Interpretation articles from October 2003

Interpretation archives from October 2003

Editorial.(Editorial)
October 1, 2003... EVIL NEEDS NO introduction. Since 9/11, the word has re-entered the American vernacular with a vengeance. It has come to define much of our foreign policy and, indirectly at least, our day-to-day actions. Duct tape, we are told, will protect us...

"For no reason".
October 1, 2003... The words "for no reason" hang over Job's story like the sword of Damocles. When the sword falls, we are plunged into a world that seems to hold "no more beginnings." Why Israel's scriptures should include such a story, and why...

Christ and the present evil age.
October 1, 2003... What does it mean to claim Jesus as Lord in a world where oppression, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him" (1 Pet 3:22). (1) God has put Christ at his right hand in the heavenly places, we read in Ephesians, "far above all...

Fides quaerens spem: a pastoral and theological response to suffering and evil.
October 1, 2003... On the 11th of September, 2001, Americans encountered the reality of evil not as a theoretical principle but as a threatening existential reality. Evil's manifestation in suffering immediately raises the question of theodicy. In our...

Facing evil: evil's many faces five paradigms for understanding evil.
October 1, 2003... Evil is both the experience of suffering and the fear that suffering subverts all meaning and order in the world. Given evil's many faces, at least five paradigms can be identified to account for God's relationship to suffering. God saw...

Genesis 50:15-21.(Between Text & Sermon)
October 1, 2003... "One can easily be in a story and not understand it." Thomas Mann, Joseph and His Brothers GOD, IT HAS BEEN SAID, HAS many ironies in the fire. That, of course, is one way of reading this passage and even preaching it. The novelistic...

Micah 2:1-11.(Between Text & Sermon)
October 1, 2003... EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES for the prosperous landholders we meet in Micah. Imagine them gathered at a benefit gala. Bursts of laughter ripple through the room; the mood is buoyant. Their common bond, in addition to elite social standing, is...

Matthew 2:1-12.(Between Text & Sermon)
October 1, 2003... IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ THE STORY OF THE MAGI'S visit to the Christ child without picturing nervous children in sequined costumes and large headdresses carrying gifts of faux gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and pretending to be oriental sages....

Romans 12:9-21.(Between Text & Sermon)
October 1, 2003... ON PREVIOUS OCCASIONS, I HAVE APPROACHED Rom 12:9-21 at least three ways. First, from an analytical perspective, the exegetical challenges of such a text have captivated my attention. For example, the Greek in this passage is less clear than...

Lamentations: a Commentary.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Adele Berlin Old Testament Library. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 135 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-664-21849-0. LAMENTATIONS IS RECEIVING renewed attention after some neglect. In practice, people of faith are often unfamiliar...

Remembering Jesus: Christian Community, Scripture, and the Moral Life.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Allen Verhey Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 538 pages. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-80280323-7. IN THIS SIGNIFICANT BOOK, THE distinguished New Testament scholar and Christian ethicist from Hope College makes his contribution to the...

Clothed in Nothingness: Consolation for Suffering.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Leonard M. Hummel Minneapolis, Augsburg Fortress, 2003. 201 pages. $18.00. ISBN 0-80063455-1. THE TITLE OF THIS WORK MAY SEEM curious to those not familiar with Martin Luther's writing, but it is illustrative of the theological...

The Faces of Forgiveness: Searching for Wholeness and Salvation.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by F. LeRon Shults and Steven J. Sandage Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2003.269 pp. $17.99. ISBN: 0-8010-2624-5. THE AUTHORS OF THIS BOOK do not curse the victims of abuse by asking them to swallow the hurt and take on the burden of...

Esther.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Carol M. Bechtel Interpretation. John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 101 pp. $18.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8042-3113-3. BECHTEL AGREES WITH Adele Berlin's identification of the genre of the Book of Esther as a "burlesque," and throughout her...

From Deborah to Esther: Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Lillian R. Klein Fortress, Minneapolis, 2003. 154 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-8006-3592-2. A FOCUS ON ISSUES OF GENDER, power, and constraint unites these essays on female figures from Judges, Samuel, Kings, Job, and Esther. Wives and...

Daniel.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by C. L. Seow Westminster Bible Companion. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2003. 198 pp. $22.95. ISBN 0-664-25675-9. THE BOOK OF DANIEL is no longer the battleground between traditionalists and modernists that it was in the late...

Revelation and the God of Israel.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by Norbert M. Samuelson Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002. 259 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-521-81202-X. THIS BOOK IS A WORK in philosophical theology developed from Jewish sources, following up a work on the doctrine of...

The Ten Commandments: a Preaching Commentary.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by John C. Holbert Abingdon, Nashville, 2002. 143 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-687-09048-2. THIS VOLUME OFFERS BRIEF commentary on each of the commandments. History of interpretation plays a less significant role than analysis of key Hebrew...

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by Jodi Magness Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 284 pp. $26.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-80284589-4. THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS and the nearby site of Qumran have attracted both scholarly and popular attention since their discovery roughly fifty years...

