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Textweek/ATLAS May 17, 2015 Easter 7B

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/easterb7.htm

Easter 7
May 17, 2015

Novick, Tzvi, "Succeeding Judas: Exegesis in Acts
1:15-26," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2010.
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“Peter highlights a contradiction between Ps 69:26 and Ps
109:8: How can Judas s office both remain unfilled and be occupied by another?
Peter provides the solution in the next two verses (1:21-22). Judas s successor
must already have been active among the apostolic group from the moment of
Jesus' baptism until his ascension.”

Creach, Jerome F.D., "Like a Tree Planted by the Temple
Stream: the Portrait of the Righteous in Psalm 1:3," The Catholic
Biblical Quarterly, 1999. 
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“Whatever else may be said about the introductory role of
Psalm 1, Ps 1:3a gives a particular cast to subsequent references to the temple
as security (in Pss 52:10; 92:13-15). It is now meditation on tôrâ that makes
the righteous steadfast, like a tree planted by the temple stream.”

Tuell, Steven Shawn, "Psalm 1," Interpretation,
2009.
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 “Psalm 1 was not placed at the opening of the Psalter by
accident: indeed, this poem may have been composed to introduce the book.”

Cadier, Jean, "The Unity of the
Church: An Exposition of John 17," Interpretation, 1957.
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Fascinating – written in 1957. “But this glory, this
heavenly life which has appeared on earth, is only a seed, whose full opening,
whose full ripening and harvest will, one day, be granted in the Kingdom.”

Textweek/ATLAS May 10, 2015, Easter 6B

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/easterb6.htm

Easter 6
May 10, 2015

Matson, David Lertis and Warren S. Brown, "Turning the Faith: The Cornelius Story in Resonance Perspective," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2006.
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“The decision to admit Gentiles into the community of faith without the benefit of circumcision will have earth-shattering consequences in the subsequent history of the Christian church. Yet that far-reaching decision, observes Johnson, ‘is not made all at once. It is not made by the entire church from the beginning. It is not made on the basis of a priori principles and practices. Even the Scripture and the words of Jesus are reread. The decision, rather, is the result of a long process, involving many believers in many places, and the decisions of many local communities.’ It is also, we might add, the result of a long and fruitful process of ‘tuning the faith,’ which allowed those early Christian communities to hear God's voice and do God's will.”

Persaud, Winston D., "Believing in Jesus Christ in This Postmodern World," Word & World, 2007.
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"…in the baptism of Cornelius and his household, we have a timely reminder that the Christian message is transcultural, transpolitical, and intergenerational.”

Davis, Ellen F., "Expository Article: Psalm 98," Interpretation, 1992.
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“Praise is, then, properly understood as an expression of shared commitment to the world. It is the motive force for the ongoing conversation between God and humanity that extends through history and is, from an Israelite perspective, the only real content of history.”

Textweek ATLAS May 3, 2015 Easter 5B

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/easterb5.htm

Easter 5
May 3, 2015

Brueggemann, Walter, "Dialogue between Incommensurate Partners: Prospects for Common Testimony," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2001.
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The section on the Acts text begins on page 389. “These two references to ‘the Spirit’ are signals that this is no ordinary exegesis of the text; rather, it is a God-given interpretation that inescapably links the best hope of Israel for a bearer of sin and the reality of Jesus in that role. The linkage is essential to the early church, but it is a linkage made only by a leap of interpretation that is not required by the text itself.”  

