Interpretation articles from April 2007

Interpretation archives from April 2007

Reading the Book of the Twelve theologically.(Guest Editorial)
April 1, 2007... THE TWELVE AS A CORPUS: INTERPRETING UNITY AND DISCORD Recent scholarship has begun to explore the implications of ancient traditions that treat the Twelve Prophets as a single scroll and count it as a single book. Treatments of this...

Recurring themes in the Book of the Twelve: creating points of contact for a theological reading.
April 1, 2007... Four themes have surfaced in the discussion of the Book of the Twelve as deserving of exploration for the role they play in providing a lens for reading the Book of the Twelve as a composite unity. (1) These four themes (the Day of YHWH,...

The first section of the Book of the Twelve Prophets: Hosea-Joel-Amos.
April 1, 2007... The Book of the Twelve Prophets presents its writings in an historical sequence. The main break certainly is the transition from Zephaniah to Haggai, where the Babylonian Exile is passed over in silence. In the first verse of Haggai, a...

Obadiah-Jonah-Micah in canonical context: the nature of prophetic literature and hermeneutics.
April 1, 2007... World events, especially in the Middle East, have given the apocalyptic imagination new life. Do events in Iraq reflect the fulfillment of the Bible's ancient prophecies concerning the downfall of Babylon? Is Armageddon imminent? Of course,...

Nahum-Habakkuk-Zephaniah: reading the "former prophets" in the Persian period.
April 1, 2007... Listening to the intense debates regarding biblical hermeneutics over the past fifty years, it would be easy to conclude that only the most naive of scholars still engage in historical critical study. Once the possibility of objectivity is...

Themes in Haggai-Zechariah-Malachi.
April 1, 2007... Haggai and Zech 1-8 predict the restitution of Judah and Israel and the reestablishment of the pre-exilic institutions of the temple in Jerusalem and the monarchy in Judah. Zechariah 9-14 and Malachi explain the failure of the religio-political...

Deuteronomy 30:6-14.(Between Text & Sermon)
April 1, 2007... Last September 11th, my family and I walked two blocks to our local fire station--operated by volunteers--and remembered the fateful day five years earlier. The service was long but interesting, patriotic, and moving. As I left, I could not...

Amos 8:1-12.(Between Text & Sermon)
April 1, 2007... My first inclination is to seize upon Amos' "Hear this, you..." and preach a rousing call to repentance to those "that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land" (v. 4). After all, in the Revised Common Lectionary, Amos...

Acts 16: 16-40.(Between Text & Sermon)
April 1, 2007... Luke packs this story like a set of Russian stacking dolls, matryoshki, with powers nested in powers. The difference is that while those dolls delight by the revealing of an ever-tinier form, this story reveals each power by covering it--by...

Revelation 1:4-9.(Between Text & Sermon)
April 1, 2007... Ah, the Book of Revelation. The Apocalypse. The book left behind by so much of the church, from early debates over canon, to Luther's derogatory comments, to endless schemes predicting the end of the age. Pre-tribulation, post-tribulation,...

Ezekiel.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Ezekiel by Margaret S. Odell Smyth & Helwys, Macon, 2005. 565 pp. $60.00. ISBN 1-57312-073-1. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MARGARET S. ODELL'S HIGHLY-anticipated Ezekiel commentary joins a spate of recent studies on the prophetic...

Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51-100.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51-100 by Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger. Edited by Klaus Baltzer. English translation by Linda M. Maloney. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 552 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-6061-7. ...

Christian Origins: A People's History of Christianity, Volume 1.(Late Ancient Christianity: A People's History of Christianity, vol. 2)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Christian Origins: A People's History of Christianity, Volume 1 edited by Richard A. Horsley Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 318 pp. $35.00. ISBN 0-8006-3411-X. Late Ancient Christianity: A People's History of Christianity, Volume 2...

Hosea.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Hosea by Ehud Ben Zvi Forms of the Old Testament Literature, Eerdmans, 2005. 335 pp. $55.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-0795-X. FORM CRITICISM AS pioneered by Hermann Gunkel in the mid-twentieth century sought to uncover the oral stage...

Prophets, Performance, and Power: Performance Criticism of the Hebrew Bible.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Prophets, Performance, and Power: Performance Criticism of the Hebrew Bible by William Doan and Terry Giles T & T Clark, New York: 2005. 194 pp. $31.95. ISBN 0-567-02680-9. THE HEBREW PROPHETS spoke to their audiences, but our...

The Prophetic Literature.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... The Prophetic Literature by Marvin A. Sweeney Interpreting Biblical Texts. Abingdon, Nashville, 2005. 240 pp. $19.00. ISBN 0-687-00844-1. BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE only know their biblical prophets from Sunday lectionary pericopes,...

Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide by Walter Brueggemann Abingdon, Nashville, 2005. 124 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-687-34336-4. WALTER BRUEGGEMANN explores "some of the leading motifs of ancient Israel's worship traditions in...

The Empty Men.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... The Empty Men by Gregory Mobley Anchor Bible Reference Library. Doubleday, New York, 2005. 294 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-385-49851-9. GREGORY MOBLEY HAS produced an exuberant study of the biblical tales of the judges and other...

The Reluctant Parting: How the New Testament's Jewish Writers Created a Christian Book.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... The Reluctant Parting: How the New Testament's Jewish Writers Created a Christian Book by Julie Galambush HarperCollins, New York, 2005. 326 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-06-059636-8. THIS BOOK WILL INTEREST readers for many reasons, one of...

Eating Your Way through Luke's Gospel.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Eating Your Way Through Luke's Gospel by Robert J. Karris Liturgical, Collegeville, 2006. 110 pp. $9.95. ISBN 978-0-8146-2121-9. BUILDING ON MORE THAN two decades of research into Luke's Gospel, with special interest in...

Jesus and Creativity.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Jesus and Creativity by Gordon D. Kaufman Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 142 pp. $20.00. ISBN 0-8006-3798-4. WHAT WOULD CHRISTOLOGY look like if it were entirely this-worldly, with no traces of mythology or supernaturalism? How would...

Paul: In Fresh Perspective.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 207 pp. $25.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-3766-6. IN THIS SLENDER but dense volume, N.T. Wright provides a synopsis of his two decades of work on Paul and a...

Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Friedrich Schleiermacher: Between Enlightenment and Romanticism by Richard Crouter Cambridge University, Cambridge, 2005. 277 pp. $80.00. ISBN 0-521-80590-2. THIS HANDSOME VOLUME is a collection of essays in which Richard Crouter...

Why This New Race: Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Why This New Race: Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity by Denise Kimber Buell Columbia University Press, New York, 2005. 288 pp. $45.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-231-13334-0. DENISE KIMBER BUELL pushes the envelope regarding the notion of...

Giving to God: The Bible's Good News about Living a Generous Life.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Giving to God: The Bible's Good News about Living a Generous Life by Mark Allan Powell Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. $13.00. ISBN 0-8028-2926-0. MARK ALLAN POWELL'S BOOK is a treasure for pastors--a book about financial...

Preaching without Contempt: Overcoming Unintended Anti-Judaism.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Preaching Without Contempt: Overcoming Unintended Anti-Judaism by Marilyn J. Salmon Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 183 pp. $16.00 ISBN 0-8006-3821-2. BEGINNING IN THE FIRST century and continuing to the present, Christian pastors...

Children and Our Global Future: Theological and Social Challenges.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Children and Our Global Future: Theological and Social Challenges by Kristin Herzog Pilgrim, Cleveland, 2005. 244 pp. $30.00. ISBN 0-8298-1678-X. KRISTIN HERZOG WRITES, "This study urges theologians and interested laypeople in...

Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in its Social Context.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in its Social Context edited by Philip F. Esler Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 420 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-3767-4. Scholars from various theological disciplines met in 2004 at the "St....

God and Human Dignity.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... God and Human Dignity edited by R. Kendall Soulen and Linda Woodhead Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. 355 pp. $32.00. ISBN 0-8028-3395-0. Concerned about the degradation of the ideal of human dignity in modern deconstructive models,...

God's Life in Trinity.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... God's Life in Trinity edited by Miroslav Volf and Michael Welker Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 262pp. $24.00. ISBN 0-8006-3823-9. Inspired by the trinitarian work of Jurgen Moltmann, this book explores contemporary meanings of...

Performing the Gospel: Orality, Memory, and Mark.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Performing the Gospel: Orality, Memory, and Mark edited by Richard A.R. Horsley, Jonathan A. Draper, and John Miles Foley Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 239 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-3828-X. Ten scholars reflect and expand...

Byzantine Christianity.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Byzantine Christianity edited by Derek Krueger A People's History of Christianity, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 252 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-3413-6. This third volume in the A People's History of Christianity series...

Justice in a Global Economy.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Justice in a Global Economy edited by Pamela K. Brubaker, Rebecca Todd Peters, and Laura A. Stivers Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 165 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-664-22955-7. This collection of essays outlines strategies that...

Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation edited by William C. Placher Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 468 pp. $38.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-3048-X. This volume gathers the wisdom of some of the greatest Christian...

This Incomplete One.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... This Incomplete One by Michael D. Bush Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. 176pp. $12.00. ISBN 0-8028-2227-4. This collection of sermons gives expression to the emotions of communities exploring the loss of a young person in the context...

The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... The American Empire and the Commonwealth of God by David Ray Griffin, John B. Cobb Jr., Richard A. Falk, and Catherine Keller Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 175 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-664-23009-1. Four scholars--three...