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Textweek ATLAS - March 13, 2016 Lent 5C

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:

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/lentc5.htm

Lent 5C
March 13, 2016

Eslinger, Lyle, "Judas Game: The Biology of Combat in the Gospel of John,"Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2000.
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 Abstract: "'Judas Game' injects the modern conceptual framework of evolutionary theory and mythology into the discussion of biblical mythology (i.e., the literary reflections of evolving biblical worldviews). Both modern and biblical thought are contoured by a physical and biological pre-history of billions of years. Humans' psychological inheritance is as old and layered as any geological group in the Canadian Rockies. In the light of the last century's accumulating knowledge of this past, certain puzzles of biblical mythology can be clarified. The article takes the example of Judas in the Gospel of John. Judas's paradoxical, troubling role is a conglomerate of our evolved psychological inheritance, clearly visible in the ancient Near Eastern combat myth, and John's theology of providence, itself overlying deeper strata. The argument is based on close reading of literary parallels between John 11 and 12."

 Michaels, J. Ramsey, "Expository Article: John 12:1-11," Interpretation, 1989.
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 "Disciples normally washed the feet of their teachers, even as servants did for their masters, wives for their husbands, or children for their fathers. The Gospel writer has first presented the normal procedure of a disciple washing the feet of her teacher (though the extravagance of a whole pint of expensive perfume was hardly "normal"!), and has used it to anticipate the reversal of normal procedure in Jesus' unforgettable act of washing the feet of his disciples. Mary's act is remarkable for its reckless extravagance, Jesus' act for its reversal of expected roles."

Long, Thomas G., "Gospel Sound Track," The Christian Century, 2001.
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"As the Gospel writer reminds us with his asides, deeper truths shine through the mundane events of life."

Simmons, Elizabeth McGregor, "The Sense of Text: An Invitation to Lenten Preaching," Journal for Preachers, 2004.
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This text (John 12) is explored on page 9: 'The Sense of Scent'. "I can't imagine preaching on John 12:1-8 in a setting with no candles, scented or otherwise."

Hays, Richard B., "Eyes on the Prize," The Christian Century, 1992.
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"Having lost his credibility within the socioreligious structure of Jewish culture, Paul has become a disreputable traveling preacher, trying to stay one jump ahead of the authorities. This letter, however, shows that he was not always successful: it is written from a prison cell. But does Paul look back nostalgically on his former life? No, he says, 'I consider it all crap.' (The Greek word is sky-bala, 'dung'; the KJV, with Elizabethan frankness, preserves the unsavory sense.)"

Textweek ATLAS - March 6, 2016 Lent 4C

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:

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/lentc4.htm

Lent 4C
March 6, 2016

Chance, J. Bradley, "Luke 15: Seeking the Outsiders," Review & Expositor, 1997. 
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"Alienated, oppressed, and resentful: such is the religious character of those who see themselves as righteous and in need of no repentance. The older son, standing outside the banquet hall, illustrates to the reader where people with such a religious disposition end up."

 Duff, Nancy J., "Luke 15:11-32, Between Text and Sermon,"Interpretation, 1995. 
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"A warning: When preaching on reconciliation, one needs to be careful to avoid the pitfalls of cheap grace. Some members of the church have been instructed to forgive ongoing, abusive behavior even when there are no signs that the behavior will stop. These victims of abuse do not need another pastor telling them simply to be forgiving. Rather, they need to hear that true reconciliation among people requires not only forgiveness but transformation. "

Grieb, A. Katherine, "The Real Prodigal," The Christian Century, 2004. 
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"What happens if we focus on the man who had two sons and read this parable as an answer to the question the Corinthians might have asked Paul: What does it mean to be an ambassador for Christ? How does God make an appeal to someone, through us, to be reconciled to God?" 

Wangerin, Walter, Jr., "Jericho," Word & World, 1997.
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"In Wangerin's book, the Bible is retold as a novel. The setting remains the biblical period, though the retelling is modern, appealing to the reader in a new way."

Grieb, A. Katherine, "So That In Him We Might Become the Righteousness of God': Some Theological Reflections on the Church Becoming Justice," Ex Auditu, 2006.
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• Byassee, Jason, "Response to Grieb," Ex Auditu, 2006.
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Textweek ATLAS - February 28, 2016 - Lent 3C

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:

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/lentc3.htm

Lent 3C
February 28, 2016

Hedrick, Charles W. "Prolegomena to Reading Parables: Luke 13:6-9 As A Test Case," Review & Expositor, 1997.
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Includes a number of historic and contemporary understandings of the Fig Tree Parable. "...to what extent is the realism of the stories merely a cosmetic feature of the stories' inventions, or to what extent should the realism of the stories be taken seriously as essential to the way they are read?"

 

Long, Thomas G., "Breaking and Entering," The Christian Century, 2001.
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"What is the sign of God's pregnant time? We must watch closely and faithfully, or we will miss it. To sharpen our vision, Jesus tells a parable about an orchard owner who was frustrated by a barren fig tree and ordered the gardener to cut the tree down..."

 

Rittenhouse, Bruce P., "What Does It Mean to Tell the Truth about the Virginia Tech Killings?" Currents in Theology and Mission, 2007.
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"The truth for us, then, is not a simple tale of innocent victims and an innocent society faced with inhuman evil..."

 

Baird, William, "1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Expository Article," Interpretation, 1990.
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"Faithful people can withstand temptation because of the faithfulness of God. Positively, the whole text implies the following lesson: God's grace is manifest in the gifts of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Obedience is gratitude in response to that grace."

 

Marty, Martin E., "Full Communion," The Christian Century, 2001.
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"Now that the 'ecumenical century' has ended, Christians must ask 'How are the people of "one baptism" and "one bread" doing?'"

 

Sanders, James A., "Expository Article: Isaiah 55:1-9," Interpretation, 1978.
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"At this moment of theophany in a foreign land, Yahweh not only calls his dispossessed people to a new covenant, but he also bids those who have been unfaithful during the fifty years of Exile to return to the fold."