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Textweek ATLAS - October 16, 2016, Proper 24 Ordinary 28 Pentecost 22

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:

October 16, 2016
Proper 24 / Ordinary 28 / Pentecost +22

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/properc24.htm

Limburg, James, "The Autumn Leaves: Pages from the Psalter for Late Pentecost," Word & World, 1992. (The section on this text begins on page 276.)

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“The psalm for this Sunday lends itself to preaching. It has always been identified as a ‘raveler's psalm’ and has been used in the congregation or family circle before setting out on a trip.”

Harrelson, Walter, "How to Interpret the Old Testament: The Central Issue between Christians and Jews," Review & Expositor, 2006.
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Abstract: “This essay has two parts. After a brief historical sketch of Christian anti-Judaism, we turn to the major issue in Christian relations with Judaism and the Jewish people: how we Christians understand and use the Jewish Bible—our Old Testament. In the first section we deal in particular with misreadings of the Old Testament and how we might interpret Jewish scripture more accurately and fairly. In the second part we call attention to themes and teachings in the Jewish scriptures (the Christian Old Testament) that are, in my judgment, central and vital to Christian faith, elements held in common with Judaism.”

Hutton, Rodney R., "Are the Parents Still Eating Sour Grapes? Jeremiah's Use of the Masal in Contrast to Ezekiel,"Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2009.
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“The parents did, indeed, once eat sour grapes. That is most certainly true. And the children did, indeed, once suffer for it. That, too, is true. Steeped in Deuteronomistic theology, the Book of Jeremiah understands the fatedness of Judah to be already fixed with the offense of the past generations, sealed by the sins of Jeroboam and Manasseh (see above). There was no attempt to undermine or countermand this historical awareness by Jeremiah, by his audience, or by editors. The very confession of Yhwh's basic identity—as one who is merciful but who also "remembers iniquity"—lay unabashedly behind the assumed theological panorama of Jeremiah. But that historical confession was now relegated to the past, to be retired alongside the ark and the exodus, alongside religious infrastructure and historical remembrance, and a new field was to be prepared to receive the seed of Israel's future.”

Rhymer, David, "Between Text & Sermon: Jeremiah 31:31-34," Interpretetation, 2005.
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An Interpretation “Between Text & Sermon” article from 2005. “What the Christian church is not good at is encouraging the people of God to have unmediated access to the word of God. Interpreting the Bible is assumed to be just too difficult to be left to the people in the pew: it should be the responsibility of the person in the pulpit. Which is precisely the assumption that Jeremiah was challenging.”

Snell, Robert G., "Between Text and Sermon: Genesis 32:22-32," Interpretation, 1996.
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An Interpretation “Between Text & Sermon” article from 1996. “With this text as gateway, a sermonic exploration of the obvious and incontrovertible combination, emendation, and variation of traditions in the Jacob cycle of the ancestral narrative will provide a powerful reminder that tradition is authentically interpreted and proclaimed in the context of dynamic dialogical engagement between the community of faith, contemporary circumstances, text, and living Lord.”

Vollmer, Ulrike, "I Will Not Let You Go Unless You Teach Me the Tango: Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson," Biblical Interpretation, 2003.
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Abstract: “This paper explores Sally Potter's film The Tango Lesson and the story of Jacob's fight with the angel that features in it. The Tango Lesson is not only about the tango and the relationship between the characters Sally and Pablo but also about their search for what it means to feel like a Jew. On this search, Sally and Pablo embody in a tango pose Jacob's fight with the angel as painted by Eugène Delacroix. This pose and the biblical story behind it act as a key to understanding the relationship between Sally and Pablo. In this paper, I show how Sally resembles Jacob and Pablo the angel of both the biblical story and Delacroix's painting. But I also argue that a role reversal takes place in Potter's film; that Pablo can be Jacob and Sally his angel. The experiences of being blessed and hurt as well as the importance of being remembered shape not only Sally's but also Pablo's life. To feel Jewish, I conclude, does not mean to be Jewish through birth or through belonging to a congregation but to search for a sense of self through a relationship. On this search, the ability to play different roles in different relational contexts is essential.”

Thompson, Philip E., "Between Text & Sermon, 2 Timothy 4:1-5," Interpretation, 2002.
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A 2002 Interpretation “Between Text & Sermon” article on 2 Timothy 4:1-5. “To remember the gospel is neither mentally to form an image nor simply to recall a fact. It is rather to enter the vast, open middle of the story of God's redemption, allowing the reverberation of God's signal acts of salvation to shape life (see N. Dahl, Jesus in the Memory of the Early Church [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1976] 20). The authority for Christian ministry derives from the very trustworthiness of the One remembered.”

Bruckner, James K., "Justice in Scripture," Ex Auditu, 2006.
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“As a concept infused with cultural values, justice is often equated with fairness. Fairness-justice, however, is usually defined from one's own vantage point and is often skewed toward one's own advancement. As a result justice is returned to a court of competing claims. The Scripture also has claims to make, presenting God's perspectives on justice. This external perspective may bring comfort to some, but it may also challenge and reshape our categories.”

Dawn, Maggi, "Prayer Acts," The Christian Century, 2007.
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“Prayer as Jesus taught it isn't just a private matter. It's not personal therapy or a crutch for the weak. Prayer is about refusing to believe that the way things are has to be the way they will always be, about imagining how the world could be, and gaining the wisdom and the energy to bring it about.”

Hinson, E. Glenn, "Persistence in Prayer in Luke-Acts,"Review & Expositor, 2007.
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Abstract: “Persistence in prayer is the key theme that runs throughout Luke and Acts. This theme is demonstrated by Jesus' actions throughout the gospel, is taught explicitly in one of the unique parables of Luke (the Persistent Widow), and is highlighted in the ways that Luke edits his gospel. In the book of Acts, this theme is demonstrated by the actions of Peter, Paul, and the early community of faith. Throughout Luke and Acts, persistence in prayer is not a matter of persuading a reluctant God, but rather it is a matter of disciples remaining faithful. In this interval between the "D-Day" of the cross and the "V-Day" of the parousia, not all our prayers are or can be answered. Persistence in prayer is how we remain faithful as we await the eschatological fulfillment of the gospel.”

Penny, Donald, "Persistence in Prayer: Luke 18:1-8,"Review & Expositor, 2007.
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Abstract: “The Parable of the Persistent Widow, Luke 18:1-8, gives us a reason to keep on trusting and praying, 'Thy kingdom come," even as we wait in a world where the "already" of God's victory at the cross has not fully supplanted the "not yet" that we see in a world of evil around us. The parable does not tell us that we must badger God; rather it shows us that, if even an evil judge will provide justice for a helpless widow, how much more will our loving Father bring in his Kingdom. The parable encourages us to tackle difficult issues with confidence; it cautions us not to expect difficult results; it assures us that God's justice will prevail in the end. In the midst of uncertain times, we must keep praying in the confidence that at the right time God will answer us suddenly, swiftly, and fully.”

