textweek

Textweek ATLAS - December 6, 2015, Advent 2C

Studying RCL 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: 

Advent 2C
December 6, 2015

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/adventc2.htm

Boulton, Elizabeth Myer, "Living by the Word: Baruch 5:1-9, Luke 3:1-6," The Christian Century, 2009.
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"We are called to live, pray and preach as if God's new world were at hand."

"Homiletical Helps," Concordia Journal, 2010. (Section on this text begins on page 359)
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"Many Christians in the pew may simply think that cussing, swearing, or using God's name flippantly is the only way one breaks the second commandment. And yet it's more than that, as we hear through Malachi. We break the second commandment by murmuring against YHWH and by wondering 'what's in it for me' to be a Christian, especially when the wicked aren't living right and God doesn't seem even to care.

Trible, Phyllis, "Meeting Mary through Luke," The Living Pulpit, 2001.
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"Elizabeth's story prepares for the advent of Mary."

McKenzie, Alyce M., "Between Text and Sermon: Luke 1:68-79," Interpretation, 2001.
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"Zechariah invites contemporary people to begin a journey from incredulity to joy. After initial doubt, Zechariah prayerfully listens, then, with recovered voice, joyfully names his newly recognized hope. Finally, he proclaims it in poetic cadences, giving voice to his conviction that the time of God's gracious deliverance has come."

Otey, Rush, "Gospel Fragments for Advent," Journal for Preachers, 2000.
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"For the Church, an evocative symbol of Advent is building a road, preparing a way, together. Many of us have friends who help us the most by being honest with us, even sometimes being confrontational and challenging. Those very qualities are what make them our friends, not just nodding acquaintances."

Textweek ATLAS - November 29, 2015 - Advent 1C

Studying RCL 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: 

Advent 1C
November 29, 2015

Adams, Joanna, "Light the Candles," The Christian Century, 2006.
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"This Advent I am holding on for dear life to the reassurance that God intends to make the world right."

Beechy, Leonard, "Living by the Word: Jeremiah 33:12-16, Luke 21:25-36," The Christian Century, 2009.
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"...the outlandish  language of apocalypse - all that cosmic upheaval, all those heavenly signs - may be just right for conveying Jesus' central message to folks like us."

Achtemeier, Elizabeth, "Luke 21:25-36, Between Text and Sermon,"Interpretation, 1994.
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"The season of Advent in the church year looks in two directions. It not only looks back on the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but it also looks forward to his second coming when he will return to set up his kingdom on earth. thus, every Advent season begins with an eschatological or apocalyptic text, looking toward the end of history and Jesus' return."

Long, Thomas G., "Imagine There's No Heaven: The Loss of Eschatology in American Preaching," Journal for Preachers, 2006.
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"Strangely enough, the most promising revival of eschatological hope is appearing not just among systematic theologians, but among artists and novelists, and it is to them that we must now turn."

• Carey, Greg, "Apocalyptic discourse as constructive theology," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2013. 
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"While contemporary readers may experience dis- comfort with apocalyptic literature, particularly its association with authoritarianism, responsible engagement with the New Testament may not avoid this essential dimension."

 

Textweek ATLAS - November 22, 2015 - Reign of Christ the King

Studying RCL 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: 

Reign of Christ / Christ the King
November 22, 2015

http://www.textweek.com/yearb/christb.htm

Beechy, Leonard, "Living by the Word: John 18:33-37," The Christian Century, 2009.
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"In his conversation with Pilate, perhaps Jesus could have tried speaking Latin: mutatis mutandis, 'with the neceessary changes having been made.' Yes, I am a king, he might ,ay, with the necessary changes having been made in the meaning of the word king, in the way the world looks at power, and in you." 

Matera, Frank J., "The Trial of Jesus: Problems and Proposals,"Interpretation, 1991.

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"In one of the great ironies of history, the false charges leveled against Jesus took on an unexpected meaning. For those who believed, the death of Jesus marked the end of the old temple cult. Those who believed in Jesus understood that with his death God raised up a new emple, a temple not made by hands: the community of those who believe in Jesus."

