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Textweek ATLAS links Easter 6B, May 13, 2012

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:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb6.htm

Easter 6B

May 13, 2012

Matson, David Lertis and Warren S. Brown, "Turning the Faith: The Cornelius Story in Resonance Perspective," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2006.
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“The decision to admit Gentiles into the community of faith without the benefit of circumcision will have earth-shattering consequences in the subsequent history of the Christian church. Yet that far-reaching decision, observes Johnson, ‘is not made all at once. It is not made by the entire church from the beginning. It is not made on the basis of a priori principles and practices. Even the Scripture and the words of Jesus are reread. The decision, rather, is the result of a long process, involving many believers in many places, and the decisions of many local communities.’ It is also, we might add, the result of a long and fruitful process of ‘tuning the faith,’ which allowed those early Christian communities to hear God's voice and do God's will.”

Persaud, Winston D., "Believing in Jesus Christ in This Postmodern World," Word & World, 2007.
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"…in the baptism of Cornelius and his household, we have a timely reminder that the Christian message is transcultural, transpolitical, and intergenerational.”

Davis, Ellen F., "Expository Article: Psalm 98," Interpretation, 1992.
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“Praise is, then, properly understood as an expression of shared commitment to the world. It is the motive force for the ongoing conversation between God and humanity that extends through history and is, from an Israelite perspective, the only real content of history.”

Textweek ATLAS links: Easter 5B, May 6, 2012

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:
http://www.textweek.com/yearb/easterb5.htm

Easter 5B
May 6, 2012

Brueggemann, Walter, "Dialogue between Incommensurate Partners: Prospects for Common Testimony," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2001.
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The section on the Acts text begins on page 389. “These two references to ‘the Spirit’ are signals that this is no ordinary exegesis of the text; rather, it is a God-given interpretation that inescapably links the best hope of Israel for a bearer of sin and the reality of Jesus in that role. The linkage is essential to the early church, but it is a linkage made only by a leap of interpretation that is not required by the text itself.”

Smith, Abraham, "'Do You Understand What You Are Reading?': A Literary Critical Reading of the Ethiopian (Kushite) Episode (Acts 8:26-40)," Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, 1994.
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“Acts 8:26-40 cannot be seen as an isolated and unconnected episode. As we have seen through this careful literary critical reading, the Ethiopian episode has at least four functions…”

Martin, Clarice J., "A Chamberlain's Journey and the Challenge of Interpretation for Liberation," Semeia, 1989.
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Abstract: “A survey of the literature on the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion in Acts 8:26-40 reveals a predominant interest in its prophecy-fulfillment character and apologetic tenor. The Ethiopian's ethnographic identity and geographic provenance have, by contrast, received negligible attention. In fact, his ethnographic identity in particular has been characterized as both ‘indeterminable’ and ‘inconsequential’ for Luke's theological purposes in Acts. These theses have been roundly challenged in this essay, with the methodological issues engendered by a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ receiving particular analysis. An introductory review of (1) some of the theological trajectories of the pericope is followed by (2) a documentary assessment of the Ethiopian's ethnographic identity, (3) his geographic provenance, and finally (4) an analysis of the impact of how a ‘politics of omission’ has been operative in perpetuating a lack of familiarity with Ethiopians in antiquity and in contemporary culture.

Mesle, Bob, "A Friend's Love: Why Process Theology Matters," The Christian Century, 1987.
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“Process theology may not be true, but those who argue that it is irrelevant or unimportant have chosen the wrong ground. How can Christians look at the crucified Christ and say that it does not matter if God is "the great companion—the fellow-sufferer who understands"? How can Christians who both respect the integrity of honest searchers and believe that God actively seeks to reveal the divine love fail to appreciate the way in which process theology makes sense of the world's ambiguity? How can Christians affirm with I John 4:19 that we love because God first loved us and think it religiously unimportant that the world's evolution is grounded in creative, responsive love? I once knew such a divine Friend's love, and it mattered. It matters whether process theology is true because it matters whether Someone loves us.”

Derickson, Gary W., "Viticulture and John 15:1-6," Bibliotheca Sacra, 1996.
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When Jesus gave the analogy of the vine and the branches, He based it on the cultural practice of His day, which was to clean up only the fruit-bearing branches and tidy up the rows during the early spring growth following blooming. Severe pruning and removal of branches did not occur until the grapes were harvested and dormancy was being induced.