Interpretation articles from July 2003

Interpretation archives from July 2003

Editorial.(Editorial)
July 1, 2003... MORE A SERMON than a letter, the Epistle to the Hebrews remains a much neglected resource in the life of the church, and perhaps for good reason. Owing to its dense rhetoric and complex argumentation, it is a most formidable work to understand....

The scriptural world of Hebrews.
July 1, 2003... The contemporary experience of pluralism has enabled us to speak about "worlds." Such language acknowledges that humans do not simply live in the world such as it is, but rather inhabit multiple social worlds that they themselves construct. We...

"He offered himself": sacrifice in Hebrews.
July 1, 2003... Hebrews drew on the sacrificial system of the Old Testament to develop an effective, Christocentric soteriology to meet the needs of those it addressed. This rhetorical strategy required Hebrews to portray sacrifice in both negative and...

Anti-Judaism in Hebrews?
July 1, 2003... The question of whether the letter to the Hebrews is anti-Jewish continues to bedevil both scholars and preachers. While this essay will not put the matter to rest, it offers a framework for considering the issue. I am a theologian who has...

The road to perfection: an interpretation of suffering in Hebrews.
July 1, 2003... In a crowded Memphis auditorium in 1974, a prominent and conservative Christian leader instructed physically-abused wives to submit to their husbands, even if they were repeatedly beaten to a "bloody pulp," in the hope that their husbands might...

Hebrews 1:1-4. (Between Text and Sermon).
July 1, 2003... "IN MANY AND VARIOUS WAYS God spoke of old to our ancestors by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1-2 RSV). Albert Outler once said that Hebrews is less an epistle than a fifth gospel. It certainly...

Hebrews 4:14-5:10. (Between Text and Sermon).
July 1, 2003... WHEN I WAS A CHILD, ONE OF THE PLEASURES of summer was swimming at the lake. After a long swim, it was fun to flop on a raft, forget everything, and drift in the hot sun. Occasionally something would startle me and break my reverie. Rising up...

Hebrews 7:23-28. (Between Text and Sermon).
July 1, 2003... THE REVISED COMMON LECTIONARY PROVIDES opportunity for worshiping communities to hear readings from Hebrews in the final weeks of the Pentecost season and of the church year. Combined with a fascinating array of Old Testament readings, as well...

Hebrews 11:29-12:2. (Between Text and Sermon).
July 1, 2003... THE STRUGGLE TO REMAIN FAITHFUL to God, and the sense of isolation that often accompanies it, takes many forms. As Christians, for example, we may have to cope with * problems facing the population as a whole-illness, financial or family...

Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by William P. Brown Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 287 PP. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-22502-2. FOR MANY YEARS I HAVE BEGUN a class in Old Testament Theology with a lecture on metaphors in Psalms, hoping to convey a sense of the agony...

The Politics of Ancient Israel. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Norman K. Gottwald Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 366 pp. $46.95 (cloth). ISBN 0- 664-21977-2. GOTTWALD'S CONSTRUAL OF THE POLITICS of ancient Israel ventures beyond the authoritative perspective of the Bible's final...

1, 2, and 3 John. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by John Painter Sacra Pagina 18. Liturgical, Coilegeville, 2002. 411 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8146-5812-1. THIS RICH AND DETAILED COMMENTARY represents nearly forty years of engagement by its author with the Johannine...

The Word Before The Powers: An Ethic of Preaching. (Major Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Charles L. Campbell Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 206 pp. $22.95. ISBN 0-664-22233-1. CAMPBELL INVITES HIS AUDIENCE--preachers, theologians, and students preparing for ministry--to a theological worldview shaped...

The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Raymond F. Person, Jr. Studies in Biblical Literature, 2. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2002. 175 pp. $29.95. ISBN 1-58983-024-5. PERSON COUNTS HIMSELF among a growing number who are not satisfied with Martin Noth's...

Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Victor H. Matthews Hendrickson, Peabody, 2001. 206 pp. $24.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-417-9. THIS STUDY BEGINS WITH AN emphasis upon the difference between the ancient social and historical world and the present-day world. Readers of...

Reading Isaiah: Poetry and Vision. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... by Peter D. Quinn-Miscall Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 224 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-664-22369-9. WE ARE ALREADY INDEBTED to Peter Quinn-Miscall for an innovative literary commentary on the book of Isaiah. Reading Isaiah is a...

Deutero-Isaiah: A Commentary on Isaiah 40-55. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Klaus Baltzer Translated by Margaret Kohl. Edited by Peter Machinist. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 597 pp. $78.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-6039-0. BALTZER TREATS ISAIAH 40-55 as a unified "document" (p. 44), a "festival...

