Interpretation articles from January 2003

Interpretation archives from January 2003

Editorial.
January 1, 2003... "Grace" is one of those words in the vocabulary of faith that, unlike "love" or "sin," never seems to wear down after repeated use. Its meaning is multiple, and its Latin root, gratus, has generated a wide range of words in the English...

The hermeneutics of grace: discerning the Bible's single plot".
January 1, 2003... In his essay "The Good Book as a Good Book," Frederick Buechner reaches the following conclusion: Finally, I think it is possible to say that in spite of all its extraordinary variety, the Bible is held together by having a single plot. It...

Welcoming grace, costly commitment: an approach to the Gospel of Luke.
January 1, 2003... Grace is a central and persistent biblical theme. Israel's very existence as a people is the result of God's gracious initiative. Despite persistent sin and rebellion, they live by the mercy of a faithful, covenant-keeping God. At the same...

Grace: probing the limits.
January 1, 2003... It is now significantly harder to write on the Pauline concept of grace than it was twenty, fifteen, or even ten years ago. The general agreement about the basic structure of Paul's theology has collapsed, replaced by the chaos of vigorous...

The grace of God and the law of Christ.
January 1, 2003... The grace of God is often set polemically against the law of God. The Christian view, allegedly, is that grace and law are opposites, the former being the root of salvation, the latter being the primary impediment to it. Since grace is not a...

Sovereign grace: is Reformed theology obsolete?
January 1, 2003... At Miletus, we are told, the Apostle Paul sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus and in his farewell address gave a memorable profession of his calling: "I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and...

Isaiah 49:14-18. (Between Text & Sermon).
January 1, 2003... YHWH'S ORACLE OF REASSURANCE TO ZION in Isa 49:14-18 is one of the biblical passages in which God's steadfast love is most clearly compared to maternal love. Zion, the city of God, is identified and addressed as a mother, one who is distraught...

Matthew 5:43-48. (Between Text & Sermon).
January 1, 2003... "THE TROUBLE WITH YOU PREACHERS Is THAT you are always talking about something so far removed from my world, where I really live, as to be incomprehensible. Keep your sermons close to the real world," he said to me as we shook hands at the...

Acts 17:16-34. (Between Text & Sermon).
January 1, 2003... ACTS 17:16-34 IS THE STORY OF PAUL'S MISSIONARY venture into Athens, a city still basking in the afterglow of its reputation as an intellectual center for philosophy. Amidst the philosophical systems of Epicureanism and Stoicism, which Luke...

Romans 5:12-21. (Between Text & Sermon).
January 1, 2003... PAUL REACHES BACK TO THE BEGINNINGS of things, to Genesis and to Adam. In so doing, and with magnificent theological brush strokes, he re-writes the creation narrative, with Christ at the center of what is to be said about God and the world....

The Gospel of Mark. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... The Gospel of Mark by John R. Donahue, S.J., and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Sacra Pagina 2. Liturgical, Collegeville, 2002. 488 p. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8146-5804-0. ACKNOWLEDGING THAT "NO BIBLICAL commentary can do...

The Gospel according to Mark & The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... The Gospel according to Mark by James R. Edwards Pillar New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids and Apollos, Leicester, 2002. 552 pp. $40.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-3734-4. The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text...

The Book of Judges. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Marc Zvi Brettler Routledge, London and New York, 2002. 159 pp. $25.95. ISBN 0-415-46217-3. BRETTLER'S INTRODUCTION to Judges focuses on the question, "how...to read both the individual stories and the book as a whole?" (p. x), in...

First and Second Chronicles. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Steven S. Tuell Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 252 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8042-3110-9 THERE IS A NEW DAY IN the study of Chronicles, no longer seen as a secondary, somewhat...

Lamentations. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 159 pp. $21.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8042-3141-9. LYRIC POETRY DIFFERS FROM other poetic forms because it lacks plotline,...

Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Ellen F. Davis Cowley, Boston, 2001. 208 pp. $13.95. ISBN 1-56101-197-5. "THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT GETTING, and staying, involved with God--what it takes, what it costs, what it looks and feels like, why anyone would want to do it...

Life in Biblical Israel. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 440 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-664-22148.3. KING AND STAGER OFFER the reader an introduction to the social, economic, and cultural history of biblical...

Sabbath and Jubilee. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Richard H. Lowery Chalice, St. Louis, 2000. 162 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8272-3826-6. THIS VOLUME IS A WELCOME addition to the growing body of literature explicating the socioeconomic referent in scripture's "salvation" story by way of...

Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Jonathan Goldstein The Anchor Bible Reference Library. Doubleday, New York, 2002. 589 pp. $36.00. ISBN 0-385-42347-0. THIS BIG BOOK COVERS an important period of ancient Near Eastern history, from the latter eighth century B.C.E.,...

The New Historicism. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Gina Hens-Piazza Guides to Biblical Scholarship. Old Testament Series. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 94 pp. $11.00. ISBN 0-8006-2989-2. HENS-PIAZZA SURVEYS THE terrain of New Historicism, looking for passage across the "sharply drawn...