Charles, Gary W., "Diving into Wonderland: Preaching Revelation in the Mainline Pulpit," Journal for Preachers, 2006.
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"To preachers preparing to climb into mainline pulpits in Apocalyptic America, the overwhelming tempatation is to maintain silence on teh Apocalypse. Given the pervasive fears gripping our world and the stark, but hope-filled witness of the prophet from Patmos, I urge preachers to re-engage this thorny book."

Brueggemann, Walter, "2 Samuel 21-24: An Appendix of Deconstruction?"Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1988.
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"The biblical narrator explicitly calls the poem cited in 2 Sam 23:1-7 'The Last Words of David' even though there are significant events still coming in David's life before his death..."

Jindo, Job Y., "On Myth and History in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Eschatology,"Vetus Testamentum, 2005.
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"This mythological imagery is crucial to the meaning of this vision: the four kingdoms are seen as manifestations of primeval chaos and they are destined to be defeated by God. Thus, in apocalyptic eschatology, history is seen as constant struggle of good and evil, as an arena where the pattern that is predestined at the time of creation unfolds."

Textweek ATLAS - November 15, 2015 Proper 28, Ordinary 33, Pentecost 25

Studying RCL 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: 

Proper 28 / Ordinary 33 / Pentecost 25
November 15, 2015

Fair, Fairfax Fullerton, "Between Text and Sermon: Mark 13:1-8,"Interpretation, 2004. (See also entire issue: Violence in the Bible,Interpretation, 2004.)
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"In our world of over-consumption and worship of material wealth, isn't this perspective relevant to us? In our society that measures a person's worth by the size of homes, cars, and stadium suites, how can we fault Jesus' disciples? The preacher has a wonderful opportunity to draw parallels between the disciples' infatuation wiht the massive structure of the temple and our fascination with what is bigger, faster, and more ostentatious..."

Peters, Mark Allen, "Hebrews 10:19-25," Interpretation, 1999.
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"We gather to worship God because God has given us the privilege of doing so and the means by which we may. For the early Hebrews the means was the cultus. For the Hebrews of this letter, that is, for early Christians, as for modern Christians, the means is the atoning death of Jesus Christ."

Menaul, Marjorie, "Between Text & Sermon: 1 Samuel 1 & 2," Interpretation, 2001. See also the rest of this issue: The Child, Interpretation, 2001.

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"In the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, the personal fortunes of the main characters, Hannah and Eli, undergo a striking reversal. Eli, whose status as priest should make him a respected and positive figure, will show himself instead to be inept and ineffective. In contrast, Hannah, a woman with an insecure future, will prove herself to be a personal of integrity and strength."

Lindenberger, James M., "Expository Article: Daniel 12:1-4," Interpretation, 1985.
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"What are we to do with a theology which says - and does not Daniel say it - that life in this world is so bad that God's purposes can be realized only beyond this life?"

Textweek ATLAS - November 8, 2015 - Proper 27 Ordinary 32 Pentecost 24

Studying RCL 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: 

Proper 27 / Ordinary 32 / Pentecost 23
November 8, 2015

Dewey, Joanna, "Women in the Gospel of Mark," Word & World, 2006. (Section on this text begins on page 26.)
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"Women play an integral role in Mark's proclamation of the good news. The Gospel uses the women to encourage the audience to follow Jesus in discipleship. With the women, we too are called to enjoy the blesings of the kingdom, to be of service to those with less power, and perhaps to undergo persecution for following the way of God."

Moss, Otis, III, "Living by the Word: Mark 12:38-44," The Christian Century, 2009.
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"This brief lectionary reading gives us a new opportunity to reflect as individuals as well as to raise the question within our faith communities: 'Are you scribes gone awry?' Jesusasks us. 'Have you got good religion?' Is your religion rooted in empire values and false images of power? Is your religion an exploiter of the poor, abuser of women, castigator of children? Does your religion support the oppressor and abandon the marginalized?"