An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Early Christianity.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by Delbert Burkett Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002. 600 pp. $29.00. ISBN 0-521-00720. EVERYONE WHO HAS TAUGHT an undergraduate course on the New Testament or Christian Origins knows that one of the greatest challenges is...

The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by Walter Wink Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 356 pp. $26.00. ISBN 0-8006-3262-1. WINK EXPLORES THE MEANING of ho huios tou anthropou, literally "the son of the man," and consequently the meaning of Jesus himself. He argues that Jesus'...

Paul and the Competing Mission in Corinth.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by Michael D. Goulder Hendrickson, Peabody, 2001. 303 pp. $24.95. ISBN 1-56563-379-2. GOULDER ARGUES THAT THE problems Paul addressed in his letters consistently stem from a basic conflict in the early church between two competing...

The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... by Paul F.. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, and L. Edward Phillips Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 247 pp. $47.00 (cloth). ISBN 9-8006-6046-3. THE HERMENEIA COMMENTARIES include selected extra-canonical writings. The Apostolic Tradition,...

Inspiration.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... by David R. Law Continuum, London, 2001. 240 pp. $22.95. ISBN 0-264-5183-7. LAW SETS HIS DISCUSSION in the context of biblical authority. He first analyses the concept of authority itself, stressing that the Bible's authority is...

Healing Psalms: The Dialogues with God that Help You Cope with Life.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Joshua O. Haberman Wiley, Hoboken, 2003. 288 pp. $24.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-471-26474-1. This book presents the text of all 150 psalms, each followed by a brief "dialogue with God" by a respected rabbi. The work is written for readers...

A God So Near: Essays on Old Testament Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Brent A. Strawn and Nancy R. Bowen Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Ind., 2003. 457 pp. $47.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-57506-067-1. Exploring the Psalms and Deuteronomy with a focus on God's nearness, this collection of essays by students...

Jesus and the Quest for Meaning: Entering Theology.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Thomas H. West Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 296 pp, $20.00. ISBN 0-8006-3297-4. Employing recent insights in biblical studies and continental, feminist, and liberation theologies, West provides a non-technical and ecumenical...

The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit In Biblical Perspective.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Ben Witherington III and Laura M. Ice Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 178 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0. 8026-3948-7. This book explores the meaning of biblical references to God as "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit" to show how the earliest...

On Paul: Essays on His Life, Work and Influence in the Early Church.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by C. K. Barren T & T Clark, New York, 2003. 208 pp. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-567-08902-9. A new and extensive examination of the relation of Paul to Christian leaders in Jerusalem introduces this collection of Barrett's writings on...

Understanding the Book of Hebrews: The Story Behind the Sermon.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Kenneth Schenck Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2003. 144 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-664-22428-8. Intended for students, Schenck shows how Hebrews utilizes the events, settings, and characters of the salvation storyline to remind the...

The Canon Debate.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Lee Martin McDonald and James A. Sanders Hendrickson, Peabody, 2003. 662 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-517-2. This collection of essays by experts on early Judaism and early Christianity treats comprehensivly the formation...

A Day of Gladness: The Sabbath among Jews and Christians In Antiquity.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Herold Weiss University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 2003. 274 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-57003-468-0. Weiss compares the ways in which ancient Christians and Jews viewed the Sabbath and argues that the wide spectrum of...

The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Paul Bradshaw Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2003. 493 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-664-22655-8. Replacing an earlier edition edited by J. G. Davies, this dictionary provides a systematic introduction of topics in the field...

New and Enlarged Handbook of Christian Theology.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Donald W. Musser and Joseph L. Price Abingdon, Nashville, 2003. 552 pp. $38.00. ISBN 0-687-09112-8. New and revised articles by 150 scholars provide a concise and non-technical introduction to the whole of contemporary...

A Scientific Theology: Volume Two; Reality.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Alister E. McGrath Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 360 pp. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 043028-3926-6. This second volume of a planned three-volume project on the systematic exploration of the relation of theology and science provides a...

The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by Armand M. Nicholi, Jr. Free Press, New York, 2003. 295 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-7432-4785-X. Now available in a paperback edition, this book uses Freud and Lewis's published and unpublished works to explore how every human embraces two...

Christian Worship in Reformed Churches Past and Present.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Lukas Vischer Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2003. 444 pp. $45.00. ISBN 0-8028-0520-5. Chapters in this book describe past and present worship in Reformed churches on every continent. The book also highlights those aspects of...

Darwin's Religious Odyssey.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... by William E. Phipps Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2002. 207 pp. $16.00. ISBN 1-56338-384-5. Using newly available material, Phipps presents a captivating chronicle of Darwin's journey of faith and the evolution of his...

Called To Teach: The Vocation of the Presbyterian Educator.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
October 1, 2003... edited by Duncan S. Ferguson and William J. Weston Geneva, Louisville, 2003. 223 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-664-50221-0. This collection of essays maintains that the calling to teach in higher education is distinctively Reformed and a primary...