of a politically expedient commitment to both host and heritage, to both father and Pharaoh.”
- Currie, Thomas W., "Between Text and Sermon: Genesis 50:15-21," Interpretation, 2003. (See also, "Evil," issue focus, Interpretation, 2003.)
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“The God who takes our evil works and bends them to good is the God who prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies, who sustains us by the hand of one whom we have rejected, who fills the hungry with good things but sends those who are self-sufficient away empty. God would not even be above providing for "little ones" by self-emptying and feeding them from the feast of Christ's own crucified flesh. In God are all made heirs to this promise, quite without our contriving. Such a comedy could only be a comedy of the cross, a comedy in which "God's weakness is stronger than human strength"(1 Cor 1:25), a ‘divine comedy’ in which the evil we do is absorbed by the good that overcomes it. The world, you say, does not work that way? Perhaps not. Or perhaps we too are in a story that we do not understand.”
- Stone, Lance, "Forgiveness," Journal for Preachers, 2006. Sermon.
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“I can give you many reasons why forgiveness is a good thing, but at the end of the day there is only one compelling motivation. It is that God is like that. Jesus is like that. And we are called to be like him.”
Matthew 18:21-35
- Binau, Brad A., "'Holding On' and 'Letting Go': the Dynamics of Forgiveness," Word & World, 2007. (See Word & World 27.1 Forgiveness)
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“Living as one who can forgive and be forgiven involves a healthy balance of ‘holding on’ and ‘letting go’ in an appropriate balance of ‘autonomy’ and ‘shame.’ Forgiveness finally is about freedom, the freedom to ‘hold on’ and ‘let go’ at will.”
- Reid, Barbara E., O.P., "Violent Endings in Matthew's Parables and Christian Nonviolence," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2004.
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“The literary tension in the Gospel of Matthew concerning conflicting images of God and the ethical dilemma this poses for disciples who attempt to emulate God can be satisfactorily resolved by understanding the eschatological context of Matthew's eight violent parables. These depict divine action at the end-times, not how human beings are to respond to evildoers in the present. Rather than retaliate violence for violence, disciples of Jesus are to engage in creative acts of nonviolent confrontation, to love their enemies, and to pray for their persecutors, in imitation of God's boundless and indiscriminate love. The Sermon on the Mount gives concrete examples that arouse the imagination to new possibilities for action. The violence in the eschatological parables underscores the seriousness of the choice to follow Jesus' teaching and example. Not all the questions related to this study can be answered through biblical exegesis. Still, the Gospel of Matthew is an important dialogue partner for Christians in the contemporary quest to end violence.”
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