Matthew 8-20: A Commentary. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Ulrich Luz Translated by James E. Crouch. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 607 pp. $69.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-80066034-X. LUZ'S COMMENTARY IS A masterful and comprehensive treatment of the central section of Matthew's gospel. Luz...

Abraham's Divided Children: Galatians and the Politics of Faith. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Pheme Perkins Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2001.200 pp. $18.00. ISBN 1-56338-359-4. IN THIS IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION to Pauline scholarship, Pheme Perkins presents fresh insight into Paul's argument in Galatians and...

Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of St. Paul. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Richard J. Cassidy Crossroad, New York, 2001.317 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8245-1921-3. CASSIDY ARGUES THAT PAUL'S attitude toward the Roman state underwent a dramatic transformation between the time Paul penned his early letter to the...

Revelation. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Simon J. Kistemaker New Testament Commentary Series. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2001.635 pp. $39.99. ISBN 0-9810-2252-5. THIS HANDSOMELY PRODUCED commentary on Revelation argues that the Apocalypse was written by John the son of...

Then the Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Brian K Blount Abingdon, Nashville, 2001.232 pp. $21.00. ISBN 0-687-08589-6. THIS BOOK IS A BOLD AND challenging project that, for various reasons, few scholars these days would even dare attempt. It aims to bring together the...

Capital Punishment and the Bible. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Gardner C. Hanks Herald, Scottdale, 2000. 288 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8361-9195-1. FIVE YEARS AFTER PUBLISHING his overview Against the Death Penalty, Hanks has produced a companion volume that expands on the first two chapters of his...

The One in the Many: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World Relationship. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... By Joseph A. Bracken, S.J. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 234 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-8028-4892-3. THE INADEQUACY OF classical, "monarchical" models of God's relation to the world, thought to be inconsistent with modern science and...

He Shines in All That's Fair. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Richard J. Mouw Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 101 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-8028-4947-4. MOUW SETS HIMSELF THE TASK of re-thinking the matter of "common grace" within the Reformed tradition, in part to account for the mysteriously...

Fragments of the Spirit: Nature, Violence, and the Renewal of Creation. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Mark I. Wallace Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2002. 256 pp. $20.00. ISBN -56338-82-9. THE OFTEN-NEGLECTED third person of the Trinity receives overdue consideration in this book, which attempts to redeem the Holy Spirit...

Feminist Theologies for a Postmodern Church: Diversity, Community, and Scripture. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd American University Study Series. Peter Lang, New York, 2002. 252 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0-8204-5572-5. SHEPHERD ATTEMPTS TO analyze the systems of power at work in making decisions about exclusivity and...

On Niebuhr: A Theological Study. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Langdon Gilkey University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001. 261 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-226-2934-6. THIS VOLUME IS A TRIBUTE to Reinhold Niebuhr and his contribution to theological ethics. Placing Niebuhr within the intellectual...

Theology After Ricoeur: New Directions in Hermeneutical Theology. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Dan R. Stiver Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 257 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-664-22243-9. THIS BOOK IS ABOUT Paul Ricoeur, but also much more. Despite the book title's emphasis, it is primarily a comprehensive,...

Biblical Religion and Family Values: A Problem in the Philosophy of Culture. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Jan Newman Praeger, Westport, 2001. 357 pp. $82.95. ISBN 0-2759-7137-6. "THE MOST GENERAL AIM of this inquiry is to contribute to philosophical understanding of basic relations between religion and the family as fundamental forms"...

Ichabod Toward Home: The Journey of God's Glory. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Walter Brueggemann Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 150 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-8028-3930-4. Two QUESTIONS. What is the church today doing when it stands before the biblical text? And what should the church today be doing when it stands...

Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Ivone Gebara Translated by David Molineaux. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1999. 230 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-8006-3183-8. GEBARA PRESENTS AN ecofeminism rooted in the experience of the common degradation of poor women and the rest of the natural...

Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Richard H. Roberts Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002. 334 pp. $23.00. ISBN 0-521-79508-7. THE TITLE OF THIS VOLUME could be misleading, for the essays collected here do not constitute yet another dry, academic treatise on...

Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business is Buying the Church. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Michael Budde and Robert Brimlow Brazos, Grand Rapids, 2002. 187 pp. $22.99 (cloth). ISBN 1-58743-026-6. THE AUTHORS HAVE A POINT. In fact, they have four and maybe more: that global corporations are "capitalizing" on the Christian...

Preaching Genesis 12-36. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by A. Carter Shelley Preaching Classic Texts. Chalice, St. Louis, 2001.174 pp. $17.99. ISBN 0-8272-2973-9. THIS BOOK IS INTENDED as a resource for preachers and worship leaders. In its twelve chapters, Shelley deals with fifteen texts...

Preaching Mark. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Bonnie Bowman Thurston Fortress Resources for Preaching. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 218 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-8006-3428-4. THE GREAT STRENGTH OF this volume is its unwavering level-headedness. Pick almost any pericope: if there's...

A History of Christian Education: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Perspectives. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by John L. Elias Kreiger, Malabar, 2002. 301 pp. $34.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-57524-150-1. ELIAS TRACES THE MAJOR themes of Christian education as a dialogue between religious concepts and dominant theories of education in various historical...