Textweek ATLAS - October 9, 2016 - Proper 23 Ordinary 28 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:

http://www.textweek.com/yearc/properc23.htm

October 9, 2016
Proper 23 / Ordinary 28 / Pentecost +21

Clifton-Soderstrom, Michelle, "Recalling Luke's Healer: Slave Doctoring as Liberative Healing," Ex Auditu, 2005.
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 “This paper argues for what is perhaps a truism—namely, that healing is not an end in itself. It is a tool for kingdom work and must be understood in the context of a rightly ordered kingdom. Healing is a tool for liberation, for establishing God's order.”

 Dawn, Maggi, "The Untouchables," The Christian Century, 2007.

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 “The nine were right back where they came from, safely on the right side of the border, healed of their exterior problems but locked back into their prejudices. Only one, through faith, became well in the broader sense of the word, realized his freedom and walked away from prejudice. He knew that under a viaduct, an aristocrat can be best friends with a man from the tenements.” 

Kreider, Eugene C., "The Politics of God: The Way to the Cross," Word & World, 1986.
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The section on this text begins on page 456. “As a foreigner, the Samaritan was one who brought none of the expectations of tradition with him. He is a sign of openness and becomes Luke's commentary on discipleship here.” 

Neyrey, Jerome H., S.J., "Lost in Translation: Did It Matter IF Christians 'Thanked' God or 'Gave God Glory'?" Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2009.
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The section on this text begins on page 3. “But what of the leper's response to Jesus: ευχάριστων αύτω? It is sandwiched between two references to ‘giving glory’ to God, which inclines us to render it here as a synonym of praise. Moreover, since nowhere else in Luke is God or Jesus ‘thanked,’ this fact further inclines us to render it as ‘praise.’”

Nickle, Keith F., "Ten Lepers Cleansed," Journal for Preachers, 2000. (Sermon)
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 A sermon on Luke 17:11-19. “It was not that the other nine were not grateful. We may imagine them praising God all the way to the priests, and beyond. So exhilarated were they at how the encounter with Jesus had improved their health, their physical condition, their future prospects, they overlooked the far greater miracle of who Jesus was and what God was accomplishing for the entire creation through him.”

Carroll John T., "Between Text & Sermon, Luke 17:11-19,"Interpretation, 1999.
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A 1999 Interpretation “Between Text & Sermon” article. “It is the powerless, the sick, and the sinful who rush into God's realm, while many who are powerful, healthy, and respected lodge their protest and turn away.”

 Roose, Hanna, "Sharing in Christ's Rule: Tracing a Debate in Earliest Christianity," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2004.

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Abstract: “This article traces some major issues concerning a debate among the first Christians as to who will share in Christ's rule in the βασιλεία του θεού. In Mt. 19.28—a logion that probably goes back to the historical Jesus—the Twelve are unconditionally appointed as eschatological rulers. After Easter, due to the influence of the passio-iusti tradition (cf. Wis. 3-5), ruling with Christ came to be understood, among some Christian groups, as a reward for martyrs (Rev. 20.4-6; 22.5; Lk. 22.28; 2 Tim. 2.12a; critical of this view is Mk 10.35-45). Paul, by contrast, characterizes eschatological rule as a gift for all who are baptized. In Romans, eschatological life and eschatological reign are blended together (Rom. 5.17) and linked with Paul's participationist understanding of baptism (Rom. 6.1-4). Ephesians further develops this idea (1.23; 2.6). Thus there is in early Christianity a diversity of views, and some controversy, concerning the hope of sharing in Christ's rule.” 

Smoak, Jeremy D., "Building Houses and Planting Vineyards: The Early Inner-Biblical Discourse on an Ancient Israelite Wartime Curse," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2008.
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“Notions of building and planting have profound significance in the discourse of biblical literature. One important indication of this is the inner-biblical discourse of a wartime curse, which threatens Israel in the following words, "You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not harvest its fruit" (Deut 28:30). A survey of biblical literature reveals that this particular curse held an especially prominent place in the discourse of ancient Israel and early Judaism.Over a dozen biblical texts contain formulations of, or allusions to, this particular curse and its imagery (Amos 5:11; 9:14; Isa 5:1-17; Zeph 1:13; Jer 6:9-15; 29:5,28; 31:4; Deut 20:5-6; 28:30; Isa 62:6-9; 65:21; Ezek 28:26; 36:36). The following study traces the origins and early inner-biblical discourse of the curse in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E.” 

Weaver, Alain Epp, "On Exile: Yoder, Said, and a Theology of Land and Return," Cross Currents, 2003.
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“How should Palestinian exile, and exile more generally, be understood theologically? How should Christians understand the dreams of many exiles, dreams which often appear hopeless, of return to their homes?”

Brueggemann, Walter, "2 Kings 5: Two Evangelists and a Saved Subject," Missiology, 2007.
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“The world is leprous. The world is diseased to death. And we—on a good day—know the antidote. The testimony offered by the young girl is nothing dramatic, flamboyant, or irrational. It is an utterance that connects need and resource whereby all things are made new.”

Textweek ATLAS - October 2, 2016 Proper 22 Ordinary 27 Pentecost +20

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/yearc/properc20.htm

October 2, 2016
Proper 22 / Ordinary 27 / Pentecost +20

Miller, Charles William, "Reading Voices: Personification, Dialogism and the Reader of Lamentations 1," Biblical Interpretation, 2001.
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“The simultaneity and unfinalizability of Lamentations 1 function to create a ‘live event, played out at the point of dialogic meeting between two ... consciousnesses,’ which, in turn, serves to draw the reader into that dialogic event as one of the wills that clash in the confrontation of disparate perspectives. The ‘meaning’ of Lamentations 1, therefore, does not ultimately reside in the viewpoint of either one of the speakers, but rather in the dialogue that the two voices initiate with the reader—a dialogue, moreover, that rejects the binary hierarchizing of ‘either ... or’ and embraces the unfinalizable interaction of ‘both ... and.’ The recognition of the multivocality and polyvalence of this text, in other words, helps one better understand the power this poem has exercised over so many persons in the past—a power that rests not merely on its remarkable poetry, but, to borrow from M. Servodidio's description of Ana Rossetti's poetry, a power that is ‘predicated on the adoption of a double-voiced discourse that promotes mediation rather than ideological settlement of hierarchal binary oppositions.’”

