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Textweek ATLAS April 19, 2015 Easter 3B

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/easterb3.htm

Easter 3
April 19, 2015

Goldingay, John, "Psalm 4: Ambiguity and Resolution," Tyndale Bulletin, 2006.
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Summary: “Translations of Psalm 4 differ at a number of points and thus point towards different understandings of it. In isolation, the opening verses do indeed raise a number of textual questions, and contain a number of interpretative ambiguities, which leave the reader in some uncertainty; but the last part of the psalm clarifies matters and makes it possible from the end to make coherent sense of the whole. Understanding the psalm thus turns out to resemble understanding a sentence, which cannot be grasped until we have reached the end of it.”

Brusic, Robert M., "A River Ride with 1 John: Texts of the Easter Season," Word & World, 1997. (Section on this text begins on page 215.)
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“The First Letter of John carries us forward in the brisk current of the gospel while shaking us up with its insistence upon coherence between faith and life.”

 

Hiebert, D. Edmond, "An Exposition of 1 John 2:29-3:12," Bibliotheca Sacra, 1989.
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Having enjoined his readers to contemplate God's love-gift, John then gave personal expression to that love by addressing them as "beloved" (Αγαπητοί) (cf. 2:7). The recipients of God's love are also loved by the apostle. He united his readers with himself in contemplating God's saving love in the present and the future:

Karris, Robert J., "Luke's Soteriology of With-ness," Currents in Theology and Mission, 1985.
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At the end of Luke's Gospel there occurs the story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. (24:13-35) Again we find Jesus eating with outcasts, but this time the outcasts are two of his disciples who have abandoned the journey of faith and left Jerusalem, the city of the new life of the resurrection. The Messianic Banquet is also for these folks.

Johnson, Andy, "Our God Reigns: The Body of the Risen Lord in Luke 24," Word & World, 2002.
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“In the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, God has begun the ultimate reversal of the current social and political order. In resurrection, God remains faithful to creation, redeeming it in its entirety.”

Textweek ATLAS April 12, 2015 Easter 2B

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/easterb2.htm

Easter 2
April 12, 2015

Finger, Reta Halteman, "Cultural Attitudes in Western
Christianity toward the Community of Goods in Acts 2 and 4," Mennonite
Quarterly Review, 2004.
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Abstract:
“In Acts 2 and 4, the Lukan author summarizes the nature of the Jerusalem
church by describing a community of shared material goods. Because the texts
are descriptive, rather than prescriptive, it has not been clear whether they
should be considered normative for church life. Through analysis of some of the
major Acts commentators, this article comprises a Western history of
interpretation of these texts from the Reformation to the present, noting the way
in which the social and political locations of the interpreters has shaped
their understanding of these passages. The essay argues that a social science
analysis is essential for an understanding of the normative socioeconomic
system of first-century Palestine. Only by recognizing what is unusual about
the communal organization of the early church can we decide how to apply these
texts to Christian communal life in our culture today.”

Juel,Donald, "Acts and the Easter Season," Word & World, 1985.
(Section on this text begins on p. 210)
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“Peter'sfearless speech in the presence of the authorities contrasts sharply with his
performance at Jesus' trial, where he denied him three times. Like the rest of
the apostles who have received the Spirit, Peter is a new person.”

Brusic, Robert M., "A River Ride with 1 John: Texts of the
Easter Season," Word & World, 1997. (Section on this text
begins on page 213.)
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“The First Letter of John carries us forward in the brisk current of the gospel while
shaking us up with its insistence upon coherence between faith and life.”

Wink, Walter, "Resonating with God's Song," The
Christian Century, 1994.
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“Thomas represents this modern demand for historical proof: he wants empirical
evidence. When Jesus appears to him, however, he appears to forget all about actually placing his
finger in the nail holes and his hand in Jesus' side. He instantly flips from
skepticism to the most exalted confession in the New Testament: he calls Jesus
‘my Lord and my God.’ Jesus upbraids his literalism and anticipates the
blessedness of all those future believers ‘who have not seen and yet have come
to believe.’ Thomas wants proof; he gets presence.

