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10/27/2011

Textweek ATLAS Links Advent 1B November 27, 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.

Advent 1B

November 27, 2011

 

Isaiah 64:1-9

Underlying either reading of this text is a larger theological issue that merits reflection. God can hide and still be active [present] in holy judgment (64:7). So, too, God can be silent and be active [present] in severe punishment (64:12).

 

Psalm 80

“In short, we both celebrate and wait. To live in this paradox is to confront God in every circumstance and at every moment of our lives.”

 

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

“Self-promotion. Self-interest. Self-mastery. Self-indulgence. How convenient it is, for readers of Scripture in late 2008, that these traits of first-century Corinth so closely parallel the contours of our own place and time. For just as Corinthian Christians struggled to embody a marginalized message of sacrifice in an era of aggrandizement, so too, today's church searches for an authentic voice amid the clamor of our culture's competing claims.”

 

Mark 13:24-37

Summary: “This article defends the view that Mark's sayings on the coming of the Son of Man (Mark 8:38; 13:24-27; 14:62) refer to Jesus' parousia, against claims made by R. T. France and Ν. Τ Wright. According to France and Wright, these sayings call attention to the vision of Daniel 7:9-14, in which 'one like a son of man' comes into the presence of God for the purpose of enthronement, and point to Jesus' post-mortem vindication, not his second coming. It is argued here that the Markan passages in question link Daniel 7:13 with other Old Testament texts and motifs, in particular, texts (such as Zechariah 14:3) and images about God's future coming to earth; the selective combination of Scriptures and scriptural images and their application to Jesus generates the essential concept of his parousia - his coming as exalted Lord from heaven to earth at the end of history.”

 

“How could this passage actually serve as a starting point for the life and work of the church? As we begin again the cycle of a new liturgical year, what room are we leaving for real transformation (startling, in-breaking change) to take place in the lives of our congregations and in our own lives? From its opening words, the text challenges the predictable and repetitive way we follow the liturgical year. To listen carefully to the text is to let go of the temptation to treat the first Sunday of Advent as the time simply to light a candle on the Advent wreath to help us count the Sundays until Christmas! Taking Mark's Gospel seriously rips a hole in our careful designs and plans.”

10/27/2011 at 12:55 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS Links Christ the King / Reign of Christ

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.

Christ the King / Reign of Christ

November 20, 2011

 

Psalm 100

“This Psalm is one of the best-known and best-loved in the entire repertoire of the Psalter. It breathes a faith of simple trust, glad surrender, and faithful responsiveness. It is not sung by newcomers who are only now embracing the faith but by those who are seasoned and at home in this faith and piety. Nor is it sung by the alienated who have any cause either against God or neighbor.”

 

Psalm 95

 

Byars, Ronald P., "Between Text & Sermon, Psalm 95," Interpretation, 2002.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

 

“It may be that the crisis for faith in our time is linked to the habit of shrinking God to a manageable size. There is among us a widespread agnosticism, on the one hand, and a surfeit of easy God-talk on the other.”

 

Ephesians 1:15-23

“The writer wants the Gentile recipients to apprehend and be apprehended by "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (v. 3) that have been experienced already by the Jewish community. Ultimately, he prays for and, indeed, declares that those two communities have been constituted by the one God to live into the fullness of Christ's work and to experience it together as one body.”

 

Matthew 25:14-30

“One of the ways Moltmann expresses this thought is by the use of the term ‘anticipation.’ For him, the Christ event is not only the subject of Christian proclamation, but it also affects the process of proclamation and the way it takes place. As the Christ event anticipates the future of God, so Christian proclamation functions to do the same.”

 

10/27/2011 at 12:33 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS Links Proper 28A Ordinary 33A Pentecost +22 Nov 13, 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 28A / Ordinary 33A / Pentecost +22
November 13, 2011 

Judges 4:1-7

“Our story is revealed as a variation on one central theme—the identity of the savior—which also testifies to its integrity. Is it now possible to separate an original story from a later redaction responsible for openings and closings? The suitability of the beginning and end to the other components of the story suggests other possibilities. For instance, perhaps the redactor who arranged the openings and finales also designed the body of the stories? Perhaps the original version was so worked over that it lost its pristine tenor and cannot be extricated from the present text. In my opinion, that is what actually happened.”

 

 

Zephaniah 1:7-18

“Notions of building and planting have profound significance in the discourse of biblical literature. One important indication of this is the inner-biblical discourse of a wartime curse, which threatens Israel in the following words, "You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not harvest its fruit" (Deut 28:30). A survey of biblical literature reveals that this particular curse held an especially prominent place in the discourse of ancient Israel and early Judaism…”

 

 

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

The section on this text begins on page 199. “…Those rescued from wrath should remember that the death of Christ offers life with Christ both here and hereafter (5:10). This theological reality should impact their ethical activity until he comes; who they are should affect what they do. The indicative and imperative meet in Paul once again.”