Bergant, Dianne, C.S.A., "The Challenge of Hermeneutics: Lamentations 1:1-11: A Test Case," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2002.
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 “What, if anything, do these constructive approaches have to contribute to the task of biblical interpretation? The present address is an exercise in determining just that. It will unfold in the following four stages: (1) a brief description of aspects of the interpretive theory of Paul Ricoeur; (2) a summary of canonical hermeneutics; (3) highlighting of certain characteristics found in Lam 1:1-11; (4) interpretation of these characteristics through the lens of Ricoeur's theory; and (5) conclusions.”

Britt, Brian, "Unexpected Attachments: A Literary Approach to the Term HSD in the Hebrew Bible," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2003.
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Abstract: “The biblical term HSD, variously translated 'loving kindness' and 'steadfast love', displays a wide range of biblical uses and meanings. This article concentrates on poetic and narrative texts in which HSD appears surprisingly, often to denote unexpected attachments. While HSD is a formulaic term in covenant tradition, some poetic texts, notably Ps. 89, Isa. 54, and Lam. 3, place the term in striking contrast to its immediate context. Narrative cases of unexpected HSD include the attachments between Ruth and Naomi, David and Jonathan, Abraham and Sarah (in the wife-sister scenes), Yahweh and Israel, and three episodes about spies. By attending to the literary uses of HSD, this article illuminates the place of HSD in biblical theology.”

Craven, Toni, "Habakkuk 1:1-11, Between Text and Sermon," Interpretation, 2007.
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“Between Text and Sermon” from Interpretation, 2007. “The reading from Habakkuk underscores the importance of faithful commitment even as it raises additional questions. Who is this prophet? Who are the Chaldeans (1:6)? Who is God for this prophet? Why did God create people like fish or crawling things (1:14)? What exactly is a watchpost (2:1)? How did the prophet write the vision so that it was plain enough for a runner to read (2:2)? Does the prophet say anything further about the faith expected from the community?”

Pinker, Aron, "Habakkuk 2.4: An Ethical Paradigm or a Political Observation?" Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2007.
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Abstract: “This article argues that Hab. 2.4 should be understood within the historical framework as a political observation rather than a moral paradigm. Minor emendations permit the interpretation of the critical terms OPHL and ZDK as 'court' and 'Zedekiah*, respectively. This reading allows the natural interpretation of Hab. 2.4 as a real-life situation of political advocacy, akin to that made by Jeremiah (27.12,17). It is suggested that Habakkuk's political advice to Zedekiah was perhaps later changed by a minor transposition of two letters, turning it into an ethical paradigm suitable for the new political reality.”

Lyons, William John, "A Man of Honour, A Man of Strength, A Man of Will? A Canonical Approach to Psalm 137,"Didaskalia, 2005.
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“The position of the psalmist is therefore ultimately left ambiguous by the canon. If divine justice is finally collective in form, it may be the psalmist, and not his offended readers, who is the one who has spoken for God. But if the eschatological judgement does not uphold infanticide as justice, the psalmist is left in an interesting position. The deity presumably has always known that a future redress is available. At best, however, the psalmist may have chosen this mode of punishment because he knows that God has already sanctioned it (e.g. in the flood narrative). At worst, the eschatological judgement on the psalmist may be that in choosing infanticide as his preferred way of regaining his honour, he was guilty of desiring a potentially unjust form of justice without the future possibility of redress for the victims. The activity of the deity in his past may have once led him to believe he was in the right. But the divine choices made at the end of history may finally prove him wrong.”

Ahn, John, "Psalm 137: Complex Communal Laments,"Journal of Biblical Literature, 2008.
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 “Is the blessing-laden imprecation a real attempt at uttering genuine praise and thanksgiving in the midst of the most painful period of the community's existence, or is the psalmist (or editor) seeking genuine retribution? Historically, the Persians did not lift the sword against the Neo-Babylonians, and, thus, here is our final complex element. As modern interpreters, we should not seek to alter too quickly the tensions of such laments, self-imprecations, and communal curses, or to change the final placement of the psalm.”

Steussy, Marti J., "The Enemy in the Psalms," Word & World, 2008.
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 “Using the psalms to bring before God our fears and our hatreds allows us to express such emotions honestly and, perhaps eventually, even to pray such psalms from the enemies' point of view. In praying with Christ, we are permitted to identify with both parties to the conflicts described in the psalm.”

MaGee, Gregory S., "Paul's Response to the Shame and Pain of Imprisonment in 2 Timothy," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2008.
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 Perspective on 2 Timothy from the presupposition that it is written by Paul. May provide helpful literary perspective regardless of author. “The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how an understanding of Roman imprisonment as portrayed in various ancient sources contributes to an elucidation of Paul's predicament and outlook in 2 Timothy.”

 McKenzie, Alyce M., "Between Text & Sermon - 2 Timothy 1:3-7," Interpretation, 2006.
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 “The author of these letters believes love to be the central virtue of the Christian life (1:13; 1 Tim 1:5; 1 Cor 13:1-13). The concern for self-discipline reflects the author's interest in the moderation and self-discipline admired by the Greco-Roman cultures (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:8; 2:12). In the context of advising a younger, less confident colleague, the author emphasizes the importance of the strength or power (dynamis) bestowed on the church leader. It is God's power at work in the one called to lead (1:8; 2 Cor 12:7-10). This is what enables church leaders to discipline opponents (2:24-25), to preserve and proclaim the message (4:2), and to endure the suffering that comes to followers of Christ (3:12), especially church leaders (1:8; Bassler, 130). At whatever stage we are in ministry and life, this passage is a timely reminder that it is God's power and message and not our own culturally shaped agenda that we are to teach by word and example.”

 Robert M., "Luke 17:1-10: Expository Article,"Interpretation, 1977.
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An “expository article” from Interpretation, 1977. “Perhaps also the "faith question" in verse 5 is something like give us faith that we might live as you say." At the least, if you see the entire passage as centering in Christian conduct, then faith is not to be separated from that conduct. Rather faith makes possible the forgiveness of the brother or sister and the aiding of all God's children. So when one prays for faith it is not a selfish prayer, but it is with others in mind.

