Interpretation articles from July 1999

Interpretation archives from July 1999

Introducing Job.(Book of Job)
July 1, 1999... A Journey of Transformation Perhaps the most feared book of the Bible, Job generates more questions than answers. Yet for all its exegetical enigmas and conflicting perspectives, the book is about the painful journey of transformation -...

Job and his friends.(Book of Job)
July 1, 1999... A Conflict of Moral Imaginations Two profound yet incompatible moral imaginations confront each other in the attempt to address Job's experience of turmoil. That of the friends is grounded in a deep sense of the moral nature of creation....

The patience of Job and the patience of Jesus.
July 1, 1999... In New Testament times, Job was considered a model of "steadfastness." Job persevered by looking ahead to God's salvation. New Testament authors similarly portrayed Jesus as one who stood fast in time of trial, even unto death, thereby breaking...

Job after Auschwitz.
July 1, 1999... More than any other book of the Bible, Job lends itself to addressing the theological implications of the Holocaust. As the biblical Job called God to account for his own suffering, so God - and we - must be called to account for the victims of...

The wisdom of irreverence: Job as an icon for postmodern spirituality.
July 1, 1999... Job's search for God anticipates the quest for authentic spirituality amid the collective disillusionment and anxiety shared by Generation X. Indeed, the figure of Job as sage offers all of us a model in the painful search for meaningful life....

Job 23:1-9, 16-17.(Between Text and Sermon)
July 1, 1999... Job's speech in chapters 23-24 holds in tension two seemingly dissonant affirmations: God is absent, and there must be justice. The first statement is the basis for one of the most rending complaints about God's abandonment of the world and of...

Job 38:1-7.(Between Text and Sermon)
July 1, 1999... Country musician Michael Peterson sings, "You know you're in trouble, when the bartender cries." Flowing in every stream of human expression, in both trickles and torrents, are reflections on human suffering. Individually and corporately, human...

Job 42:1-6, 10-17.(Between Text and Sermon)
July 1, 1999... There seems to be no safe or comfortable space in the Book of Job. The prose sections of the prologue and epilogue are disturbing, but the poetic dialogues raise all sorts of questions about friendship, the process of grieving, and the problem...

Ruth and Naomi.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Ellen van Wolde. Translated by John Bowden. SCM Press Ltd, London, 1997. 149 pp. [pounds]12.95. ISBN 0-334-02694-6. In this literary study of Ruth, the author centers her commentary on four key events: the journey of Ruth and Naomi from...

God on Trial: The Book of Job and Human Suffering.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Bill Thomason. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1997. 101 pp. $9.95. ISBN 0-8146-2424-3. One of the main purposes of this book is to introduce the reader to a lesser known facet of Job's personality: the angry, despairing, defiant man...

Introduction to Psalms: The Genres of the Religious Lyric of Israel.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Begrich. Translated by James D. Nogalski. Mercer University Press, Macon, 1998. 388 pp. $45.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-86554-579-0. This book first appeared in 1933 shortly after Gunkel's death, having been completed...

The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48.(Review)
July 1, 1999... by Daniel I. Block. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998. 826 pp. $48.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-2536-2. This conclusion to block's work on Ezekiel is by any measure a substantial contribution. Block...

Theology of the Prophetic Books: The Death and Resurrection of Israel.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Donald E. Gowan. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 1998. 250pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-664-25689-9. The three key moments in Israel's history - the death of the northern kingdom in the eighth century BCE, the death of Judah in 587 BCE, and the...

Jesus as a Figure in History.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Mark Allan Powell, Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 1998. 248 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-664-25703-8. In previous books, this author has demonstrated his ability to summarize clearly and concisely the current state of research on various...

Christology.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Hans Schwarz. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998. 364 pp. $25.00. ISBN 0-8028-4463-4. In this unusual book, Schwarz attempts to listen to modern historical-critical discussions of the historical Jesus as well as to ecclesial treatments of the...

Palestine in the Time of Jesus.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by K.C. Hanson and Douglas E. Oakman. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998. 235 pp. $20.00. ISBN 0-8006-2808-X. The last decade has seen a growing recognition among biblical scholars that the agrarian society of antiquity differed markedly from...

Mary Magdalene: The Image of a Woman Through the Centuries.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Ingrid Maisch. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1998. 185 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-8146-24 71-5. Beyond the Virgin Mary, no female saint has captured the public eye as much as Mary of Magdala. Mentioned only briefly in the Gospels, she...

