Interpretation articles from July 2007

Interpretation archives from July 2007

Editorial.
July 1, 2007... Echoing the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians that "... Christ is proclaimed in every way" (1:18), this issue of Interpretation offers five essays that explore central themes found in this brief but theologically and ethically rich...

Expecting a hymn, encountering an argument: introducing the rhetoric of Philippians and Pauline interpretation.(Essay)
July 1, 2007... The letter to the Philippians has too often been classified among Paul's minor, or less important, letters. This evaluation has produced the unfortunate result of a sadly under-examined letter, which is all the more unfortunate given the dense...

Philippians and the politics of God.
July 1, 2007... Paul's letter to the Philippians does not occur in either a political or a theological vacuum. Both parties to the correspondence are culturally situated, embedded in a specific social location, in which the words Paul writes and the...

Subverted by joy: suffering and joy in Paul's letter to the Philippians.(Essay)
July 1, 2007... Of the many themes that can be drawn from Paul's letter to the Philippians, clearly one stands out, a theme that is held in tension by two familiar words: suffering and joy. From its opening to its conclusion, the letter casts a spotlight on...

Christian friendship: John, Paul, and the Philippians.(Essay)
July 1, 2007... For many contemporary Christians, both in North America and elsewhere, Christian friendship is simply sociological, a matter of people who like one another and enjoy associating with one another at church and at various church-related...

Preaching to Philippians.(Essay)
July 1, 2007... Philippians appears to be the preacher's dream. Unlike Romans or Hebrews, this brief letter contains no dense argumentation or esoteric exposition that demand explanation. Nor does it introduce ancient practices that are unintelligible to our...

Luke 14:25-27.(Between Text & Sermon)(Essay)
July 1, 2007... THESE VERSES PRESENT "HARD SAYINGS" indeed, words that seem to place before those who would follow Jesus troubling, even loathsome, and perhaps finally impossible standards for doing just that. They bring to mind other challenging teachings...

John 6:25-35.(Between Text & Sermon)(Essay)
July 1, 2007... A reading from John's Gospel in the lectionary poses numerous challenges. Chief among them is the fact that so many passages in John are deeply and often complexly tied to other passages in the gospel. Lectionary readings invite reflection on...

Colossians 1:15-28.(Between Text & Sermon)(Essay)
July 1, 2007... SOME TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE ARE LIKE drops of water falling on a rock, slowly opening over time a crack into which we begin to see the depths. Others are like great waves of water rushing over us, overwhelming us with the fullness of the faith....

The Canonical Hebrew Bible: A Theology of the Old Testament.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Canonical Hebrew Bible: A Theology of the Old Testament by Rolf Rendtorff Deo, Leiden, 2005. 813 pp. $54.95. ISBN 978-90-5854-020-1. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ONE OF GERHARD VON RAD'S most distinguished students (and his...

The People's Work: A Social History of the Liturgy.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The People's Work: A Social History of the Liturgy by Frank C. Senn Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 416 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-8006-3827-6. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FRANK SENN HAS SET OUT to write a social history of the...

Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions edited by Karen Marie Yust, Aostre N. Johnson, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2006....

Philippians.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Philippians Stephen E. Fowl Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 264 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-2551-3. TAKING ITS PLACE WITHIN The Two Horizons NT Commentary series, this volume on Philippians weaves together adept scholarly exegesis...

Exodus.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Exodus by Carol Meyers New Cambridge Bible Commentary, Cambridge University, Cambridge, 2005. 309 pp. $21.99. ISBN 0-521-00291-5. THIS HAS BEEN A GOOD season for the book of Exodus. A major two-volume commentary by William Propp...

1-2 Kings.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... 1-2 Kings by Gina Hens-Piazza Abingdon OT Commentaries, Abingdon, Nashville, 2006. 407 pp. $36.00. ISBN 978-0-687-49021-9. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT non-technical road map to Kings, written largely from a literary or narrative...

Making Wise the Simple: The Torah in Christian Faith and Practice.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Making Wise the Simple: The Torah in Christian Faith and Practice by Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 329 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-0990-2. JOHANNA VAN WIJK-BOS opens the world of Torah for practicing...

The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age By John J. Collins Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 201 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-2892-7. THIS BOOK BEGINS BY exploring an allegory: if the unified language of the...

Whispering the Word: Hearing Women's Stories in the Old Testament.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Whispering the Word: Hearing Women's Stories in the Old Testament by Jacqueline E. Lapsley Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 154 pp. $19.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22435-6. IN THIS STUDY OF OT women, Jacqueline Lapsley aims to...

Can a Cushite Change His Skin?(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Can a Cushite Change His Skin? Rodney Steven Sadler, Jr. T & T Clark, New York, 2005. 175 pp. $115.00. ISBN 9780-506-0708091-7. THIS BOOK FOCUSES on the word "Cush" and its derivative terminology (Cushite, Cushan, Cushi) as used...

The Parables of Jesus.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Parables of Jesus by Luise Schottroff Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 288 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3699-9. THERE IS NO END to the puzzlement that the parables of Jesus pose, and no end to the books that try to explain them....

Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day by Anthony B. Robinson and Robert W. Wall Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. 286 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-6065-1. ANTHONY ROBINSON AND Robert Wall provide an excellent...

Pastoral Ministry According to Paul: A Biblical Vision.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Pastoral Ministry According to Paul: A Biblical Vision by James W. Thompson Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2006. 174 pp. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-8010-3109-0. THIS COMPACT BOOK PRESENTS a unified vision of pastoral theology based on a...

