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.
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