 

 

Matthew 25:14-30

“Matthew’s community remembers Jesus Christ and awaits Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew serves as guide for this twofold endeavor. By its teachings the community knows what to remember and therefore how to wait. Tucked in the middle of chapter 25 of this manual is Matthew's parable of the Talents (w. 14-30). The parable tells the community a story about what three servants did in their master's absence. Two knew how to wait. One did not.”

“Every Thanksgiving my family gathers at my parents ' home in Oklahoma. During our Thanksgiving meal, each of us names that for which we have been thankful in the past year. I usually have something nice to say. I even had something nice to say last year when we gathered only a week after Micah died. But a year later, I did not. All I could be thankful for this year was that in the community of faith there are others who can give thanks to God for me when I cannot. They can "choose faith" for me. They can hold me in prayer and hope while I'm tossed about by grief and doubt. I can be thankful for that. And perhaps one day, I will again feel in my heart the blessing that is God's abundant love outlasting the pain and sorrow, the doubt and anger, and even the fear.”

10/27/2011 at 12:10 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS Links Proper 27 Ordinary 23 Pentecost 21 November 6, 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 27A / Ordinary 32A / Pentecost +21

November 6, 2011

 

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

“Consumerism has become a demonic spiritual force. Does the gospel have the power to help us withstand it?”

“We feel the compelling power of the words. ‘Choose this day whom you will serve,’ Joshua says, and we can almost hear his tone of voice. This is important to Joshua; this is vital; this is urgent; this is spoken in the imperative mood. A choice has to be made, and not just any choice at that. On this choice depends the future of the nation.”

 

 

Amos 5:18-24

“More interesting still is the fact that Amos, like King, was not afraid to rework the standard idiom of his tradition in order to adapt it to his own purposes.”

“Amos speaks a difficult word to those who believe they have a special claim on God because God has a unique, covenantal relationship with them. To be chosen by God is no reason for self-satisfaction or self-righteousness. God has called us for mission, not privilege.”

“Amos's famous diatribes against music and ritual make no sense as denunciations of worship itself But they should continue to worry us profoundly as warnings against music and worship that anesthetize us against the justice that Amos calls for and that God requires.”

 

 

Matthew 25:1-13

Abstract: “The reality of violence and the question of how best to respond to it are crucial dimensions of biblical interpretation. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus teaches nonviolence and conducts his mission nonviolently, yet Matthew envisages that as the returning Son of humanity he will indulge in violent retribution at the parousia. This article probes the discrepancy between Matthew's ethical portrait of Jesus as a teacher of nonretaliation and his (own) violent eschatology. Following a survey of select studies of Matthew's retributive eschatology, the moral problem of eschatological violence is considered. The article concludes with some hermeneutical reflections on potential responses to eschatological vengeance in Matthew.”

 

“Jesus warns us that we cannot prepare for the future by making safe little warrens for ourselves and our loved ones. It does not work. The fate of those without resources is inherently and intrinsically bound up with the fate of those of us who have resources.”

  •  

The Gospel writers were theologians and not just reporters. They collected and revised earlier material, then aimed it at specific situations in their own era. It is hard to evaluate how much the average congregation knows of Bible stories, let alone biblical criticism. Preachers and teachers of the Word have a responsibility, however, to make such knowledge available and practical. We may even find that the homiletical loaves have miraculously multiplied.

10/27/2011 at 11:23 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

10/01/2011

Textweek ATLAS Proper 26 Ordinary 21 P+20 Oct 30, 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 26 / Ordinary 31 / Pentecost +20

October 30, 2011

 

Matthew 23:1-12

“…our tendency has been to fight our fiercest battles at the theological periphery of evangelicalism, where we believe the limits of tolerance have been exceeded. We rarely ask who in our midst may be equally misguided (and possibly even more dangerous) because they have drawn the boundaries too narrowly rather than too broadly.”

 

“…The construction of the "other" takes an interesting turn, however, as the polemic finds expression in the language of "masks." The author of Matthew creates a constant and systematic attack on Jewish leadership. As the reader moves through the barrage of accusations of hypocrisy, it becomes clear that Matthew sees the Jewish leaders as no more than actors on a stage, actors whose motions and actions (of ostensible law-abiding righteousness) belie the lack of righteousness just beneath the surface. The strength of this polemic is doubly damning because not only are these opponents denounced for cloaking themselves in disguise, but they are also condemned for leading others astray by their deception (e.g., 23:15). Here again the polarity between the opponent and Matthew's community is revealed in the chasm between "us" and "them," but revealed this time by the deconstruction of the "other," the unmasking of the enemy.”