Textweek ATLAS - September 25 - Proper 21 Ordinary 26 Pentecost +19

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/yearc/properc19.htm

September 25, 2016
Proper 21 / Ordinary 26 / Pentecost +19

Greer, Jonathan S., "A Marzeah and a Mizraq: A Prophet's Mêlée with Religious Diversity in Amos 6:4-7," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2007.
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Abstract: “This article supports the hypothesis that the feast described in Amos 6.4-7 was a religious event, even a marzeahbanquet. The loungers' practice of drinking from mizraq vessels is singled out as a definitively syncretistic practice adopted from the nations around them. Epigraphic and iconographie evidence is used to illustrate the prevalence of drinking from ritual vessels at cultic banquets in the ancient Near East, thus explaining the ready incorporation of such a custom by the Samarían elite and bringing greater clarity to Amos's denouncement.” 

O'Connor, Kathleen M., "Repentance in First-Person Plural," Journal for Preachers, 2008.
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A 2008 sermon about Amos, by Kathleen M. O’Connor. Although this sermon was prepared for the Lenten season, there are interesting interpretations and illustrations here. “In those days to come, everyone will be fed; everyone will partake in the riches of the land. This Utopian vision stands as promise that God's people live in a world intended for all and that God is acting to save and restore. This vision anticipates life, renewed, regenerated, and recreated for us all in the plural.” 

Simundson, Daniel J., "Reading Amos: Is It an Advantage to Be God's Special People?" Word & World, 2008.
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“Amos speaks a difficult word to those who believe they have a special claim on God because God has a unique, covenantal relationship with them. To be chosen by God is no reason for self-satisfaction or self-righteousness. God has called us for mission, not privilege.”

Gaiser, Frederick J., "'It Shall Not Reach You': Talisman or Vocation? Reading Psalm 91 in Time of War," Word & World, 2005. 
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“God's protection as announced in Ps 91 might be misunderstood as a magical shield, keeping me from all harm—or it might be received as a gift that enables me to give myself in service of the neighbor.”

Adewale, Olubiyi Adeniyi, "An Afro-Sociological Application of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)," Black Theology, 2006.

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Abstract: “The main objective of this paper is to interpret the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from the African perspective which the author believes is very close to the first-century Palestinian world-view and to look at its sociological implications for the contemporary African believer and Church. In doing this, the paper briefly examines the interpretation given the parable by some Western scholars before analyzing the parable based on its context. The sociological implication is therefore that since the Rich Man was actually condemned for neglecting the poor Lazarus when he could have been of help, then the contemporary African Church should take care not to neglect the poor in her midst, but take its stand in the struggle against oppression and poverty. It also gives a veiled warning to the Western Church which appears complacent and unruffled about the plight of their covenant brethren in Africa.”

Gowler, David B., "'At His Gate Lay a Poor Man': A Dialogic Reading of Luke 16:19-31," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2005.
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“In this essay, I will analyze the literary context and function of the parable, possible intertextual connections between the parable and similar stories in the ancient world, the social and cultural implications of the story, and some ideological elements of the parable. In this way, some of the dialogues between text, culture, and ideology in Luke 16:19-31 can be explored.”

Honeycutt, Frank G., "Hellish Indifference,"Journal for Preachers, 2005. Sermon. 
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Sermon from 2005. “Jesus knew. The threat of hell will not change us. And ditto the promise of heaven. But perhaps something will. As we immerse our lives in this old story, allowing the pages of Scripture to shape and form us over time, something happens. We slowly come to our senses in a world of much greed. With Jesus as our guide, we can say with Paul today: "For we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these." We open wide our hands once closed in fear, mistrust, and perhaps indifference—a hellish way to live. And perhaps, for the first time, we see a sister or brother, Lazarus at our gate. Or, as a certain prophet once put it: Jesus at our gate."

 

 

Greer, Jonathan S., "A Marzeah and a Mizraq: A Prophet's Mêlée with Religious Diversity in Amos 6:4-7," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2007.
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Abstract: “This article supports the hypothesis that the feast described in Amos 6.4-7 was a religious event, even a marzeahbanquet. The loungers' practice of drinking from mizraq vessels is singled out as a definitively syncretistic practice adopted from the nations around them. Epigraphic and iconographie evidence is used to illustrate the prevalence of drinking from ritual vessels at cultic banquets in the ancient Near East, thus explaining the ready incorporation of such a custom by the Samarían elite and bringing greater clarity to Amos's denouncement.” 

O'Connor, Kathleen M., "Repentance in First-Person Plural," Journal for Preachers, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

A 2008 sermon about Amos, by Kathleen M. O’Connor. Although this sermon was prepared for the Lenten season, there are interesting interpretations and illustrations here. “In those days to come, everyone will be fed; everyone will partake in the riches of the land. This Utopian vision stands as promise that God's people live in a world intended for all and that God is acting to save and restore. This vision anticipates life, renewed, regenerated, and recreated for us all in the plural.” 

Simundson, Daniel J., "Reading Amos: Is It an Advantage to Be God's Special People?" Word & World, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“Amos speaks a difficult word to those who believe they have a special claim on God because God has a unique, covenantal relationship with them. To be chosen by God is no reason for self-satisfaction or self-righteousness. God has called us for mission, not privilege.”

Gaiser, Frederick J., "'It Shall Not Reach You': Talisman or Vocation? Reading Psalm 91 in Time of War," Word & World, 2005. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“God's protection as announced in Ps 91 might be misunderstood as a magical shield, keeping me from all harm—or it might be received as a gift that enables me to give myself in service of the neighbor.”

Adewale, Olubiyi Adeniyi, "An Afro-Sociological Application of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)," Black Theology, 2006.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

Abstract: “The main objective of this paper is to interpret the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from the African perspective which the author believes is very close to the first-century Palestinian world-view and to look at its sociological implications for the contemporary African believer and Church. In doing this, the paper briefly examines the interpretation given the parable by some Western scholars before analyzing the parable based on its context. The sociological implication is therefore that since the Rich Man was actually condemned for neglecting the poor Lazarus when he could have been of help, then the contemporary African Church should take care not to neglect the poor in her midst, but take its stand in the struggle against oppression and poverty. It also gives a veiled warning to the Western Church which appears complacent and unruffled about the plight of their covenant brethren in Africa.”

Gowler, David B., "'At His Gate Lay a Poor Man': A Dialogic Reading of Luke 16:19-31," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2005.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“In this essay, I will analyze the literary context and function of the parable, possible intertextual connections between the parable and similar stories in the ancient world, the social and cultural implications of the story, and some ideological elements of the parable. In this way, some of the dialogues between text, culture, and ideology in Luke 16:19-31 can be explored.”

