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/propera18.htm
Proper 18, Ordinary 23, Pentecost +13
September 7, 2014
- Cox, Dorian G. Coover, "The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart In Its Literary and Cultural Contexts," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2006.
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“Egyptians prized the ability to appear strong, firm, resolute, and unmoved by events.”
- Irwin, Brian P., "Yahweh's Suspension of Free Will in the Old Testament: Divine Immorality or Sign-Act?" Tyndale Bulletin, 2003.
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Abstract: “Several passages in the Old Testament portray Yahweh as behaving in ways that seem unfair or immoral. Two such narratives are the episodes describing the hardening of Pharaoh's heart and the spirit dispatched to deceive Ahab. In each of these two cases, careful attention to the literary context and the final form of the MT shows that Yahweh 's behaviour is best understood as a sign-act directed toward a specific end.”
- Simundson, Daniel J., "Comfort and Challenge: Prophetic Preaching in Pentecost," Word & World, 1996. (Section on this text begins on page 374.)
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The section on this text begins on page 374. “Ezekiel gives us another slant on the difficulties inherent in being one of God's prophets. (We have seen aspects of this already in Elijah and Jeremiah.) One of the functions of a prophet is to be a sentinel, a watchman, a lookout who sees the danger coming and tries to rouse people out of their doldrums before it is too late.”
- Gorman, Michael J., "Romans 13:8-14,"Interpretation, 2008.
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“The preacher's task here is to refocus the church on the need to embrace Christ daily, even moment by moment. Otherwise, the powers of darkness and evil either look more and more appealing or become less and less obvious, so that we are seduced by them as if we were half-asleep (v. 11). The Greek word for sleep is hypnos, and while we cannot attribute the notion of being "hypnotized" to Paul himself here, it is nonetheless true that Christians as well as others can become so accustomed to the normalcy of evil that we live under its spell, as if hypnotized by a power outside ourselves that we cannot discern or dislodge.”
- Illian, Bridget, "Church Discipline and Forgiveness in Matthew 18:15-35,"Currents in Theology and Mission, 2014.
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"In far too many churches women and children who have suffered abuse at the hands of parents, spouses, family, and even church officials have been urged to forgive the offenders unconditionally and, in cases of spouses, to continue to live with them. Instead of taking allegations of abuse seriously and becoming the witnesses that the most vulnerable members of our communities need, too many church communities have turned the intent of Matthew 18 on its head and pressured victims to be silent or to leave."
- Nelson, Randy A., "Exegeting Forgiveness," American Theological Inquiry, 2012.
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"Part of the problem with conditional forgiveness is that it attempts to turn forgiveness into a formula."
- Cooper-White, Pamela, "Forgiveness: Grace, not Work," Journal for Preachers, 2009.
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“This grace does not (and perhaps need not) come to everyone. It is not a matter of magic that we can invoke or a prize we can earn. There are no "should's" in any of this, nor should we hold this in front of survivors of violence as a goal at the end of an emotional or therapeutic process. Perhaps the best pastoral counsel we can give to someone who may be feeling pressure (either internal or external) to forgive an offender is this: Sometimes people may have a feeling of having forgiven another person as a letting go and moving on, but do not blame yourself if you are not "there" in your own emotional life. Forgiveness is a gift of grace, and it may be given to you in God's own good time. In the meantime, don't worry, and don't be preoccupied with something that is God's job to do, not yours.”
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