The Gospel of Matthew. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Rudolph Schnackenburg Translated by Robert R. Barr. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 329 pp. $24.00. ISBN 0-8028-4438-3. READERS FAMILIAR WITH Schnackenburg's extensive three-volume commentary on John's Gospel are well aware of...

Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Francois Bovon Translated by Christine M. Thomas. Edited by Helmut Koester. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 480 pp. $59.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-6044-7. This is A TRANSLATION of the first volume of Bovon's three-volume...

The Case Against Q: Studies in Markan Priority and the Synoptic Problem. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Mark Goodacre Trinity Press International. Harrisburg, 2002. 228 pp. $30.00. ISBN 1-56338-334-9. GOODACRE HAS EMERGED in recent years as a leading "Q skeptic" (p. 12)--his designation for scholars who question the existence of Q....

Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Richard Bauckham Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 343 pp. $24.00. ISBN 0-8028-4999-7. THIS VOLUME BRINGS together studies of various named women in the four gospels, some focusing on familiar characters from the birth and resurrection...

Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods & The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious Authority. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods by Darrell L. Bock Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2002. 230 pp. $18.99. ISBN 0-8010-2451-X. The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious...

Preaching John. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Robert Kysar Fortress Resources for Preaching. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 252 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-8006-3226-5. EACH OF THIS VOLUME'S SIX chapters is designed to introduce preachers to different aspects of the Fourth Gospel in order...

Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by David W Pao Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2002. 311 pp. $34.99. ISBN 0-8010-2496-X. THIS VOLUME IS A REVISION of the author's dissertation. Its basic thesis is that "[the entire Isaianic New Exodus program provides the structural...

The Irony of Galatians: Paul's Letter in First-Century Context. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Mark D. Nanos Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 376 pp. $26.00. ISBN 0-8006-3214-1. FOR THE LAST THIRTY YEARS, Galatian scholars have contended that Paul wrote his letter to oppose a group of Jewish Christian evangelists who had entered...

Encountering the Book of Hebrews: An Exposition. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Donald A. Hagner Encountering Biblical Studies. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2002. 213 pp. $21.99. ISBN 0-8010-2580. CONSISTENT WITH THE AIMS and format of the series, this book is intended for use as a textbook in undergraduate...

The Bible and the Historian: Breaking the Silence About God in Biblical Studies. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Paul S. Minear Abingdon, Nashville, 2002. 280 pp. $30.00. ISBN 0-687-03043-9. MINEAR CALLS FOR A RETUEN to authentic biblical theology--a theology that shares the perspective of the New Testament authors concerning revelation and...

The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Margaret M. Mitchell Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 563 pp. $44.95. ISBN 0-664-225104. MITCHELL CONTENDS THAT Chrysostom's interpretation of the Pauline corpus relies on his relationship with the corporeal Paul....

A Journey of Faith: An Introduction to Christianity. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by H. Wayne Ballard, Jr., Donald N. Penny, W Glenn Jonas, Jr., and Dean M Martin Mercer University Press, Macon, 2002. 303 pp. $30.00. ISBN 0-86554-746-7. THE AUTHORS ARE TO BE commended for trying to put into one book information...

Notes on the Holiness of God. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... By E. David Willis Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 179 pp. $20.00. ISBN 0-8028-4987-3 WILLIS HAS WRITTEN a dense work of closely argued, conceptual theology. The issue addressed is best stated by the author himself: "When it comes today...

Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 2002. 146 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-268-03302-1. WHEN HE BECAME A MAGISTER of theology at the University of Paris in the mid- 1250s, Thomas Aquinas's first...

My Brother's Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do (and Don't) Tell Us About Masculinity. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen InterVarsity, Downer's Grove, 2002. 265 pp. $17.00. ISBN 0-8308-26901-4. "How CAN WE PUT children first without putting women last and without putting men on the sidelines of family life?" (p. 230). Van...

Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing. (Shorter Reviews).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Dennis A. Jacobsen Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 140 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-8006-3244-3. THIS BOOK PROVIDES AN introductory theology of congregation-based organizing. Dennis Jacobsen's starting point is the dominant American culture of...

Redemptive Change: Atonement and the Christian Cure of Souls. .(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... by Russell R. Reno Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2002. 267 pp. $28.00. ISBN 1-56338-381-0. "I WANT TO UNDERSTAND the demands and promises of modern humanism, not only because as a Christian theologian, I wish to know my...