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/properb18.htm
Proper 18B / Ordinary 23B / Pentecost 15
September 6, 2015
- Flesher, LeAnn Snow, "Mercy triumphs over judgment: James as social gospel," Review and Expositor, 2014.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
Abstract:
"The community addressed by the book of James has some serious disagreements and conflicts. Not only is the community dishonoring the poorest among them, but some are coveting what they do not have and even murdering to get it (4:2). As a remedy, James lists the characteristics of the wisdom from above: pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without one trace of partiality and hypocrisy (3:17). James is calling for a righteous peace (3:18), and according to his understanding of the wisdom from above, that peace will come when e؟ u؛ty and e؟ ual؛ty become the norm. Ifthe poor covet and commit illegal acts to obtain what they desire, the answer for the people of faith is not violent retaliation, or physical punishment. The answer, according to James, is selfless service and honor given by the haves to the have nots. For although James does not ever condone breaking the law (2:١٠- 11), he does encourage mercy in place of judgment (2:13); and according to the wisdom from above, saving faith exhibits such mercy."
- Smith, Julien CH, "'The construction of identity in Mark 7:24-30: the Syrophoenician Woman and the problem of ethnicity," Biblical Interpretation, 2012.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
Abstract:
"This article explores the relationship between religious and ethnic identity in the NT by examining the way in which the interaction between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24-30 defamiliarizes the reader s deficient norms regarding ethnicity. The pericopes narrative context and setting lead the reader to expect that Jesus will fulfill the Syrophoenician womans request and heal her daughter. The author s use of various stylistic and rhetorical elements within the pericope (type־scenes, stock characters, and two-step progressions) subtly suggest that these expectations may be frustrated. When Jesus rebuffs the woman, the reader must reexamine the assumptions that contributed to misplaced expectations. Through this process o f defamiliarization, the text exposes two deficient norms potentially held by the reader: the notion that the gospel obliterates ethnicity as a component o f social identity, and the competing notion that one’s particular ethnic identity must be rejected in order to respond faithfully to the gospel. "
- Sun, Poling, "Naming the dog: another Asian reading of Mark 7:24-30," Review and Expositor, 2010.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
Abstract:
"The difficult episode involving the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30; par. Matt 15:21-28) presents an image of Jesus that is not only unwelcoming, but also offensive. After a survey of traditional interpretations designed to defend Jesus from charges of bias and an examination of the contributions of newer Asian, post-colonialist, and feminist approaches, this article suggests that neither the woman's gender nor race provide the hermeneutical key to understanding this passage. Instead, the incident represents Jesus' encounter with oppressive Gentile economic power."
Husted, Heidi, "When the Gospel Goes to the Dogs," The Christian Century, 2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The day the gospel went to the dogs was the day it came to us. We are some of the ‘dogs’ who have received the good news of the gospel! When Jesus opened himself up to mission to the whole world, he opened his church to the world. Now we are to open ourselves to the whole world in mission.”
Skinner, Matthew L., "'She Departed to Her House': Another Dimension of the Syrophoenician Mother's Faith in Mark 7:24-30," Word & World, 2006.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“The Syrophoenician mother stands as an exemplar of faith not because she has so much of it, but because she enacts it so consistently and deeply. Hers is an insistent, perceptive, and trusting faith that provides insight into the faith we exhibit as well.”
Reynolds, Carol Bechtel, "Between Text & Sermon: Psalm 125," Interpretation, 1994.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“It is that same Prince of Peace that makes possible the peace that radiates from the final verses of the hymn by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In them is evident the same sense of trust and benediction that we saw in Psalm 125…”
Hughes, David M., "The Best Seat in the House: James 2:1-10, 14-17," Review and Expositor, 2000.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
“In Christ's church, everybody, regardless of where he sleeps or how she dresses, is somebody. And from that fact flows another corollary: in Christ's church, nobody is better than anybody else. For that reason, favoritism in the church is forbidden. Partiality is prohibited.”
Comments