Smith, Abraham, "'Do You Understand What You Are Reading?': A Literary Critical Reading of the Ethiopian (Kushite) Episode (Acts 8:26-40)," Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, 1994.
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“Acts 8:26-40 cannot be seen as an isolated and unconnected episode. As we have seen through this careful literary critical reading, the Ethiopian episode has at least four functions… 

Martin, Clarice J., "A Chamberlain's Journey and the Challenge of Interpretation for Liberation,"Semeia, 1989.
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Abstract: “A survey of the literature on the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion in Acts 8:26-40 reveals a predominant interest in its prophecy-fulfillment character and apologetic tenor. The Ethiopian's ethnographic identity and geographic provenance have, by contrast, received negligible attention. In fact, his ethnographic identity in particular has been characterized as both ‘indeterminable’ and ‘inconsequential’ for Luke's theological purposes in Acts. These theses have been roundly challenged in this essay, with the methodological issues engendered by a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ receiving particular analysis. An introductory review of (1) some of the theological trajectories of the pericope is followed by (2) a documentary assessment of the Ethiopian's ethnographic identity, (3) his geographic provenance, and finally (4) an analysis of the impact of how a ‘politics of omission’ has been operative in perpetuating a lack of familiarity with Ethiopians in antiquity and in contemporary culture. 

Mesle, Bob, "A Friend's Love: Why Process Theology Matters," The Christian Century, 1987.
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“Process theology may not be true, but those who argue that it is irrelevant or unimportant have chosen the wrong ground. How can Christians look at the crucified Christ and say that it does not matter if God is "the great companion—the fellow-sufferer who understands"? How can Christians who both respect the integrity of honest searchers and believe that God actively seeks to reveal the divine love fail to appreciate the way in which process theology makes sense of the world's ambiguity? How can Christians affirm with I John 4:19 that we love because God first loved us and think it religiously unimportant that the world's evolution is grounded in creative, responsive love? I once knew such a divine Friend's love, and it mattered. It matters whether process theology is true because it matters whether Someone loves us.”

Derickson, Gary W., "Viticulture and John 15:1-6," Bibliotheca Sacra, 1996.
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 When Jesus gave the analogy of the vine and the branches, He based it on the cultural practice of His day, which was to clean up only the fruit-bearing branches and tidy up the rows during the early spring growth following blooming. Severe pruning and removal of branches did not occur until the grapes were harvested and dormancy was being induced.

Textweek ATLAS April 26, 2015 Easter 4B

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/easterb4.htm

Easter 4
April 26, 2015

Boesak, Allan Aubrey, "In the Name of Jesus: Acts 4:12," Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 1985.
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“If people are being changed, if the structures of the world are being confronted, if the very world itself is faced with the challenge to be transformed, then no longer hatred but love shall rule, no longer fear but boldness shall rule, no longer injustice but justice shall rule.”

Sharma, Arvind, "Christian Proselytization: A Hindu Perspective," Missiology, 2005.
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“Proselytization in some form is usually perceived as an inalienable aspect of Christian identity, yet this aspect of Christianity is quite baffling to the modern Hindu, who is not disposed to doubt the salvific potency of other religions. This paper is an attempt to try to create some openings in this wall of mutual incomprehension so that both sides gain a better appreciation of the others' position and to indicate the ‘concessions’ they could make to each others' position without compromising their own integrity.”

Calhoun, David B. "Poems in the Park: My Cancer and God's Grace," Presbyterion, 2008.
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“During a period of intensive chemotherapy treatment some years ago, I found that it helped me to walk. Day after day I walked around and around a half-mile path in a park across the street from my house. I usually took with me a little book of poems or a small hymnbook. As I walked, I read the poems and hymns slowly, out loud. As the medicine flowed into my body each week in the hospital next to the park, so the words of the poetry flowed into my heart and mind every day as I walked, giving me a new infusion of courage, patience, hope, and trust.”

Gomes, Peter J., "Good Shepherd, Good Sheep," Currents in Theology and Mission, 2003.
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“For us, where the metaphor ends and the good news begins is that we are gathered and guarded not for the slaughter, and not to be eaten, but for love and redemption. That is where we take leave of the metaphor and embrace reality. What do we do in response to this truth and this reality?”

Long, Kimberly Bracken, "The Shepherd Jesus," Journal for Preachers, 2006. Sermon.
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“From womb to tomb, font to grave, on whatever roads we take (or find ourselves on), the shepherd leads us as one flock, gracing us with constant companionship and food for the journey, until he leads us safely home.”