Honeycutt, Frank G., "Hellish Indifference,"Journal for Preachers, 2005. Sermon. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

Sermon from 2005. “Jesus knew. The threat of hell will not change us. And ditto the promise of heaven. But perhaps something will. As we immerse our lives in this old story, allowing the pages of Scripture to shape and form us over time, something happens. We slowly come to our senses in a world of much greed. With Jesus as our guide, we can say with Paul today: "For we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these." We open wide our hands once closed in fear, mistrust, and perhaps indifference—a hellish way to live. And perhaps, for the first time, we see a sister or brother, Lazarus at our gate. Or, as a certain prophet once put it: Jesus at our gate."

Textweek ATLAS - September 11, 2016 - Proper 19, Ordinary 24 Pentecost +17

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/yearc/properc18.htm

September 4, 2016
Proper 19 / Ordinary 24 / Pentecost +17

 Brooks, Claire Vonk, "Between Text and Sermon: Psalm 51," Interpretation, 1995. 

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 1995. “Below are suggested points of contact, so that the worshiper's encounter with the Holy Spirit through Psalm 51 may be both wrenching and healing.” 

Balentine, Samuel E., "Turn, O Lord! How Long?"Review & Expositor, 2003. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Abstract: “Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, reflects the torah that instructs who God is and who God's people are to be. The focus is the tension of hope and lament before God in the face of suffering. From this tension rises the question of whether God will respond. There is exploration of the reverberations in Psalm 90 of Exodus 32:7-14, where Moses prays for God's faithfulness to God's own character for the sake of the people. The essay considers tensions faced in contemporary exegesis and liturgical leadership, concluding that those who hear this Psalm are enjoined to live as mortals before God and pray as servants of God and God's people, wrestling with hard questions; honest about pain while hopefully insistent upon faithfulness to the divine character.”

 Slivniak, Dmitri M., "The Golden Calf Story: Constructively and Deconstructively," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2008.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Abstract: “Unlike other postmodern reading practices, deconstruction suppresses the figure of the reader: the text is viewed as both engendering and undermining its meaning, while the reader's role is only to discover these processes. Yet, when one deconstructs biblical texts, 'anarchic' and 'lacking logic' according to traditional Western criteria, the illusion vanishes, and it is hard to get along without the reader as an active figure. The reader's role is actively to construct the meaning of the text, before it gets deconstructed. This is the reason why in some recent works the deconstructive reading of the text is preceded by a 'constructive' one. In this article the Golden Calf story (Exod. 32) is read both constructively and deconstructively. The constructive reading focuses on the opposition 'normative cult-deviant cult' which is viewed as central to the story. Normative cult and deviant cult are represented by the Tablets of the Law and the Golden Calf respectively. The deconstruction of this opposition is based on the fact that the tablets and the calf receive the same treatment: Moses destroys both of them.”

 Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia, "The Compassionate God of Traditional Jewish and Christian Exegesis,"Tyndale Bulletin, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Summary: “The comparison in the Zohar (Noah, 67b-68a) of Noah, Abraham and Moses serves as the starting point of this paper. Its aim is to investigate how traditional Jewish (e.g. the Targum, Midrashim, the Talmud, the medieval commentators) and Christian (e.g. the New Testament, the Church Fathers, Luther and Calvin) exegetes interpret the responses of these three individuals to divine foreknowledge (Gen. 6-7; 18:16-33; Exod. 32:10-14). Two main responses are suggested - intercession and/or proclamation of repentance. As shall become apparent, strikingly similar answers are given. First, foreknowledge is seen by nearly all scholars, regardless of religious affiliation and historical background, as a veiled hint at the possibility of influencing God, with the desired result of cancelling the prediction. Secondly, the majority of scholars read intercession and/or repentance into these texts to a greater extent than the texts themselves warrant. This uniformity suggests that the questions asked are shared by people across the borders of time and specific denominations. Even so, there are differences: Jewish scholars tend to emphasise the motif of intercession, existing or non-existing, on behalf of the guilty, while Christian ones are more prone to stress the idea of repentance.” 

Stulman, Louis J., "Jeremiah as a Messenger of Hope in Crisis," Interpretation, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

“The book of Jeremiah not only gives speech to the disaster, but it also functions as a complex polyphonic response. The text's judgment-salvation schema and its embedded cacophony of voices and counter-voices create a thick meaning-making map, a tapestry of hope, designed to help at-risk and displaced people survive a world in which irrationality, violence, and loss are more tangible than moral coherence and meaning.”

Bond, L. Susan, "Between Text & Sermon: 1 Timothy 1:3-17," Interpretation, 2006. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 2006. “There are two homiletical approaches to this text. The first would be to embrace the theology of 1 Timothy, to contrast ‘false teachers of the law’ with teachers of ‘sound doctrine.’ … The other approach would be to subvert the Pastor's rhetorical agenda by appealing to the genuine Paul.” 

Anderson, Garwood P., "Seeking and Saving What Might Have Been Lost: Luke's Restoration of an Enigmatic Parable Tradition," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

A look at the material exclusive to Luke’s gospel. ”I have argued that a distinguishing feature of the Lucan parables is their startling employment of characters of questionable rectitude who respond to crises with dubious virtue. Luke's parabolic characters resist binary labels as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Not a few, but indeed most, of the Lucan parables are beset with this moral ambiguity. This is the enigmatic parable tradition that Luke inherited.”

Ross, Art, "Luke 15:1-10, Between Text and Sermon," Interpretation, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 2007. “Repentance leads to a life of faith marked by attributes such as those the shepherd and the woman embodied: love for the lost; persistent pursuit of the well being of others; joyful, generous friendship; and sharing with one's friends and neighbors. A life of disciple-ship is a life that begins with repentance, leads to the faith of Jesus, and embodies the love of God. Discipleship turns away from grumbling and toward a life of joy—joy for God and joy for the disciple.”

 Schertz, Mary H., "God's Party Time," The Christian Century, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Living by the Word from The Christian Century for 2007. “From Luke's perspective, the interesting question is who the lost are. Are they the tax collectors, the sinners, the town girls? Or are they the Pharisees, scholars and church girls?”

 Reid, Barbara E., O.P., "Beyond Petty Pursuits and Wearisome Widows: Three Lukan Parables,"Interpretation, 2002.  (See also, "Parables," issue focus of Interpretation 56.3 (2002).)

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 “The three Lukan parables that feature female characters have often been interpreted as stories about women tending to trivial tasks. Yet these figures reveal the divine work of transforming and feeding, extravagantly seeking after the lost for redemption, and persistently pursuing justice until it is achieved.”

 

 Brooks, Claire Vonk, "Between Text and Sermon: Psalm 51," Interpretation, 1995. 

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 1995. “Below are suggested points of contact, so that the worshiper's encounter with the Holy Spirit through Psalm 51 may be both wrenching and healing.” 

