Interpretation articles from April 2002

Interpretation archives from April 2002

Editorial.
April 1, 2002... The topic of this issue will no doubt elicit either keen interest or wariness among the journal's readers. For some, 'spirituality" is theologically suspect because it overlooks critical reflection. For others, the term represents the core of...

Biblical spirituality.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... This issue of Interpretation reflects an enduring convergence of Protestant and Catholic concerns since the 1960s. Structuring their faith and life around the Bible, Protestants have tended to be suspicious of the term "spirituality" as too...

Psalms and spirituality in the 21st century.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... "The words of the ancient Psalm rise from our hearts: I have become like a broken vessel. I hear the whispering of many--terror on every side!-- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in...

"Learning Christ": Eschatology and spiritual formation in New Testament Christianity.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... The fourth chapter of Ephesians warns against the kind of life the nations live "in the futility of their minds": They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart....

"To taste with the heart": Allegory, poetics, and the deep reading of scripture.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... A generation ago, Northrop Frye taught us that the Bible, until the dawn of modernity; served as a "great code" for Western culture.(1) But scripture has also been a great puzzle, a diverse collection of texts that has provoked vigorous debate...

Reading the Bible with Holocaust survivors and rescuers: a new biblical spirituality.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... Fela Steinberg, a Jewish survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, describes the old Polish shoemaker Henryk Kalina, who sheltered her and other Jews. He was, she reports, "a devout Catholic who spent much of his time reading the Holy Scriptures and who...

The inner self, the word of God, and the Cause that matters.(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... This little essay is a version of the last class lecture I gave before my retirement as a professor of biblical interpretation at Union-PSCE. In it I pursued several ideas about the connection between Bible and vocation. (1) As Christians we...

Numbers 11:24-30. (Between Text and Sermon).(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... THE PASSAGE BEFORE US SHOWS how the Spirit upon whom the prophetic word depends refuses to be confined to its previous or institutional forms even if these are grounded in the revered leader Moses. Through the distribution made possible by the...

John 20:1-18. (Between Text and Sermon).(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... THIS EASTER PASSAGE HIGHLIGHTS THE ENCOUNTER of Jesus with Mary Magdalene. The homiletical possibilities are rich. Jesus tells Mary, "Don't touch me" (v. 17), and later tells Thomas, "Reach out your hand and put it in my side" (v. 27). Why...

Hebrews 10:16-25. (Between Text and Sermon).(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2002... MANY PASSAGES IN OUR CANONICAL SCRIPTURES are disturbing. Every time I focus on any aspect of Hebrews, I am confronted with how a woman in the twenty-first century must deal with the positive reference in 11:32-34 to the faith of Jephthah, who...

The Psalms: An Introduction and The Gift to the Psalms. (Major Reviews).
April 1, 2002... by James L. Crenshaw Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 187 Pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-8028-0854-9. The Gift of the Psalms. Roland E. Murphy Hendrickson, Peabody, 2000. 178 pp. $16.95. ISBN 1-56563-474-8. NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE IS THE...

Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist. (Major Reviews).
April 1, 2002... by Robert Wuthnow University of California Press, Berkeley, 2001. 274 pp. $27.50. ISBN 0- 520-22500-7. THIS BOOK IS THE FRUIT OF EXTENSIVE INTERVIEWS conducted by Wuthnow with individuals and families. He found that artists of all...

Leviticus 23-27: A New Translation and Introduction and Commentary. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Jacob Milgrom Anchor Bible 3B. Doubleday, New Yark, 2001.848 pp. $55.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-385-50035-1. LEVITICUS 23-27 COMPLETES the magisterial three-volume commentary by Jacob Milgrom. The first volume, Leviticus 1-16, provided...

Psalms. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Konrad Schaefer Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Liturgical Press, collegeville, 2001. 403 pp. $49.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8146-5061-9. SCHAEFER'S COMMENTARY stresses practical uses that are rooted in and...

A Retreat with the Psalms: Resources for Personal and Communal Prayer. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by John C. Endres and Elizabeth Liebert Paulist, New York, 2001. 254 pp. $18.95. ISBN 0-8091-4026-8. IN THE DELUGE of books on spirituality that have flooded the market in recent years, it is rare to find one with a balance of good...

Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Yairah Amit Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 188 pp. $20.00. ISBN 08006-3280-X. AMIT OFFERS a wide-ranging discussion of the construction of biblical narrative "designed not only for academic readers but also for the nonspecialist" (p....

Befriending the Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Adele Reinhartz Continuum, New York, 2001. 206 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8264-1319-6. FOR SOME TIME it has been fashionable to talk about "readings" and "reading strategies." Now Adele Reinhartz has demonstrated how multiple readings of...

Paul, Apostle of the Living God: Kerygma and Conversion in 2 Corinthians. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Mark J. Goodwin Trinity Press international, Harrisburg, 2001. 261 pp. $28.00. ISBN 1-56338-318-7. IF N.T. WRIGHT is correct that paganism is on the rise, it is time to get our theological bearings straight again about the God we...

