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04/05/2014

Textweek ATLAS Links May 1, 2014, Easter 4A

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/yeara/eastera4.htm

EASTER 4A
May 11, 2014

“This article argues that certain Old Testament and early Jewish references to a temple (usually a heavenly or sometimes a latter-day temple) have been formative for the depiction of the Spirit appearing as fire and for other associated features in Acts 2. The conclusion drawn from this is that the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost is a description of the inaugurated eschatological descent to earth of the heavenly temple.”

“Thus, an ordinary, common group of people had an extraordinary experience. In a common life, they gave expression to that experience and calling and became a very uncommon people. They became people who were more interested in service than status, more interested in opportunities than problems, more interested in preference than potential.”

Abstract: “Persistence in prayer is the key theme that runs throughout Luke and Acts. This theme is demonstrated by Jesus' actions throughout the gospel, is taught explicitly in one of the unique parables of Luke (the Persistent Widow), and is highlighted in the ways that Luke edits his gospel. In the book of Acts, this theme is demonstrated by the actions of Peter, Paul, and the early community of faith. Throughout Luke and Acts, persistence in prayer is not a matter of persuading a reluctant God, but rather it is a matter of disciples remaining faithful. In this interval between the "D-Day" of the cross and the "V-Day" of the parousia, not all our prayers are or can be answered. Persistence in prayer is how we remain faithful as we await the eschatological fulfillment of the gospel.”

“Admittedly pastors can learn from growing churches and successful ministries. Yet God's work must be done God's way if it is to know God's blessing.”

“The Psalmist also makes two points: 1) this life is sometimes delightful and sometimes hard; 2) though our circumstances change, the Lord does not. He is with us, his people, all the way through this life and after this life we shall dwell in his house forever. We could sum up the Psalm with the words ‘life after life.’”

“Psalm 23 speaks to the Christian about life s final passage, but it also speaks about other passages, passages which can be negotiated through the whole of life because help comes from the Divine Shepherd.”

“…the women addressed in the Petrine Haustafel deserve closer analysis; because the exhortations have received so much attention, the women themselves have rarely been discussed. As women negotiating problematic familial and social boundaries, they offer a valuable example of an ancient hermeneutic of resistance.”

“Both liberal feminists and conservative traditionalists often base their arguments on an unsupported assertion, namely, that if the biblical text is accepted as authoritative, then Peter's advice to abused slaves must be applied in a straightforward manner to abused women in the modern Western world. Yet, discussion of how to apply 1 Peter to modern abused women rarely addresses the specific social setting of Peter's audience. Thus, an extended analysis of the precise social context of 1 Peter is in order. In particular, we need to assess what, if anything lies behind the passive response Peter recommends to the particular abuse victims in his audience.”

“This is the life to which we are called—what it means to follow the good shepherd, to be part of his flock. To sometimes receive and sometimes give—to know not only in our minds but in our guts security in the face of danger, joy that crowds out sorrow, and love that overwhelms fear. It means being led along paths we would not choose for ourselves, to be prodded by the shepherd who knows our needs better than we know our own, to be blessed so thoroughly and so richly that we would not have even known how to ask for it.”

“Understood in terms of its historical-social context, the self-revelation of Jesus Christ, "I am the door," calls into existence and creates in this world an open-door community in opposition to closed-in communities. The community of Jesus Christ must be an open door to receive and welcome all sorts and conditions of people, just as Jesus received Samaritans, Pharisees, the woman of Samaria, the Roman centurion, Nicodemus, the man born blind, the palsied man, Peter, Thomas, and even Judas.”

“In order adequately to interpret Jesus the Broker in the Fourth Gospel, we need to consider these items in our model. (1) How do brokers become brokers? (2) What do they broker? (3) What makes for successful brokers? (4) What makes these brokers special or necessary? (5) What do brokers get for their services? About these concerns, the Fourth Gospel has much to say.”

04/05/2014 at 02:08 PM |

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