Finding St. Paul in Film.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Finding St. Paul in Film by Richard Walsh T & T Clark, New York, 2005. 224 pp. $22.00. ISBN 978-0-567-02850-1. ALTHOUGH RICHARD WALSH found only three movies in which the character of Paul explicitly appears, he finds many...

Romans in Full Circle: A History of Interpretation.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Romans in Full Circle: A History of Interpretation by Mark Reasoner Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 221 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22873-6. THE INTERPRETATION OF Scripture, I tell my students, is a conversation with...

Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission by Stanley H. Skreslet Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. 263 pp. $24.00. ISBN 978-0-8020-2956-6. STANLEY SKRESLET HAS GIVEN a real gift to the church and...

Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian Compiled and introduced by Paul Weston Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2006. 277 pp. $16.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-2982-1. IN 1963, I ENCOUNTERED a new little book called Trinitarian Faith and Today's...

Reading the Bible with the Damned.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Reading the Bible with the Damned by Bob Ekblad Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 204 pp. $17.95. ISBN 0-664-22917-4. BOB EKBLAD IS THE executive director of Tierra Nueva and the People's Seminary in Burlington, Washington,...

Science and Faith: Understanding Meaning, Method, and Truth.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Science and Faith: Understanding Meaning, Method, and Truth by William H. Chalker Westminster John Knox. Louisville, 2006. 218 pp. $27.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22753-1. A CONSTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS of how the truth-claims of science and...

Confessions of a Christian Humanist.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Confessions of a Christian Humanist by John W. de Gruchy Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 217 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3824-5. IN NORTH AMERICA, there is a knee-jerk tendency to juxtapose Christian faith and "secular" humanism. In...

The Pastor: A Spirituality.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Pastor: A Spirituality by Gordon W. Lathrop Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 134 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3806. LITURGICAL SCHOLAR Gordon Lathrop presents a spirituality for Christian clergy in this book that he hopes...

The Fully Alive Preacher: Recovering from Homiletical Burnout.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Fully Alive Preacher: Recovering from Homiletical Burnout By Mike Graves Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 178 pp. $17.95. ISBN 978-0-664-23020-3. THOSE WHO ARE ATTENTIVE to new works in the field of homiletics can...

Hearing Beyond the Words: How to Become a Listening Pastor.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Hearing Beyond the Words: How to Become a Listening Pastor by Emma J. Justes Abingdon, Nashville, 2006. 115 pp. $15.00. ISBN 978-0-687-49499-6. AS A FOUNDING MEMBER of the Society for Pastoral Theology, teacher, scholar, and...

Shaping the Christian Life: Worship and the Religious Affections.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Shaping the Christian Life: Worship and the Religious Affections by Kendra G. Hotz and Matthew T. Matthews Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 184 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22938-2. HOW DOES THE ACT of worship change those...

Taught by God: Teaching and Spiritual Formation.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Taught by God: Teaching and Spiritual Formation by Karen-Marie Yust and E. Byron Anderson Chalice, St. Louis, 2006. 186 pp. $21.99. ISBN 978-0-8272-3649-3. RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS need a vibrant spiritual life. This seems obvious but...

A Farewell to the Yahwist?: The Composition of the Pentateuch in Recent European Interpretation.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... A Farewell to the Yahwist?: The Composition of the Pentateuch in Recent European Interpretation edited by Thomas B. Dozeman and Konrad Schmid Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2006. 197 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-1-58983-163-6. ...

The Nature of New Testament Theology: Essays in Honour of Robert Morgan.(Book Notes)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... The Nature of New Testament Theology: Essays in Honour of Robert Morgan edited by Christopher Rowland and Christopher Tuckett Blackwell, Malden, Mass., 2006. 314 pp. $34.95. ISBN 978-1-4051-1174-4. Dedicated to the work of Robert...

Modern Christian Thought: The Enlightenment and the Nineteenth Century, 2d ed., vol. 1.(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Modern Christian Thought: The Enlightenment and the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 1 (Second Edition) by James C. Livingston Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 448 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3795-8.

Modern Christian Thought: The Twentieth Century, 2d ed., vol. 2.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Modern Christian Thought: The Enlightenment and the Twentieth Century, Vol. 2 (Second Edition) by James C. Livingston and Francis Schussler Fiorenza Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 448 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3796-5. First...

Thank God Its Friday.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Thank God Its Friday by William H. Willimon Abingdon, Nashville, 2006. 104 pp. $12.00. ISBN 0-687-46490-0. This collection of prayers and sermons from the Church in Birmingham challenges readers to see the grace of God in the midst...

Facets.(Facets: The Care of the Earth)(Facets: The Passion of the Lord, African American Reflection)(Facets: Households and Holiness, the Religious Culture of Israelite Women)(Facets: Darwin and Intelligent Design)(Facets: The Wit of Martin Luther)(Facets: The Horrors We Bless, Rethinking the Just-War Legacy)(Facets: Divine Justice, Divine Judgment, How Does God Act in History?)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Facets Short, inexpensive treatises provide thoughtful insights and reflections. Authored by a number of today's leading theological minds, this series addresses contemporary issues of faith from the perspectives of a variety of...

Channels of Listening.(Channels of Listening: Listening to Listeners, Homeletical Case Studies)(Channels of Listening: Hearing the Sermon, Relationship/Content/Feeling)(Channels of Listening: Believing in Preaching, What Listeners Hear in Sermons)(Channels of Listening: Make the Word Come Alive, Lessons from Laity)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2007... Channels of Listening Funded by the Religion Division of the Lilly Foundation, this series by Chalice Press is the result of the first large-scale qualitative study of how individuals listen to, understand, and respond to sermons. It is...