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10/15/2017

Textweek ATLAS - Pr 27 OT32 P+23 - November 12, 2017

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/yeara/propera27.htm

Proper 27A / Ordinary 32A / Pentecost +23
November 12, 2017

“Consumerism has become a demonic spiritual force. Does the gospel have the power to help us withstand it?”

Norfleet, AgnesW., "Between Text and Sermon, Joshua 24:1-28," Interpretation, 2012.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

"Each community that gathers for Christian worship in any church is not far from Shechem. We are surrounded by many gods and are called to choose whom we will serve. By regularly claiming our baptismal heritage, we reach down deep into our own tradition and find the living streams of God’s liberating grace that will carry us forward in faith."

“We feel the compelling power of the words. ‘Choose this day whom you will serve,’ Joshua says, and we can almost hear his tone of voice. This is important to Joshua; this is vital; this is urgent; this is spoken in the imperative mood. A choice has to be made, and not just any choice at that. On this choice depends the future of the nation.”

Norfleet, AgnesW., "Between Text and Sermon, Joshua 24:1-28," Interpretation, 2012.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

"The church has enough ministers who want to be efficient, effective, and successful. We need passion, anger, and desire. 

“More interesting still is the fact that Amos, like King, was not afraid to rework the standard idiom of his tradition in order to adapt it to his own purposes.”

“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.”

“Amos's famous diatribes against music and ritual make no sense as denunciations of worship itself But they should continue to worry us profoundly as warnings against music and worship that anesthetize us against the justice that Amos calls for and that God requires.”

Abstract: “The reality of violence and the question of how best to respond to it are crucial dimensions of biblical interpretation. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus teaches nonviolence and conducts his mission nonviolently, yet Matthew envisages that as the returning Son of humanity he will indulge in violent retribution at the parousia. This article probes the discrepancy between Matthew's ethical portrait of Jesus as a teacher of nonretaliation and his (own) violent eschatology. Following a survey of select studies of Matthew's retributive eschatology, the moral problem of eschatological violence is considered. The article concludes with some hermeneutical reflections on potential responses to eschatological vengeance in Matthew.”

 Wimberly, John W, Jr., "Sharing Versus Hoarding," The Living Pulpit, 2003.

“Jesus warns us that we cannot prepare for the future by making safe little warrens for ourselves and our loved ones. It does not work. The fate of those without resources is inherently and intrinsically bound up with the fate of those of us who have resources.”

The Gospel writers were theologians and not just reporters. They collected and revised earlier material, then aimed it at specific situations in their own era. It is hard to evaluate how much the average congregation knows of Bible stories, let alone biblical criticism. Preachers and teachers of the Word have a responsibility, however, to make such knowledge available and practical. We may even find that the homiletical loaves have miraculously multiplied.

10/15/2017 at 04:04 PM | | Comments (0)

Textweek/ATLAS - Pr25 OT31 P+21 - Nov 5, 2017

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/yeara/propera26.htm

Proper 26A / Ordinary 31A / Pentecost +21
November 5, 2017

“…our tendency has been to fight our fiercest battles at the theological periphery of evangelicalism, where we believe the limits of tolerance have been exceeded. We rarely ask who in our midst may be equally misguided (and possibly even more dangerous) because they have drawn the boundaries too narrowly rather than too broadly.”

“…The construction of the "other" takes an interesting turn, however, as the polemic finds expression in the language of "masks." The author of Matthew creates a constant and systematic attack on Jewish leadership. As the reader moves through the barrage of accusations of hypocrisy, it becomes clear that Matthew sees the Jewish leaders as no more than actors on a stage, actors whose motions and actions (of ostensible law-abiding righteousness) belie the lack of righteousness just beneath the surface. The strength of this polemic is doubly damning because not only are these opponents denounced for cloaking themselves in disguise, but they are also condemned for leading others astray by their deception (e.g., 23:15). Here again the polarity between the opponent and Matthew's community is revealed in the chasm between "us" and "them," but revealed this time by the deconstruction of the "other," the unmasking of the enemy.”

“The figure of Satan is deeply woven into the fabric of the Bible and theology, including the theology of Martin Luther. Satan symbolizes evil better than any other symbol in history.”

