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Textweek ATLAS links, April 14, 2013 Easter 3C

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/yearc/easterc3.htm

Easter 3C

April 14, 2013

Breuer, Sarah Dylan, "Unlimited Good," The Christian Century, 2007.
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"All of us who think of what we own as earned, and of what the world's children need as a burden too heavy to think about, all of us who wonder whether there's room or love enough for us, all of us whose relationships are governed too often by a sense that what's good in the world is limited and always the subject of competition, should keep our ears open to Jesus' voice." 

Johnston, Scott Black, "Looking Death in the Eye," Journal for Preachers, 2007. (Sermon)
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"How many of us would react with fear if we were faced with the possibility of viewing our own death? To glimpse that sight—to watch a film-clip of our final breathing moments—seems so very threatening. No doubt, we too would run from the spectacle. It is frightening to imagine what our final scene will look like. Will I die gracefully? Awkwardly? Tragically?"

Achtemeier, Paul J., "Revelation 5:1-14: Expository Article," Interpretation, 1986.
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"Therefore, says our seer of the Book of Revelation, take comfort, all who labor for the lamb and taste defeat. Lift up your hearts, all who suffer in your following of the lamb. That lamb has won for us a victory which none can take away."

Hurtado, L.W., "Revelation 4-5 in the Light of Jewish Apocalyptic Analogies,"Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 1985.
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"Comparison with analogous scenes in Jewish apocalyptic sources reveals distinguishing features in Rev 4-5 that reflect the author's Christian faith. In Rev 4 the prominence given to the 24 "elders" is deliberate. They are heavenly representatives of the elect and provide assurance of the realities for which the elect hoped, symbolized in the thrones, crowns, and robes. The Lamb of Rev 5 is the well known distinctive here, but even more striking is the worship of the Lamb together with God. Rev 4-5 functions as the introductory scene for the visions that follow in Rev 4-22 and is thoroughly controlled by the author's Christian convictions."

Adkins, Vincent, "The Road to Damascus," The Christian Century, 1987. (Poetry)
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Textweek ATLAS links, April 7, 2013, Easter 2C

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/yearc/easterc2.htm

Easter 2C

April 7, 2013

Blevins, William L., "The Early Church: Acts 1-5," Review & Expositor, 1974.
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"The material which composes Acts 1-5 has not one Sitz im Leben but two. There is the Sitz im Leben of the historical events recorded in these chapters~the actual situation of the earliest Christian community. Also, there is the Sitz im Leben of the author of Luke-Acts-a situation toward the end of the first century A.D. wherein adherents of Gentile Christianity were struggling to validate their gospel and to establish the integrity of their own existence as a viable community of faith."

Hauerwas, Stanley, "Embodied Memory," Journal for Preachers, 1996. (Sermon)
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"What a story we have to tell the world. What a different politics we have to hold up to the world—a politics of memory not governed by blame and guilt. Surely a people capable of being a forgiving people, capable of remembering the Holocaust will be blessed to God—yet do not expect the world to praise us for such remembering. The world does not want to be reminded. But what could be better news than to be God's people—that is, a people called to witness to God's triumph over the terror of the world's forgetfulness by being made participants in God's memory."

Peterson, Heidi A., "Fanning the Flames," The Christian Century, 2001.
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 "The whole point of being free was being free to do ministry. The passage presents a striking contrast between the disposition and mission of the high priest and that of Peter. Throughout, the priest is beset with anger and fear over his mission of shutting Peter down. But not Peter, who is focused on the dissemination of the gospel—a mission that affords him a joyful and resilient attitude."

Breuer, Sarah Dylan, "Never-Ending Story," The Christian Century, 2007.
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"When human history seems like a spiral of violence from beginning to end, we can remind ourselves that Jesus is Alpha and Omega, that the Judge is the Reconciler."