Balentine, Samuel E., "Turn, O Lord! How Long?"Review & Expositor, 2003. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Abstract: “Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, reflects the torah that instructs who God is and who God's people are to be. The focus is the tension of hope and lament before God in the face of suffering. From this tension rises the question of whether God will respond. There is exploration of the reverberations in Psalm 90 of Exodus 32:7-14, where Moses prays for God's faithfulness to God's own character for the sake of the people. The essay considers tensions faced in contemporary exegesis and liturgical leadership, concluding that those who hear this Psalm are enjoined to live as mortals before God and pray as servants of God and God's people, wrestling with hard questions; honest about pain while hopefully insistent upon faithfulness to the divine character.”

 Slivniak, Dmitri M., "The Golden Calf Story: Constructively and Deconstructively," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2008.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Abstract: “Unlike other postmodern reading practices, deconstruction suppresses the figure of the reader: the text is viewed as both engendering and undermining its meaning, while the reader's role is only to discover these processes. Yet, when one deconstructs biblical texts, 'anarchic' and 'lacking logic' according to traditional Western criteria, the illusion vanishes, and it is hard to get along without the reader as an active figure. The reader's role is actively to construct the meaning of the text, before it gets deconstructed. This is the reason why in some recent works the deconstructive reading of the text is preceded by a 'constructive' one. In this article the Golden Calf story (Exod. 32) is read both constructively and deconstructively. The constructive reading focuses on the opposition 'normative cult-deviant cult' which is viewed as central to the story. Normative cult and deviant cult are represented by the Tablets of the Law and the Golden Calf respectively. The deconstruction of this opposition is based on the fact that the tablets and the calf receive the same treatment: Moses destroys both of them.”

 Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia, "The Compassionate God of Traditional Jewish and Christian Exegesis,"Tyndale Bulletin, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Summary: “The comparison in the Zohar (Noah, 67b-68a) of Noah, Abraham and Moses serves as the starting point of this paper. Its aim is to investigate how traditional Jewish (e.g. the Targum, Midrashim, the Talmud, the medieval commentators) and Christian (e.g. the New Testament, the Church Fathers, Luther and Calvin) exegetes interpret the responses of these three individuals to divine foreknowledge (Gen. 6-7; 18:16-33; Exod. 32:10-14). Two main responses are suggested - intercession and/or proclamation of repentance. As shall become apparent, strikingly similar answers are given. First, foreknowledge is seen by nearly all scholars, regardless of religious affiliation and historical background, as a veiled hint at the possibility of influencing God, with the desired result of cancelling the prediction. Secondly, the majority of scholars read intercession and/or repentance into these texts to a greater extent than the texts themselves warrant. This uniformity suggests that the questions asked are shared by people across the borders of time and specific denominations. Even so, there are differences: Jewish scholars tend to emphasise the motif of intercession, existing or non-existing, on behalf of the guilty, while Christian ones are more prone to stress the idea of repentance.” 

Stulman, Louis J., "Jeremiah as a Messenger of Hope in Crisis," Interpretation, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

“The book of Jeremiah not only gives speech to the disaster, but it also functions as a complex polyphonic response. The text's judgment-salvation schema and its embedded cacophony of voices and counter-voices create a thick meaning-making map, a tapestry of hope, designed to help at-risk and displaced people survive a world in which irrationality, violence, and loss are more tangible than moral coherence and meaning.”

Bond, L. Susan, "Between Text & Sermon: 1 Timothy 1:3-17," Interpretation, 2006. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 2006. “There are two homiletical approaches to this text. The first would be to embrace the theology of 1 Timothy, to contrast ‘false teachers of the law’ with teachers of ‘sound doctrine.’ … The other approach would be to subvert the Pastor's rhetorical agenda by appealing to the genuine Paul.” 

Anderson, Garwood P., "Seeking and Saving What Might Have Been Lost: Luke's Restoration of an Enigmatic Parable Tradition," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2008.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

A look at the material exclusive to Luke’s gospel. ”I have argued that a distinguishing feature of the Lucan parables is their startling employment of characters of questionable rectitude who respond to crises with dubious virtue. Luke's parabolic characters resist binary labels as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Not a few, but indeed most, of the Lucan parables are beset with this moral ambiguity. This is the enigmatic parable tradition that Luke inherited.”

Ross, Art, "Luke 15:1-10, Between Text and Sermon," Interpretation, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Interpretation’s “Between Text and Sermon” from 2007. “Repentance leads to a life of faith marked by attributes such as those the shepherd and the woman embodied: love for the lost; persistent pursuit of the well being of others; joyful, generous friendship; and sharing with one's friends and neighbors. A life of disciple-ship is a life that begins with repentance, leads to the faith of Jesus, and embodies the love of God. Discipleship turns away from grumbling and toward a life of joy—joy for God and joy for the disciple.”

 Schertz, Mary H., "God's Party Time," The Christian Century, 2007.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Living by the Word from The Christian Century for 2007. “From Luke's perspective, the interesting question is who the lost are. Are they the tax collectors, the sinners, the town girls? Or are they the Pharisees, scholars and church girls?”

 Reid, Barbara E., O.P., "Beyond Petty Pursuits and Wearisome Widows: Three Lukan Parables,"Interpretation, 2002.  (See also, "Parables," issue focus of Interpretation 56.3 (2002).)

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 “The three Lukan parables that feature female characters have often been interpreted as stories about women tending to trivial tasks. Yet these figures reveal the divine work of transforming and feeding, extravagantly seeking after the lost for redemption, and persistently pursuing justice until it is achieved.”

Textweek ATLAS - September 4, 2016 Proper 18 Ordinary 23 Pentecost +16

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/yearc/properc18.htm

September 4, 2016
Proper 18 / Ordinary 23 / Pentecost +16

Booij, Th., "Psalm CXXXIX: Text, Syntax, Meaning," Vetus Testamentum, 2005. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Abstract: “The speaker is aware that YHWH knows him completely and is near him wherever he might go. The night, he says, may assault him, for in God's presence the darkness is as light to him as the day (vv. lib, 12ba circumstantial clauses). That he can speak like this is because God himself made him the human being he is, with his own specific disposition (v. 13 'kidneys'; v. 15 'frame'). Indeed, of old he has been immensely distinguished (v. 14: niplëti). When there was just his lump of clay, YHWH'S eyes saw it (v. 16). And of all the times that such golems were fashioned (yamïm yussärü), each of which is remembered in heaven, there was that 'day' of his own golem (Qere welo), when he was made the person he is. By night, as a sign of distinction, the speaker may 'see' God's innumerable thoughts, and very precious they are to him. What bothers him a great deal, however, is the existence of the wicked. His hatred of them makes him feel uneasy. It is his prayer that God, who knows him so well, may test him on this point. The prayer in vv. 23f, thus related to the preceding passage, fits in with the structure of the poem. The textual transmission is problematic in v. 20.”