Olson, Stanley N., "Wandering But Not Lost," Word & World, 1985. (Section on this text begins on page 432.)
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"By Christ's intercession we are drawn toward God. We are on the way. We struggle with injustice and the problems of our world. We strive to avoid sin ourselves and to encourage others. All this we do, looking to God, so that the world may not be so alien a place, and so that we may be on the way. And yet, we remain strangers, aliens, wanderers away from home..."

Martin, Michael W., "Betrothal Journey Narratives," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2008.
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"In this study I aim to identify and define a convention of biblical literature I call teh betrothal jourey narrative..."

 

Textweek ATLAS - October 25, 2015 Proper 25 Ordinary 30 Pentecost 22

Studying RCL 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: 

Proper 25 / Ordinary 30 / Pentecost 22
October 25, 2015

Brueggemann, Walter, "Theological Education: Healing the Blind Beggar," The Christian Century, 1986.
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"Theological education must face the fact that a key issue in healing, salvation and liberation is power."

Kersten, Phyllis, "Living by the Word: Mark 10:46-52," The Christian Century, 2009.

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"Until Christ appears after the resurrection to his disciples in their locked room, until he shows them his sounded hands and feet and side, until he forgives and recommissions them, we are left with only Bartimaeus as our model for true discipleship."

Brueggemann, Walter, "Theodicy in a Social Dimension," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1985.
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Abstract: "The paper considers the problem of injustice as a theological issue for the Old Testament. Recognizing that injustice is a problem with moral, natural, and religious dimensions, here it is urged that evil is also a social problem, i.e., a problem caused by inequitable arrangements of social power, social goods, and social access.Attention is given to the resolution of social crisis in Job 42 and Jer 32. In both cases, it is observed, the resolution happens through social processes. In Job, restitution is worked by family and friends, and in Jeremiah, land is gained through careful legal procedures. In both cases, the new situation is an action of God's faithfulness, but it is wrought through processes. It seems clear that the problem of evil for the Old Testament cannot be assigned to God apart from the reality of social process, which is both part of the problem and potentially part of the resolution. This linkage of God and social process is characteristic for Old Testament modes of thought and faith."

Jorgensen, Janyce C., "Between Text and Sermon: Hebrews 7:23-28,"Interpretation, 2003. (See also, "Hebrews," issue focus of Interpretation, 2003.)
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"Hebrews 7:23-28 greets the church toward the end of the liturgical year, offering God's people the opportunity to give thanks for the blessings of the past year, and to look forward to the challenges of the new year."

Textweek ATLAS - October 18, 2015, Proper 24/Ordinary 29/Pentecost+21

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: 

Proper 24 / Ordinary 29 / Pentecost 21
October 18, 2015

Koyama, Kosuke, "A Holy Mystery: Welcoming a Little Child," The Living Pulpit, 2003.
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"The little child (paidion, young child), Jesus, and God are connected by the world 'welcome' (dechomai) in this utterance by Jesus. How simple and conclusive!"

Wadell, Paul J., "Living by the Word: Hebrews 5:1-10, Mark 10:35-45," The Christian Century, 2009.
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"Christianity is an inherently magnanimous life, a life of truly heroic ambition. But given what these readings disclose about greatness and glory, it's no wonder that a pusillanimous life is tempting."

 

Johnston, Scott Black, "'Where Were You When I Laid the Foundation of the Earth?'" Journal for Preachers, 2008. (Sermon)
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"When Job sat down in ash to try to figure out why tragedy had pounced on him and his loved ones, he wavered (he fudged) in his own mind on the goodness of God. He wondered if God even cared about his plight. It is at that moment that the whirlwind appears. It is at that moment that God starts firing questions at Job."

Dozeman, Thomas B., "The Priestly Vocation," Interpretation, 2005.
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"Biblical writers present a grand vision of the priestly vocation, in which the sacramental life of worship is translated into an ethical mission to the world. It is a vision in which the priestly vocation of the ordained in the sanctuary and the priestly vocation of the laity in the world work in concert to fulfill the divine vision of a transformed earth."