 

Textweek ATLAS links, March 31, Easter Day, 2013

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/yearc/easterdc.htm

Easter Day C

March 31, 2013

Daniel, Lillian, "You Are Grounded, Luke 24:1-12," Journal for Preachers, 2004.
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"In the midst of an empty tomb that looked nothing like what they were expecting, came a message to the lost and the losers—a challenge to spread the good news to all God's people. You don't have to empty the tomb yourself. You just have to point out to others that it's been done."

Clayton, Kimberly L., "The Easter Texts: Getting Hold (or not) of Easter,"Currents in Theology and Mission, 2007.

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"The Risen Christ is on the move in new ways in the world and he calls on Mary to get moving, too. So, after she stayed there that Easter morning, Mary went. And it was her joy, and her responsibility, to announce that a startling new morning of the world had begun." 

Hays, Richard B., "'Do Not Cling to Me,'" The Christian Century, 1992.

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"His resurrection is not an isolated miracle; rather, it is the sign of God's design to defeat the power of death and to embrace fallen creatures into his family."

Copenhaver, Martin B., "Easter Nonsense," Journal for Preachers, 2007. (Sermon)
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"One thing I appreciate about preaching on Easter year after year is the opportunity to notice something new in this familiar story."

Bartlett, David, "The Easter Texts: Hope, Comfort, Courage," Journal for Preachers, 2006.

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"Probably no single sermon can or should attend to all the reasons Paul is so concerned to reaffirm the common faith in Jesus' resurrection, but the preacher needs to remember what's going on here. Throughout I Corinthians, Paul is responding to information he has received about some of the dubious theological claims the Corinthian Christians are making."

 

Brown, Raymond E., "The Resurrection in John 20 -- A Series of Diverse Reactions," Worship, 1990.
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 "John is a gospel of encounters: Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the cripple at Bethesda, the man born blind, Mary and Martha, and even Pilate. One after the other they have made their entrance onto the Johannine stage to encounter Jesus, the light come into the world; and in so doing they have judged themselves by whether or not they continue to come to the light or turn away and prefer darkness (Jn 3:19-21). It is not surprising, then, that the principal Johannine account of the appearances of the risen Jesus becomes a series of encounters illustrating different faith reactions."

 

Textweek ATLAS links, March 24, 2013 PalmSunday / Passion Sunday

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/yearc/palmsc.htm

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/passionc.htm

Passion/Psalm Sunday

March 24, 2012

King, Michael A., "Holy Hate," The Christian Century, 2007.
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"This man has done nothing wrong. Maybe this means that he is the only one who has been able fully to resist our ceaseless craving to take one more step behind the other's sin to claim, "You're wrong, but I'm right." If so, how this only one who has never done wrong behaves when the whole world mockingly assures him "we're right; you're wrong" may be worth copying." 

Brown, Raymond E., "The Passion According to Luke," Worship, 1986.
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"Lucan crucifixion, however, is clearly a moment of God's forgiveness and of healing grace through and by Jesus. The theological language may be different, but the atoning effects are the same."

Gaiser, Frederick J., "A Preacher's Conversation with Second Isaiah," Word and World, 1994.
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"...that's your job—or your privilege—to point to how and where God happens, to call people to be participants in the process. It will take all your creativity and all your courage to get it right, all your poetry and all your prowess to get a hearing. But, give it a shot! You might be amazed to find out what God can do through people he has set free. And so might they!"

Elvey, Anne, "Earth as Intertext: 'The Stones Would Shout Out' (Luke 19:40),Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin, 2006.
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 "A recent article suggests that even in his writing style, Luke levels out "humps and hollows" in the text, favoring instead a kind of narrative enchainment that delimits meaning (see Longenecker)."

Brown, Rebecca Pugh, "Preaching Justice and Mercy: Reflections on the Lectionary Readings for April," The Living Pulpit, 2007. (See also "Atonement," issue focus of The Living Pulpit, 16.2, 2007.)

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"Three themes are significant in this Palm Sunday scripture: pageantry, humility, and mystery."