 

Harmon, Steven R., "Theology Proper and the Proper Way to Pray: An Exposition of Psalm 139,"Review & Expositor, 2007.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Abstract: “Prayer is central to Christian life and worship. Unfortunately, prayer is also one of the most difficult things we do, often because we misunderstand what prayer is and who God is. Psalm 139 offers an understanding of the nature both of God and of prayer. Psalm 139:1-18 has to do with "theology proper," the nature of God as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, but the psalmist describes these attributes not in abstract philosophical categories but rather in terms of intimate personal relationship. Psalm 139:19-22 provides an example of the proper way to pray: since God knows us intimately, we can and must be utterly honest in our prayers. Psalm 139:23-24 shows what happens when we pray honestly: God transforms us, changing our attitudes toward the problems we face.”  

Shinn, Roger L., "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,"The Living Pulpit, 2006. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 
“The self that knows what the universe does not know is a miracle. That miracle includes the human body, organized by those acids that we call genes. The genes know nothing. But they help us know ourselves, our world, and our God.”

Cole, Robert, "An Integrated Reading of Psalms 1 and 2," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2002. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

 Abstract: “An analysis of how Psalms 1 and 2 are integrated reveals that both have as their central theme the identical royal and Joshua-like figure who is given absolute victory in battle. The principal focus of Psalm 1 when read in concert with Psalm 2 is not Torah nor wisdom, but rather this individual of kingly and military trappings. These ascriptions of Psalm 1 are made explicit in Psalm 2, where he is portrayed in close relationship with Yahweh as his anointed king and son. His opponents are the scoffing wicked of Psalm 1, identified more specifically as the conspiring earthly kings and nations in Psalm 2. This cabal revolts against Yahweh and his anointed, an action which elicits the question 'Why?' from the speaker in 2.1 because of the promise in 1.5, 6. Yahweh and his anointed respond appropriately to the earthly scoffing with laughter and derision from heaven. Psalm 2 then concludes with a reaffirmation of the same judgment promised at the conclusion of Psalm 1.”

 Tuell, Steven Shawn, "Psalm 1," Interpretation, 2009.

  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials 

Between Text and Sermon from Interpretation, 2009. “Psalm 1 says of the righteous, ‘In all that they do, they prosper’ (Ps 1:3). However, this psalm is not about how to be prosperous. The righteous are described in the opening verse of this psalm as happy, but Ps 1 is not about how to be happy.”

 

Biddle, Mark E., "Contingency, God, and the Babylonians: Jeremiah on the Complexity of Repentance," Review and Expositor, 2004. (See also Jeremiah, issue focus of Review and Expositor, 2004.)
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

 Abstract: “For Jeremiah, repentance functioned primarily on the plane of national crises, international conflict, and war. Here, the interaction of multiple wills propagates contingencies almost beyond analysis. Jeremiah describes the dynamically shifting possibilities for and outcomes of repentance in a specific situation in Judah's history. Jeremiah 18:7-11 announces a fundamental theological principle: God responds to repentance. Jeremiah offers a case study of this principle in a situation complicated by factors not contemplated in the binary formulation. Jeremiah 3:22-25 raises the possibility that Jeremiah's audience may have, if fruitlessly, met the conditions set by Jer 18:7-11. Jeremiah 14:1-15:4 deals with an instance in which they did so— without result. Baruch, Ebed-Melech, and Gedaliah had acknowledged the truth of Jeremiah's preaching, and had repented of the national sin; nonetheless, like Josiah, they were forced to reap what Manasseh had sown. Finally, after years of warning that the Babylonians were bringing God's judgment, and after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem and finding himself a refugee in his own land, Jeremiah voiced God's admission that God had second thoughts about the whole affair (42:10)! The polarity of God's use of the Babylonians as the instrument of judgment and the Babylonians' free agency had permitted them to exceed God's intentions. Jeremiah's picture of this nexus of interacting wills suggests a number of observations about repentance in the world God has created. First, Jeremiah knows that when the tide in human affairs catches up individuals in its flow individual repentance has limited effect. Second, Jeremiah persistently contends that God was also an actor on the stage; God impels this flow of history. Third, however, Jeremiah argues that, while God is perhaps the most powerful actor on the stage, the play is an improvisation.”

 

Fretheim, Terence E., "'I Was Only a Little Angry,' Divine Violence in the Prophets," Interpretation, 2004. (See esp. section beginning on page 374) (See also entire issue: Violence in the Bible,Interpretation, 2004.)
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

 “A biblical understanding of God's relationship with Israel and the world helps us interpret passages in the prophetic literature that link God and violence. With tears, lament, and regret, God takes into the divine self the violent effects of sinful human activities and thereby makes possible a non-violent future for God's people.”

 

Conder, Tim, "Curses & Blessings," The Christian Century, 2007.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

 “Just as with the ancient Israelites, our covenant-keeping means living in a rhythm of holistic living and worship. Covenant-keeping fashions an awareness of the goodness of creation, a mandate of creation stewardship, and the ever-present hope of a new (redeemed) creation coming.”

 

Bieberstein, Sabine, "Disrupting the Normal Reality of Slavery: A Feminist Reading of the Letter to Philemon," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2000. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

Abstract: “The letter to Philemon shows the struggle of communities of believers in Christ to find areas in which they could act within the dominating system of the Pax Romana The enslavement of human beings was one of the supports of this system, and the 'case' of the slave Onesimus brings about a rupture in the normality of slavery, making clear the discrepancy between slavery and the liberating message of the gospel The letter creates a critical public which becomes the guarantee of a new mutual relationship between slaves and free persons Our concern today must be to use such individual cases to unmask systems that show contempt for human beings, and to tell the story of the victims.”

deVos, Craig S., "Once a Slave, Always a Slave? Slavery, Manumission and Relational Patterns in Paul's Letter to Philemon," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2001. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

 Abstract: “The Graeco-Roman world was a strongly collectivist, authoritarian and patriarchal society that understood people in terms of fixed stereotypes. As such, manumission per se would not have fundamentally changed the relationship between slaves and masters. Therefore, Paul's intention in his letter to Philemon was not to persuade Philemon to manumit Onesimus, but to bring about a fundamental change in their relationship, such that the master would treat his slave no longer as a slave, but as a brother or an honoured guest. As such, Paul was actually asking for something far more radical than manumission.”