“By omitting such difficult texts from public discourse in the church, we are leaving the hardest parts of the Bible for people to make sense of on their own—or relinquishing our duties to radio and television preachers who are not as squeamish as we. Either way, we are supporting a sanitized version of holy scripture that allows people to speak breezily of the Bible as "life's instruction book."”

Abstract: “This article constitutes the first half of a statement on a possible paradigm for Old Testament theology. To a large extent, the Old Testament borrows from the "common religion" of the ancient Near East, which serves to legitimate theological order and so to authorize political-social-economic order in the name of the deity. This structure-legitimating function is evident in the Mosaic tradition of covenant, the prophets, Deuteronomic theology, and the sapiential tradition of Proverbs. In various ways it is argued that God's governance is to maintain an order that cannot be mocked, disregarded, or nullified. While this function contains important religious affirmation, it also lends itself to ideological use by those in positions of power. This theological motif, which is everywhere present is, by itself, inadequate, for it cannot very well acknowledge the incongruities which occur in human experience. It is a primary concern of the Old Testament to correct and protest against commitment to order through the embrace of pain. This tension between order and pain is present, not only in the life of Israel, but in the very life of God.”

“What may this passage have to teach us about the necessity of competing theological visions within the church and the concomitant necessity of responding to our opponents with grace and humility?”

Beck, John A., "Why Do Joshua's Readers Keep Crossing the River? The Narrative-Geographical Shaping of Joshua 3-4," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2005.

“The Israelites stood beside the Jordan River for three days contemplating its importance as a boundary into the Promised Land and feeling the concern about crossing it safely. In the same way, the reader is brought again and again to see the roiling river by the repetition of the word "Jordan." The narrator says it. Joshua says it. The Lord himself says it over and over again. Narrative-geographical analysis of this text has shed new light on this repetition, allowing us to better answer the question of why Joshua's readers keep crossing the river.”

10/15/2017 at 03:52 PM | | Comments (0)

10/09/2017

Textweek/ATLAS proper 25 ordinary 30 Pentecost+21a October 29, 2017

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/yeara/propera25.htm

  • “Preaching this text is challenging but worthwhile. The text is rich with issues that resonate with our current situation. We should receive the text as the word of God, which we need even when it judges our failings. We see in these commands and prohibitions the God who is holy, and the God who calls us to holiness. That holiness is not simply ritual and spiritual, but tangibly related to the way we choose to live together as members of local communities, specific and connected congregations, and the one global village.”

    “The treatment of the neighbor says more about one's theological commitments than any ecclesial confession. Indeed, how one defines the neighbor—that is, how one determines who is one's neighbor—reveals the kind of God in whom one believes.”

    “The similarities between Paul and Dio, and between Paul and Cynicism in general, can be extended, but these suffice to show that there are verbal and formal parallels between Paul and Dio that must be taken into account in any consideration of I Thess. ii.”

    “It is striking that Paul, a single man who elsewhere argues in favor of celibacy, chooses to portray his pastoral labors among the Thessalonian Christians with the family metaphors of an infant, a nursing mother, and a father. The apostle effectively defends the integrity of his mission-founding work by asserting that he acted in away that was as innocent as an infant, as loving as a nursing-mother, and as authoritative as a father. These three family metaphors provide not only pastors but also teachers of pastors with powerful pictures of how they ought to conduct themselves in their divine calling.”

    Abstract: “Using the ambiguity of a text, the writer suggests Jesus was implicitly arguing that though he could be perceived to be the Messiah, the title "son of David" should not lead people to think that he was going to restore, unite and rule the kingdom of Israel. Jesus in fact was doing a silent revolution subverting the tyrannical legacy of David and his original son Solomon. The writer offers a rereading of the "son of David" verses in the Gospels which cohere around the Matthean version of Jesus' "triumphal entry into Jerusalem." The Gospel writers contrast David with Jesus, with special reference to their three areas of identification: geographical, ministerial and administrative. This contrast, he shows, finds its climax in the last of book of the Bible where a mighty "lion of Judah" turns out to be a "vulnerable Lamb" who is projected as holding the key of history and is the crucified centre of all powers and authorities. This study challenges the uncritical glorification of David in the Christian tradition.”

10/09/2017 at 01:07 PM | | Comments (0)