Abba Father: Understanding and Using the Lord's Prayer. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Kenneth Stevenson Morehouse, Harrisburg, 2000. 208 pp. $17.95. ISBN 0-8192-1879-0. THE AUTHOR DESCRIBES in his "Prologue" how he "decided to take the Lord's Prayer around the eight deaneries of the Diocese of Portsmouth on a kind of...

Christians and Roman Rule in the New Testament: New Perspectives. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Richard J. Cassidy Crossroad, New York, 2001. 159 pp. $25.95. ISBN 0-8245-1903-5. IN NINE BRIEF CHAPTERS, well divided into short and pithy analyses, Cassidy leads his audience through his method; the features of Roman rule during...

Soul and Psyche: The Bible in Psychological Perspective. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Wayne G. Rollins Fortress, Minneapolis, 1999. 280 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-8006-2716-4. ROLLINS SERVES AS OUR TOUR GUIDE into the seemingly new field of "psychological biblical criticism." This field, however, turns out not to be so new...

God of Grace and God of Glory: An Account of the Theology of Jonathan Edwards. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Stephen R. Holmes Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 289 pp. $38.00. ISBN 0-8028-3914-2. THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS have seen increasing interest in the theology of Jonathan Edwards by an ecumenical array of theologians. Holmes...

The Genealogy of Violence: Reflections on Creation, Freedom, and Evil. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Charles K. Beilinger Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001. 157 pp. $32.00. ISBN 0-19-513498-2. RARELY COULD A HOOK be timelier. Recent events have made the understanding of the roots of violence, particularly political violence, a...

Cross Purposes: The Violent Grammar of Christian Atonement. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Anthony W. Bartlett Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2001. 277 pp. $30.00. ISBN 1-56338-336-5. BARTLETT DISCLOSES the logic of violence at the root of prevailing accounts of the atonement. He argues that the cross "is the...

Eschatology. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Hans Schwartz Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. 2000. 431 pp. $26.00. ISBN 08028-4733-1. WESTERN HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS having been severed from its biblical sources by the Enlightenment, the present now faces a set of ultimately...

God and the Creative Imagination: Metaphor, Symbol and Myth in Religion and Theology. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Paul Avis Routledge, New York, 1999. 207 pp. $24.99. ISBN 0-415-21503-X. THE TITLE IS A SHADE MISLEADING; to most people "creative imagination" means the arts, matters that concern the author only incidentally. "My thesis in this...

Christianity, Art and Transformation: Theological Aesthetics in the Struggle for Justice. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by John W. de Gruchy Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001. $60.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-521-77205-2. THIS BOOK PROVIDES a much needed theological aesthetic and connects both theology and art to social ethics or "transformation." As a...

Sleuthing the Divine: The Nexus of Science and Spirit. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Kevin Sharpe Fortress, Minneapolis, 2000. 191 pp. $ 16.00. ISBN 0-8006-326-2. THIS BOOK EXPLORES the potential for meaning in the world we have come to know through the sciences. After arguing for the relevance of science for...

New Maps for Old: Explorations in Science and Religion. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Mary Gerhart and Allan Melvin Russell Continuum, New York, 2001. 240 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8264-1338-2. THE AUTHORS' Metaphoric Process: The Creation of Scientific and Religious Understanding (Texas Christian University Press, 1984)...

Beyond The Ordinary: Spirituality for Church Leaders. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Ben Campbell Johnson and Andrew Dreitcer Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 168 pp. $16.00. ISBN 0-8028-4773-0. GOD HAS ALWAYS MADE demands on God's followers--demands beyond the ordinary. For Johnson and Dreitcer, this call is to a...

The Web of Women's Leadership. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Susan Willhauck and Jacqulyn Thorpe Ablngdon, Nashville, 2001. 174 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-687072964 FROM THE FIRST CENTURY, the Christian community has debated how to organize itself for ministry. The hierarchical model that has...

Mainline to the Future: Congregations for the 21st Century. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by Jackson W. Carroll Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2000. 144 pp. $16.95. ISBN 0-664-22253-6. MANY LAMENTS HAVE BEEN sung already for the mainline, old line, "side line" churches. Carroll describes the present challenge facing...

Worship in the Shape of Scripture. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... by F. Russell Mitman Pilgrim, Cleveland, 2001. 165 pp. $16.00. ISBN 0-8298-1421-3. I READ THIS BOOK during the first six months of my first pastorate. Mitman proved to be a helpful conversation partner as I settled into the daunting...

The Art of Teaching the Bible: A Practical Guide for Adults. (Shorter Reviews).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Christine Eaton Blair Geneva, Louisville, 2001. 138 pp. $12.95. ISBN 0-664-50148-6. Why is it that most churches offer a steady stream of Bible study opportunities, only to attract few participants? Blair offers a creative response to...