Harstine, Stan, "Un-Doubting Thomas: Recognition Scenes in
the Ancient World," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2006.
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“This paper will survey the recognition scenes in the Fourth Gospel and Homer's
Odyssey in order to identify some common literary conventions available to
ancient auditors in these ‘type scenes.’ A further examination of the usage of
the word ATTÌSTOS in classical literature will be made in order to
approximate the historical context of Thomas's words in the first century.
After highlighting these literary conventions, both ancient and modern, this
paper asks its readers whether or not they should ‘un-doubt’ Thomas.

Textweek ATLAS links April 5, 2015 Easter 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/yearb/easterdb.htm

Easter Sunday
April 5, 2015

Bond, L. Susan, "Scripture and Theology, Acts 10:34-43," Interpretation, 2002.
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“The radical edge of the gospel takes us beyond the coziness of Christian community and into a new eschatological hope. The evangelistic mandate to take this gospel into all the world (which is what Peter and Paul were about in the book of Acts) means we have to forsake religious privilege in order to envision a world where there are no clean or unclean, no insiders and no outsiders, and where we all gather to share the earth's bounty at a common table (Weiser, 88; J. D. Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography [San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994] 69).”

Miller, Glenn T., "Isaiah 25:6-9, Between Text and Sermon," Interpretation, 1995.
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“Most of the time, like Babylon, we are content to be the children of pride. Yet, somewhere deep down—in those secrets of the heart that lie in the moments between sleep and wakefulness—we know that our decision to be both saved and savior will not work.”

Adams, Joanna M., "Good News Indeed," Journal for Preachers, 2004.
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"There is a sense in which the resurrection is entirely God's business.”

Bartlett, David, "The Easter Texts: Hope, Comfort, Courage," Journal for Preachers, 2006.
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“I have come to translate that into my own terms as a reminder that has helped me preach on more than one occasion: "When I am in doubt about what I believe, I preach what we believe." Not I, the preacher, but we, the church, the community of faith, the communion of saints. The gift of the texts assigned for Easter is that each of them, in quite different ways, helps us remember what we believe.”

Bolt, Peter G., "Mark 16:1-8: The Empty Tomb of a Hero?" Tyndale Bulletin, 1996.
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“This is no Hero's tomb; nor is it the tomb of some fortunate who has found a way around death for himself and himself alone. This tomb is that of the Son of Man, whose emptied tomb is pregnant with hope for the many.”

Textweek/ATLAS links March 29, 2015 - Passion/Palm 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/yearb/palmsb.htm / http://www.textweek.com/yearb/passionb.htm.

Passion/Palm Sunday
March 29, 2015

Craddock, Fred, "Protest March: Palm Sunday Examined," The Christian Century, 2003.
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“The final Sunday of Lent is therefore marked by a celebratory parade, which was also a protest march. Only Jesus knew that the same event was also a funeral procession.”

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…”

Cousar, Charles B., "Paul and the Death of Jesus," Interpretation, 1998.
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“Paul uses a rich variety of metaphors to express the significance of Jesus' death. Far from giving permission to those in power to silence the powerless, the cross becomes the paradigm of self-sacrificing service for the whole community of faith.”

Reid, Barbara E., O.P., "Telling Mark's Story of the Passion," Currents in Theology and Mission, 2006.
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“Mark's story of Jesus' passion is distinctive for its stark portrayal of an anguished Jesus, deserted by his disciples and seemingly abandoned by God as well. He is the silent lamb led to the slaughter who opens not his mouth.”

Medley, Mark S., "Emancipatory Solidarity: The Redemptive Significance of Jesus in Mark," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 1994.'
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“In the Gospel of Mark the cross is not a surprise nor an arbitrary final event in the life of Jesus. Jesus' life and death derive meaning from his commitment to a life-praxis of solidarity, which is grounded in his Abba experience, with those oppressed by patriarchal structures.”