 

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

“The figure of Satan is deeply woven into the fabric of the Bible and theology, including the theology of Martin Luther. Satan symbolizes evil better than any other symbol in history.”

 

“By omitting such difficult texts from public discourse in the church, we are leaving the hardest parts of the Bible for people to make sense of on their own—or relinquishing our duties to radio and television preachers who are not as squeamish as we. Either way, we are supporting a sanitized version of holy scripture that allows people to speak breezily of the Bible as "life's instruction book."”

 

Micah 3:5-12

Abstract: “This article constitutes the first half of a statement on a possible paradigm for Old Testament theology. To a large extent, the Old Testament borrows from the "common religion" of the ancient Near East, which serves to legitimate theological order and so to authorize political-social-economic order in the name of the deity. This structure-legitimating function is evident in the Mosaic tradition of covenant, the prophets, Deuteronomic theology, and the sapiential tradition of Proverbs. In various ways it is argued that God's governance is to maintain an order that cannot be mocked, disregarded, or nullified. While this function contains important religious affirmation, it also lends itself to ideological use by those in positions of power. This theological motif, which is everywhere present is, by itself, inadequate, for it cannot very well acknowledge the incongruities which occur in human experience. It is a primary concern of the Old Testament to correct and protest against commitment to order through the embrace of pain. This tension between order and pain is present, not only in the life of Israel, but in the very life of God.”

“What may this passage have to teach us about the necessity of competing theological visions within the church and the concomitant necessity of responding to our opponents with grace and humility?”

 

Joshua 3:7-17

“The Israelites stood beside the Jordan River for three days contemplating its importance as a boundary into the Promised Land and feeling the concern about crossing it safely. In the same way, the reader is brought again and again to see the roiling river by the repetition of the word "Jordan." The narrator says it. Joshua says it. The Lord himself says it over and over again. Narrative-geographical analysis of this text has shed new light on this repetition, allowing us to better answer the question of why Joshua's readers keep crossing the river.”

10/01/2011 at 01:07 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Textweek ATLAS Pr 25 OT 30 P+19 October 23, 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 25 / Ordinary 30 / Pentecost +19

October 23, 2011

 

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

“Preaching this text is challenging but worthwhile. The text is rich with issues that resonate with our current situation. We should receive the text as the word of God, which we need even when it judges our failings. We see in these commands and prohibitions the God who is holy, and the God who calls us to holiness. That holiness is not simply ritual and spiritual, but tangibly related to the way we choose to live together as members of local communities, specific and connected congregations, and the one global village.”

“The treatment of the neighbor says more about one's theological commitments than any ecclesial confession. Indeed, how one defines the neighbor—that is, how one determines who is one's neighbor—reveals the kind of God in whom one believes.”

 

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

“The similarities between Paul and Dio, and between Paul and Cynicism in general, can be extended, but these suffice to show that there are verbal and formal parallels between Paul and Dio that must be taken into account in any consideration of I Thess. ii.”

“It is striking that Paul, a single man who elsewhere argues in favor of celibacy, chooses to portray his pastoral labors among the Thessalonian Christians with the family metaphors of an infant, a nursing mother, and a father. The apostle effectively defends the integrity of his mission-founding work by asserting that he acted in away that was as innocent as an infant, as loving as a nursing-mother, and as authoritative as a father. These three family metaphors provide not only pastors but also teachers of pastors with powerful pictures of how they ought to conduct themselves in their divine calling.”

 

Matthew 22:34-46

Abstract: “Using the ambiguity of a text, the writer suggests Jesus was implicitly arguing that though he could be perceived to be the Messiah, the title "son of David" should not lead people to think that he was going to restore, unite and rule the kingdom of Israel. Jesus in fact was doing a silent revolution subverting the tyrannical legacy of David and his original son Solomon. The writer offers a rereading of the "son of David" verses in the Gospels which cohere around the Matthean version of Jesus' "triumphal entry into Jerusalem." The Gospel writers contrast David with Jesus, with special reference to their three areas of identification: geographical, ministerial and administrative. This contrast, he shows, finds its climax in the last of book of the Bible where a mighty "lion of Judah" turns out to be a "vulnerable Lamb" who is projected as holding the key of history and is the crucified centre of all powers and authorities. This study challenges the uncritical glorification of David in the Christian tradition.”

10/01/2011 at 11:30 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)