 

Textweek ATLAS links, March 17, 2013 Lent 5C

Lent 5C
March 17, 2013

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/yearc/lentc5.htm

Eslinger, Lyle, "Judas Game: The Biology of Combat in the Gospel of John,"Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2000.
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 Abstract: "'Judas Game' injects the modern conceptual framework of evolutionary theory and mythology into the discussion of biblical mythology (i.e., the literary reflections of evolving biblical worldviews). Both modern and biblical thought are contoured by a physical and biological pre-history of billions of years. Humans' psychological inheritance is as old and layered as any geological group in the Canadian Rockies. In the light of the last century's accumulating knowledge of this past, certain puzzles of biblical mythology can be clarified. The article takes the example of Judas in the Gospel of John. Judas's paradoxical, troubling role is a conglomerate of our evolved psychological inheritance, clearly visible in the ancient Near Eastern combat myth, and John's theology of providence, itself overlying deeper strata. The argument is based on close reading of literary parallels between John 11 and 12."

 Michaels, J. Ramsey, "Expository Article: John 12:1-11," Interpretation, 1989.
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 "Disciples normally washed the feet of their teachers, even as servants did for their masters, wives for their husbands, or children for their fathers. The Gospel writer has first presented the normal procedure of a disciple washing the feet of her teacher (though the extravagance of a whole pint of expensive perfume was hardly "normal"!), and has used it to anticipate the reversal of normal procedure in Jesus' unforgettable act of washing the feet of his disciples. Mary's act is remarkable for its reckless extravagance, Jesus' act for its reversal of expected roles."

Long, Thomas G., "Gospel Sound Track," The Christian Century, 2001.
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"As the Gospel writer reminds us with his asides, deeper truths shine through the mundane events of life."

Simmons, Elizabeth McGregor, "The Sense of Text: An Invitation to Lenten Preaching," Journal for Preachers, 2004.
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This text (John 12) is explored on page 9: 'The Sense of Scent'. "I can't imagine preaching on John 12:1-8 in a setting with no candles, scented or otherwise."

Hays, Richard B., "Eyes on the Prize," The Christian Century, 1992.
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"Having lost his credibility within the socioreligious structure of Jewish culture, Paul has become a disreputable traveling preacher, trying to stay one jump ahead of the authorities. This letter, however, shows that he was not always successful: it is written from a prison cell. But does Paul look back nostalgically on his former life? No, he says, 'I consider it all crap.' (The Greek word is sky-bala, 'dung'; the KJV, with Elizabethan frankness, preserves the unsavory sense.)"

Textweek ATLAS links, March 10, 2013 - Lent 4C, 2013

Lent 4C
March 10, 2013 

Chance, J. Bradley, "Luke 15: Seeking the Outsiders," Review & Expositor, 1997. 
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"Alienated, oppressed, and resentful: such is the religious character of those who see themselves as righteous and in need of no repentance. The older son, standing outside the banquet hall, illustrates to the reader where people with such a religious disposition end up."

 Duff, Nancy J., "Luke 15:11-32, Between Text and Sermon,"Interpretation, 1995. 
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"A warning: When preaching on reconciliation, one needs to be careful to avoid the pitfalls of cheap grace. Some members of the church have been instructed to forgive ongoing, abusive behavior even when there are no signs that the behavior will stop. These victims of abuse do not need another pastor telling them simply to be forgiving. Rather, they need to hear that true reconciliation among people requires not only forgiveness but transformation. "

Grieb, A. Katherine, "The Real Prodigal," The Christian Century, 2004. 
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"What happens if we focus on the man who had two sons and read this parable as an answer to the question the Corinthians might have asked Paul: What does it mean to be an ambassador for Christ? How does God make an appeal to someone, through us, to be reconciled to God?" 

Wangerin, Walter, Jr., "Jericho," Word & World, 1997.
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"In Wangerin's book, the Bible is retold as a novel. The setting remains the biblical period, though the retelling is modern, appealing to the reader in a new way."

Grieb, A. Katherine, "So That In Him We Might Become the Righteousness of God': Some Theological Reflections on the Church Becoming Justice," Ex Auditu, 2006.
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• Byassee, Jason, "Response to Grieb," Ex Auditu, 2006.
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