 

Frilingos, Chris, "'For My Child, Onesimus': Paul and Domestic Power in Philemon," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2000. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“The letter, then, is concerned less with Onesimus s situation than with Paul's own status. This assessment of the epistle resolves somewhat the tension between Paul's ostensible goal of helping Onesimus and his decision to send the slave back to an angry Philemon. If Philemon accepts Onesimus in accordance with the apostle’s terms, then the slaveholder must also acknowledge Paul's authoritative presence in his family affairs. Onesimus will remain "forever" in Philemon's household as a sign of Paul's domestic power.”

 

Lyons, Kirk D., Sr., "Paul's Confrontation with Class: The Letter to Philemon as Counter- Hegemonic Discourse," Cross Currents, 2005. 
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“Just as Paul's praxis served to fill in the lacuna between theology and social reality, our praxis of adjusting the prism from which we view the biblical texts from our world, and conversely, which we view our world through the biblical texts, bridges the chasm between our theological ponder-ings and our social praxis. This process is less encumbered when facilitated through a reflexive theology that warrants recognition of our mutual constitution.”

Brisson, Carson, "Luke 14:25-27, Between Text and Sermon" Interpretation, 2007.
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 Between Text and Sermon from Interpretation, 2007. “The call really is to cross bearing. This call truly is impossible for men and women, but possible with God. Some hear the call, but remain committed to hearth or home or to a myriad of other good but penultimate claims. They are convinced that in those things their true life resides. Others hear the call and cast their lot with Jesus above any and all other claims, whatever shape that takes. To them it is revealed, and it can be revealed in no other way than by taking up "the cross" and following Jesus, that this invitation is actually to receive their very lives back as more than they could ever have otherwise imagined they could be.”

 Wollenberg, Bruce, "Summoned," The Christian Century, 2004. 

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“God risks conditionless love in perfect freedom, knowing it may not be returned.”

Textweek ATLAS - August 28, 2016 - Proper17 OT22 Pentecost +15

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/yearc/properc17.htm

August 28, 2016
Proper 17 / Ordinary 22 / Pentecost +15

Brueggemann, Walter, "Texts that Linger, Words that Explode," Theology Today, 1997. 
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The section on this text begins on page 181. “Were this text now to explode in contemporaneity, it might make contact with a religious community that has not got its story straight, either in liberal indifference or in conservative reductionism.” 

Burnett, Joel S., "Changing Gods: An Exposition of Jeremiah 2," Review and Expositor, 2004. 
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“Covenant fidelity involves a continuous active seeking of the divine presence, calling on the very name of God in the light of what God has done. Without doing so, the covenant community loses its ability to tell the difference between divine presence and absence. The results are disastrous for human life and well-being.”

 O'Connor, Kathleen M., "A Family Comes Undone (Jeremiah 2:1-4:2)," Review and Expositor, 2008.
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Abstract: “The book of Jeremiah intervenes in a national disaster and moves the nation toward healing. The drama of the God's broken family helps survivors by presenting their experience in the narrowed domain of a family broken apart by infidelity. It reflects victims experience back to them in a way that does not retraumatize them. And in the chaos of disaster's aftermath, it provides an explanation of the cataclysm and defends God. No matter how difficult this theology might be for contemporary readers, the theology of Jeremiah's broken family enables the people of Judah to survive as the people of God.”

Omar, A Rashied, "Embracing the 'Other' As An Extension of the Self: Muslim Reflections on the Epistle to the Hebrews 13:2," Anglican Theological Review, 2009.
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Abstract: “There is an urgent need for interfaith dialogue to get past cucumber sandwiches and samoosas to the real business of truly loving each other and embracing "the other" as an extension of ourselves. One way of moving interreligious dialogue to a higher level of engagement beyond mere "tolerance" to deeper, more endunng interreligious cooperation is to read and embrace the sacred texts of religious traditions other than one's own for inspiration. Most religious traditions celebrate hospitality and welcoming of the stranger. This paper explores such an ethical and moral teaching within Christianity. The search is undertaken by a Muslim scholar.”

Nelson, Richard D., "'He Offered Himself,' Sacrifice in Hebrews," Interpretation, 2003. (See also, "Hebrews," issue focus of Interpretation, 2003.)
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“As both priest and victim, Christ offered himself through sacrificial actions involving death, entry into the heavenly sanctuary, and cleansing by blood. Hebrews highlights the soteriological, psychological, and social benefits of this sacrifice.”

Wollenberg, Bruce, "Guest List," The Christian Century, 2007. 
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A “Living by the Word” article on the Hebrews and Luke texts for this week. “Rich and poor alike need to know that "My Lord is my helper," but those who have the wherewithal are enjoined to please and praise God by sharing what they have with those who need it. Taken seriously, this evangelical counsel can quickly lead from small gesture to major sacrifice, from charity to political involvement.” 

Reynolds, Thomas E., "Welcoming without Reserve? A Case in Christian Hospitality," Theology Today, 2006. 
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Abstract: “ In an interconnected and diverse world, Christians are called to hospitality. Yet this is no easy matter, for welcoming the stranger requires becoming vulnerable. A particular case in Christian hospitality illustrates the point. Hosting a Jewish funeral, a church community elected to cover its sanctuary's cross. While such an action can be seen as scandalous, an act of bad faith, I argue instead that it embodies hospitality—scandalous, indeed, but in a positive sense. On several accounts, this instance of covering the cross opens up new ways of thinking about being Christian in a religiously diverse world.”

Conder, Tim, "Table Manners," The Christian Century, 2007.

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A “Living by the Word” commentary from 2007. “Jesus' teachings take the common table, the center of his world, and flip it upside down. His table stories describe a revolutionary, redemptive kingdom that confronts the norms of upwardly mobile networking and competition. He eschews the expectations of polite society for a story of revolution. This is the nature of the kingdom.”

Newman, Elizabeth, "Flannery O'Connor and the Practice of Hospitality," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2005.

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“In this essay, I argue that Flannery O'Connor's short stories shed light on the practice of Christian hospitality so understood, both by pointing toward potential distortions and by illustrating significant embodiments of this practice.”

Carroll, John T., "Luke's Portrayal of the Pharisees," Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1988.
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Helpful background perspective. “Luke’s Presentation of the Pharisees is, in a word, puzzling. Only in the third gospel does Jesus dine with Pharisees (Luke 7:36-50; 11:37-54; 14:1-24), a feature of Luke's narrative regarded by some recent interpreters as evidence that the author is favorably disposed toward the Pharisees.1 Yet in each instance of meal fellowship, the note of cordiality suggested by the dinner setting is muted by the conflict which ensues between Jesus and his Pharisaic host.”