Romans.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Thomas R. Schreiner. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker, Grand Rapids, 1998. 941 pp. $39.99 (cloth).ISBN 0-8010-2149-9. The series of which this commentary is a part seeks "to provide, within the framework of...

Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Galatians.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Ben Witherington III. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998. 477 pp. $37.50. ISBN 0-8028-4433-2. Witherington is to be commended for taking stock of recent scholarship on Galatians and distilling it into a commentary that is accessible to...

Revelation.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by A. J. P. Garrow. New Testament Readings. Routledge, New York, 1997. 140 pp. $19.99. ISBN 0-415-14641-0. Garrow examines the structure of Revelation as a narrative or story. Two brief chapters deal with questions of aim and method and...

The Didache: A Commentary.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Kurt Niederwimmer. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998. 288 pp. $52.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-6027-7. This excellent commentary on the Didache finally makes Niederwimmer's scholarly German work available...

Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Women's Perspective.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Luise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, and Marie-Therese Wacker. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998. 270 pp. $19.00. ISBN 0-8006-2999-X. Three leading voices of feminist biblical interpretation in Germany have collaborated in this overview of the...

Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit: Womanist Wordings on God and Creation.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Karen Baker-Fletcher: Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998. 138 pp. $16.00. ISBN 0-8006-3077-7. This contribution to womanist writing is a refreshingly unapologetic reminder that the pursuit of a more just and fair world may not neglect the...

Hopeful Realism: Reclaiming the Poetry of Theology.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Douglas F. Ottati. Pilgrim, Cleveland, 1999. 134 pp. $14.95. ISBN 0-8298-1322-5. This brief book flows through seven chapters, beginning with a critique of popular leadership models drawn from a Hobbesian world view of never-ending...

The One Purpose of God: An Answer to the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Jan Bonda. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998. 304 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8028-4186-4. This posthumously published work gives witness to a man struggling with the teaching of his Calvinist tradition in the Netherlands. Bonda focuses on the...

After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Miroslav Volf Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998. 314 pp. $28.00. ISBN 0-8028-4440-5. In this substantial volume, Volf explores the relationship between trinitarian theologies and their corresponding ecclesiologies. His thesis is that a Free...

Restoring the Center: Essays Evangelical and Ecumenical.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Gabriel Fackre. InterVarsity, Downers Grove, 1998. 179 pp. $14.99. ISBN 0-8308-1508-2. In this provocative selection of essays, Fackre espouses a theology of the center, which signifies not the middle of the road but the animating...

No Room for Grace: Pastoral Theology and Dehumanization in the Global Economy.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Barbara Rumscheidt. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998, 170 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-8028-4547-9. Rumscheidt has written an important book on an issue of increasing urgency - the dehumanizing effects of the global market economy. The book is...

Responses to 101 Questions on Islam.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by John Renard. Paulist, New York, 1998. 173 pp. $12.95. ISBN 0-8091-3803-4. Renard uses the question-response method in a user-friendly format. Section by section, this book allows the reader to work towards a logical, and somewhat...

Sacred Texts and Authority.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... edited by Jacob Neusner. Pilgrim, Cleveland, 1998. 163 pp. $15.95. ISBN: 0-8298-1249-0. This brief collection of essays on the ideas of sacred texts and notions of (not necessarily "scriptural") authority surveys the five major world...

Wise Teaching: Biblical Wisdom and Educational Ministry.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Charles F. Melchert. Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 1998. 323 pp. $28.00. ISBN 1-56338-139-7. Melchert's book is an attempt to bridge ancient Israelite wisdom and contemporary education in order to portray "education in a...

The Learning Congregation: A New Vision of Leadership.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Thomas R. Hawkins. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 1997. 160 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-664-25699-6. Educators have long insisted that education, especially church education, cannot be equated with schooling. It is not just Sunday Schools...

Exploring Worship Anew: Dreams and Visions.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Pamela Ann Moeller. Chalice, St. Louis, 1998. 181 pp. $18.99. ISBN 0-8272-0813-8. Moeller defines worship as living in loving, dialogical relationship with God and neighbor. She views worship events (or services) as concentrated...

Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Leonora Tubbs Tisdale. Fortress, Minneapolis, 199 7. 175 pp. $17.00. ISBN 0-8006-2773-3. Preaching, like music and medicine, is part science and part art. The teaching emphasis for those preparing to be preachers tends to focus on the...

Depression and Hope: New Insights for Pastoral Counseling.(Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 1999... by Howard W. Stone. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998. 162 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-8006-3139-0. Depression is the common cold of psychiatry and pastoral care. But depression can kill, either slowly through loss of effective living or rapidly through...