Interpretation articles from July 2008

Interpretation archives from July 2008

Editorial.(Editorial)
July 1, 2008... This issue of Interpretation casts a retrospective look at a towering figure in twentieth-century biblical scholarship, Gerhard von Rad. It contains not only important articles describing his life as a German biblical scholar throughout the...

Gerhard von Rad as a theologian of the church.(Biography)
July 1, 2008... Without doubt Gerhard von Rad is one of the most important and most influential OT scholars of the twentieth century. "His lectures in Gottingen and Heidelberg were pilgrimage sites--there was something magical about his spoken and written word...

Reading the Bible in Nazi Germany: Gerhard von Rad's attempt to Reclaim the Old Testament for the church.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... This essay investigates Gerhard von Rad's interpretation of the book of Deuteronomy and how his social location as a professor at the University of Jena from 1934-1945 in Nazi Germany influenced his exegesis. It explores a particularly poignant...

Theology as witness: Gerhard von Rad's contribution to the study of Old Testament theology.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... INTRODUCTION When Gerhard von Rad published his two volumes on the theology of the OT, this particular area of study was not what most of his contemporaries considered one of the more pressing tasks of OT scholarship. As a matter of fact,...

Abraham's sacrifice: Gerhard von Rad's interpretation of Genesis 22.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... Gerhard von Rad wrote many books and articles in his academic life and he commented on nearly every biblical book. What is especially noteworthy about his interpretation of Gen 22, the story commonly known as "The Sacrifice of Isaac" or "The...

"But we were in the wilderness, and there God speaks quite differently": on the significance of preaching in the theology and work of Gerhard von Rad.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... Gerhard von Rad was both a committed preacher and a passionate hearer of sermons. Contemporaries report his total attention and concentration before and after worship and the extraordinary care with which he prepared his sermons. (2) His...

Sermon on Luke 24:13-35 by Gerhard von Rad (1).(Sermon)
July 1, 2008... INTRODUCTION This sermon on the Emmaus story was delivered on Easter Monday in 1939. Von Rad usually preached in the Confessing Congregation in Jena where he attended worship and belonged to the brotherhood. The Confessing Congregation...

Ezekiel 34:11-19.(Between Text & Sermon)(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... ALL EARTHLY LEADERS AND THEIR SUBJECTS ARE broken and capable of sinful acts. This is especially true during periods of conflict, when cruelty and anxious power-grabbing can characterize a particular era. In his famous assessment of this issue,...

Matthew 22:1-14.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... SLAVES WHO ARE DOING NOTHING MORE OFFENSIVE than passing out invitations to a wedding banquet are slaughtered and killed by the invitees. A king has meat thrown on to the grill in preparation for a feast to celebrate the wedding of his son--and...

Ephesians 1:15--23.(Critical essay)
July 1, 2008... THE PETITIONARY PRAYER FOR WISDOM and enlightenment at the end of Eph 1 appears at first glance to be an elevating excursus sandwiched between a glorious witness to God's saving program (1:2--14) and an exposition of the Savior's gift of grace...

New Testament Theology: Honoring Diversity and Unity.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Frank J. Matera Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2007. 485 pp. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-664-23044-9. ACCORDING TO FRANK MATERA, currently Andrews-Kelly-Ryan Professor of Biblical Studies at The Catholic University of America in...

Der Prolog der hebraischen Bibel: Der literar- und theologiegeschicthliche Diskurs der Urgeschichte [Genesis 1-11].(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Andreas Schuele Theologischer Verlag, Zurich, 2006. 442 pp. ISBN 978-3-290-17359-3. IT IS NO SECRET THAT a mini-revolution has taken place in pentateuchal scholarship over the last three decades. A majority of continental Europeans...

Prophecy and Hermeneutics: Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Christopher R. Seitz Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2007. 264 pp. $22.99. ISBN 978-0-8010-3258-5. CHRISTOPHER SEITZ TELLS US that the occasion for writing this book was the challenge of writing an introduction to the Prophets....

1 Chronicles: A commentary.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Ralph W. Klein Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 561 pp. $55.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-8006-6085-7. THIS VOLUEM, THE FIRST of a two-part contribution to the Hermeneia series, is the product of a distinguished career devoted to...

Reading the Bible with the Dead: What You Can Learn from the History of Exegesis that You Can't learn from Exegesis Alone.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by John L. Thompson Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2007. 336 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-0753-3. SPURRED ON BY THE pioneering work of James Kugel and others, the history of exegesis has become a small cottage industry in recent years....

