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/propera11.htm
Proper 11, Ordinary 16, Pentecost +6
July 20, 2014
- Bridges, Linda McKinnish, "Preaching the Parables in Matthew's Gospel in Ordinary Time: The Extraordinary Tales of God's World," Review & Expositor, 2007. (Section on this text begins on p.342, but is best read in context of entire article.)
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“The point of this story is that evil and good are living together, side by side.”
- Glancy, Jennifer A., "Slaves and Slavery in the Matthean Parables," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2000.
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“Readers of Matthew recognize the disciplined flesh of parabolic slaves as an antitype, a model to avoid. Curiously, however, Matthew features another tortured body as a model to emulate, the battered and crucified body of Jesus. Jesus himself calls his followers to be willing to endure the sufferings of the cross (Matt 16:24). In a peculiar way, the corporal punishment of disobedient slaves in the Matthean parables foreshadows the broken body of Jesus: ridiculed, beaten, executed. A final, counter-line of inquiry into the Matthean ideology of slavery would ask whether the crucifixion of Jesus prompts us to reconsider our interpretations of the slaves whose representations prefigure the Gospels climactic scenes of torture.”
- Schellenberg, Ryan S., "Kingdom as Contaminant? The Role of Repertoire in the Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2009.
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“As I will demonstrate, however, the evidence for the use of mustard seed and leaven as stock images in the early first century is surprisingly sparse. The putative symbolic valences of mustard seed and leaven are simply not well enough attested to bear the interpretive weight that has been placed on them. My intent here is not to propose an alternative interpretation instead, I hope simply to demonstrate that, lacking any evidence of established symbolism, interpretation of the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven must instead be derived from the internal logic of the parables themselves and from the narrative contexts in which they are embedded.”
- Bridgford, Kim, "Jacob's Ladder," The Christian Century, 2007. (Poetry)
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Poetry – scroll down on page.
- Oblath, Michael, "'To Sleep, perchance to Dream...': What Jacob Saw at Bethel (Genesis 28.10-22)," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2001.
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Abstract: “The focal point of Jacob's dream at Bethel, the sulläm is almost universally accepted as a ladder or staircase Through an analysis of the language of Gen 28 10-22 it is evident that the biblical author makes reference to the physical structure of the sulläm within the context of the story The sulläm is identified as the 'gate of heaven' Thus, even though sulläm is a hapax legomenon, its meaning may be derived as the result of the description in the text This analysis suggests that the sulläm is to be understood as an enclosed Near Eastern gate structure It is oriented vertically in the manner and likeness of other Near Eastern gates through which deities and celestial objects traveled between realms.”
- Whartenby, Thomas J., Jr., "Genesis 28:10-22, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1991.
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“The vision may be ambiguous; the message is clear. A trickster and a supplanter has been chosen to further the divine purposes. Jacob had used his wits and cunning to advance his own cause; now they are to be put into God's service. Later this same God will use the envy of Joseph's brothers, Nebuchadnezzar's lust for conquest, Cyrus's political acumen, and Caiaphas's worldly wisdom to advance the divine scheme of salvation.”
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