Abraham: Trials of Family and Faith.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Terence E. Fretheim Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 2007. 262 pp. ISBN 978-1-57003-694-1. PART OF THE SERIES Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament, this book...

Rachel Weeping: Jews, Christians, and Muslims at the Fortress Tomb.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Fred Strickert Michael Glazier/Liturgical, Collegeville, Minn., 2007. 174 pp. $18.95. ISBN 978-0-8146-5987-8. THE RACHEL WE FIRST meet (Gen 29:9-20) is young, vibrant, and even a bit naughty (Gen 31:35)! But then come the melancholy...

The Theology of the Book of Jeremiah.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Walter Brueggemann Old Testament Theology. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007. 213 pp. $18.99. ISBN 978-0-521-69629-5. THIS BOOK INAUGURATES a new Cambridge Press series, Old Testament Theology, that intends to allow...

A Commentary on Micah.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Bruce Waltke Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2007. 490 pp. $32.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-8028-4933-5. FOLLOWING A BRIEF introductory discussion of historical setting, authorship, text, and structure, including a fifteen-page select...

Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Jon D. Levenson Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006. 274 pp. $40.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-300-11735-6. JON LEVENSON ARGUES that the rabbinical doctrine of the resurrection of the dead taught in the Mishnah and Talmud, contrary to...

The One Who Is to Come.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Joseph A. Fitzmyer Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2007. 205 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-4013-4. JOSEPH FITZMYER PURSUES an analysis of the word "messiah," dealing with the HB (which he calls the "Old Testament"), the LXX, extra-biblical...

The Bible and Contemporary Culture.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Gerd Theissen Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007, 163 pp. $16.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3863-4. GERD THEISSEN IS WELL known to English-speaking readers for innovative, pioneering studies of Paul, the Gospels, and the historical Jesus. However,...

Constantine's Bible: Politics and the Making of the New Testament.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by David L. Dungan Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 224 pp. $17.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3790-9. MAPPING THE DEVELOPMENT of the church catholic's authoritative canon of Scripture from earlier Christian sectarian uses of divergent texts is an...

Encounters with Jesus: Studies in the Gospel of John.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Frances Taylor Gench Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2007. 170 pp. $16.95. ISBN 978-0-664-23006-7. LIKE MANY MINISTERS, I have a tendency to "ride hobbyhorses." For years, I have been urging my colleagues to teach their...

Keeping the Church in its Place: The Church as Narrative Character in Acts.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Richard P.Thompson T & T Clark, New York, 2006. 294 pp. $34.95. ISBN 978-0-567-2645-3. INFORMED BY ANCIENT and modern approaches to characterization in narrative literature, this study focuses on "the church"--broadly conceived as...

Not by Paul alone: The formation of the Catholic Epistle collection and the Christian canon.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by David R.Nienhuis Baylor University Press, Waco, 2007. 285 pp. $39.95. ISBN 978-1-932792-71-3. A REVISION OF DAVID Nienhuis' 2004 Ph.D. dissertation at Aberdeen under the direction of Francis Watson, Not by Paul Alone is first and...

Navigating Paul: An Introduction to Key Theological Concepts.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Jouette M.Bassler Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2007. 139 pp. $19.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22741-8. WEIGHTY TOMES ON PAUL'S theology appear in print nearly every year. Much rarer is a volume like this one: a short book of strikingly...

The Apostolic Fathers and the New Testament.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Clayton N. Jefford Hendrickson, Peabody, Mass., 2007. 267 pp. $19.95. ISBN 1-56563-425-X. CLAYTON JEFFORD ARGUES that the Apostolic Fathers draw on oral traditions comparable to those that lay behind the NT writings. They are often...

1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Victor Paul Furnish Abingdon New Testament Commentaries. Abingdon, Nashville, 2007. 204 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-687-05743-6. VICTOR PAUL FURNISH, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Southern Methodist University, is the General...

Stewards, Prophets, Keepers of the Word: Leadership in the Early Church.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Ritva H. Williams Hendrickson, Peabody, Mass., 2006. 228 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-1-56563-949-2. STUDIES OF LEADERSHIP in the early church have typically begun with the vocabulary of leadership found in the NT--apostle, elder, deacon,...

Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Randall C.Zachman University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind., 2007. 521 pp. $55.00. ISBN 978-0-268-04500-5. RANDALL C. ZACHMAN argues that from his first theological writings to his last, John Calvin contended "that the...

Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Curtiss Paul DeYoung Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 186 pp. $15.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-3841-2. CURTISS PAUL DEYOUNG. a professor of reconciliation studies at Bethel University, has written an engaging book that uses biographical...

Music and Theology.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Don E.Saliers Horizons in Theology Series. Abingdon, Nashville, 2007. 83 pp. $10.00. ISBN 978-0-6873-4194-8. THEOLOGY AND MUSIC ARE based in the inexpressible. Our ability to speak of God is often restricted by the limitations of...

Patterned by Grace: How Liturgy Shapes Us.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Daniel T. Benedict Jr. Upper Room Books, Nashville, 2007. 160 pp. $14.00. ISBN 978-0-8358-9905-5. DANIEL BENEDICT WRITES an ode to the liturgical life. It often takes the form of testimony as he persuades and cajoles the reader to...

Anger: Discovering Your Spiritual Ally.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Andrew D.Lester Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2007. 126 pp. $16.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22499-8. IN WRITING HIS THIRD book about anger, Andrew Lester demonstrates that ample fruit can be produced by plowing and tilling the same...

Defeating depression: Real help for You and Those Who Love You.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Howard W.Stone Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 243 pp. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-8066-9031-5. HOWARD STONE,EMERITUS professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Counseling at Brite Divinity School, has written a clear, comprehensive,...

Flawed Families of the Bible: How God's Grace Works Through Imperfect Relationships.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by David E. Garland and Diana R. Garland Brazos, Grand Rapids, 2007. 240 pages. $19.99. 978-1-58743-155-5. THIS BOOK WILL NOT make you laugh. In fact, it is sad. However, the book will make you feel fully human and divine, all at the...

Gentle Shepherding: Pastoral Ethics and Leadership.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... by Joseph E. Bush, Jr. Chalice, St. Louis, 2006. 208 pp. $26.99. ISBN 978-0-8272-1250-3. USING THE THEOLOGICAL theme of vocation, Joseph Bush, Jr., proposes that ethical pastoral leadership requires gentle strength. Gentleness refers...

The Biblical Canon: Its origin, transmission, and authority.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... This third edition of The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon (Hendrickson, 1980), has been revised and enlarged to incorporate recent scholarship. The major role that rabbinic scholars from the second to fifth centuries played in the...

A short introduction to the Hebrew Bible.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... This abridged version of Collins' acclaimed Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM (Fortress, 2004) includes the same information as its predecessor, but excludes many of the former version's details and elaborations. Several of the Minor...

Character ethics and the old testament: moral dimensions of scripture.(Book review)(Brief review)
July 1, 2008... edited by M. Daniel Carroll R. and Jacqueline E. Lapsley Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 260 pp. $29.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22936-8.

Character ethics and the new testament: moral dimensions of scripture.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The essays in these two volumes are culled from presentations delivered over several years at Society of Biblical Literature sessions of the Character Ethics and Biblical Interpretation group. Various texts (Creation, Torah, Prophets, and...

Jewish Christianity reconsidered: rethinking ancient groups and texts.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Jewish Christianity was a critical factor in the formative years of the Christian faith, but there is no scholarly consensus regarding the identity of Jewish Christians and their role in early Christianity. These questions receive attention in...

The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... These ten essays present a comprehensive look at the biblical foundation of the concept of Messiah. Part 1 attends to the pre-NT perspective (including OT, Qumran texts, and apocalyptic and related literature of early Judaism). Part 2 examines...

Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross: Contemporary Images of the Atonement.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The contributors to this book engage atonement, one of the most complex of NT concepts, and its relevance for contemporary audiences. A variety of contexts for discussion of the story of the cross receive attention, including a coffee shop...

The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian church, Volume 6: The Modern Age.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... This sixth volume of Hughes Oliphant Old's celebrated study of the history of preaching in the Western Christian tradition navigates the modern period (from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall). It grounds the discussion in the...

Preaching the Old Testament: A Lectionary Commentary.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... The third and final volume of this lectionary commentary compilation examines use of the OT in Christian preaching. The authors provide readers an understanding of the Jewish context as well as Jewish understanding of the OT, insisting that...

Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 1, 2008... This volume highlights the relevance of OT texts for contemporary worship. Contributors engage the wisdom and practical insights that the OT offers to modern congregations. Key topics include the Sabbath, dramatic traditions, corrective...