Interpretation back issues from January 2003:
Editorial
Jan 01, 2003; ... "Grace" is one of those words in the vocabulary of faith that, unlike "love" or "sin," never seems to wear down after repeated use. Its meaning is multiple, and its Latin root, gratus, has generated a wide range of words in the English language. Grace, in short, bears a surplus of meaning ....
The hermeneutics of grace: Discerning the Bible's single plot"
Jan 01, 2003; ... The Bible offers a unified portrayal of a God who is essentially gracious, merciful, and loving. The discernment of the Bible's "single plot"-the hermeneutics of grace-has profound social and ethical implications. In his essay "The Good Book as a Good Book," Frederick Buechner reaches ...
Welcoming grace, costly commitment: An approach to the Gospel of Luke
Jan 01, 2003; ... According to Luke, Jesus commends in word and action a vision of God's domain as one defined by grace-welcoming, inclusive grace received and, in turn, extended to others. Grace is a central and persistent biblical theme. Israel's very existence as a people is the result of God's ...
Grace: Probing the limits
Jan 01, 2003; ... Paul's concept of grace was not static. His experiences as an apostle of Christ led him to probe its limits, but not necessarily to reach them. It is now significantly harder to write on the Pauline concept of grace than it was twenty, fifteen, or even ten years ago. The general ...
The grace of God and the law of Christ
Jan 01, 2003; ... It is a mistake to oppose law and grace, for God's grace makes way for a radically transformed social and moral order. The law of Christ enables a new way of life that is obedient to God. The grace of God is often set polemically against the law of God. The Christian view, allegedly, is ...
Sovereign grace: Is reformed theology obsolete?
Jan 01, 2003; ... The Reformed witness to grace may be even more needed today than it was in the sixteenth century, since now Pelagianism seems comfortably at home in the Reformed churches. But the question is whether "sovereign grace" requires the predestinarianism that the Reformers took over from Augustine ....
Between text & sermon: Isaiah 49: 14-18
Jan 01, 2003; ... YHWH'S ORACLE OF REASSURANCE TO ZION in Isa 49:14-18 is one of the biblical passages in which God's steadfast love is most clearly compared to maternal love. Zion, the city of God, is identified and addressed as a mother, one who is distraught with grief and feelings of helplessness and loss. In ...
Between text & sermon: Matthew 5: 43-48
Jan 01, 2003; ... "THE TROUBLE WITH YOU PREACHERS IS THAT you are always talking about something so far removed from my world, where I really live, as to be incomprehensible. Keep your sermons close to the real world," he said to me as we shook hands at the church door. I turned his criticism into a ...
Between text & sermon: Acts 17: 16-34
Jan 01, 2003; ... ACTS 17:16-34 IS THE STORY OF PAUL'S MISSIONARY venture into Athens, a city still basking in the afterglow of its reputation as an intellectual center for philosophy. Amidst the philosophical systems of Epicureanism and Stoicism, which Luke mentions directly, Athens is a place where idols are ...
Between text & sermon: Romans 5: 12-21
Jan 01, 2003; ... PAUL REACHES BACK TO THE BEGINNINGS of things, to Genesis and to Adam. In so doing, and with magnificent theological brush strokes, he re-writes the creation narrative, with Christ at the center of what is to be said about God and the world. God's relation to us as human beings is thus marked by ...
The Gospel of Mark
Jan 01, 2003; ... The Gospel of Mark by John R. Donahue, SJ., and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Sacra Pagina 2. Liturgical, Collegeville, 2002. 488 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8146-5804-0. ACKNOWLEDGING THAT "NO BIBLICAL commentary can do everything," the authors of this substantial work have "tried to do a few ...
The Gospel according to Mark / The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text
Jan 01, 2003; ... The Gospel according to Mark by James R. Edwards Pillar New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids and Apollos, Leicester, 2002. 552 pp. $40.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-3734-4 The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text by R. T France New ...
The Book of Judges
Jan 01, 2003; ... The Book of Judges by Marc Zvi Brettler Routledge, London and New York, 2002. 159 pp. $25.95. ISBN 0-415-16217-3. BRETTLER'S INTRODUCTION to Judges focuses on the question, "how . . . to read both the individual stories and the book as a whole?" (p. x), in ...
First and Second Chronicles
Jan 01, 2003; ... First and Second Chronicles by Steven S. Tuell Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 252 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8042-3110-9. THERE IS A NEW DAY IN the study of Chronicles, no longer seen as a secondary, somewhat unreliable, ...
Lamentations
Jan 01, 2003; ... Lamentations by F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, Louisville, 2002. 159 pp. $21.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8042-3141-9. LYRIC POETRY DIFFERS FROM other poetic forms because it lacks plotline, characters, and other ...
Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament
Jan 01, 2003; ... Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament by Ellen F. Davis Cowley, Boston, 2001. 208 pp. $13.95. ISBN 1-56101-197-5. "THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT GETTING, and staying, involved with God-what it takes, what it costs, what it looks and feels like, why anyone would want to do it ...
Life in Biblical Israel
Jan 01, 2003; ... Life In Biblical Israel by Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2001. 440 pp. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-664-22148-3. KING AND STAGER OFFER the reader an introduction to the social, economic, and cultural history of biblical Israel. Their focus reaches ...
Sabbath and Jubilee
Jan 01, 2003; ... Sabbath and Jubilee by Richard H. Lowery Chalice, St. Louis, 2000. 162 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8272-- 3826-6. THIS VOLUME IS A WELCOME addition to the growing body of literature explicating the socioeconomic referent in scripture's "salvation" story by way of the "jubilee" theme. Lowery ...
Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions in the Ancient World
Jan 01, 2003; ... Peoples of an Almighty God: Competing Religions In the Ancient World by Jonathan Goldstein The Anchor Bible Reference Library. Doubleday, New York, 2002. 589 pp. $36.00. ISBN 0-385-42347-0. THIS BIG BOOK COVERS an important period of ancient Near Eastern history, from the latter eighth ...
The New Historicism
Jan 01, 2003; ... The New Historicism by Gina Hens-Piazza Guides to Biblical Scholarship. Old Testament Series. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 94 pp. $11.00. ISBN 0-8006-- 2989-2. HENs-PIAZZA SURVEYS THE terrain of New Historicism, looking for passage across the "sharply drawn border that currently ...
Matthew 8-20: A Commentary
Jan 01, 2003; ... Matthew 8-20: A Commentary by Ulrich Luz Translated by James E. Crouch. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2001. 607 pp. $69.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8006-- 6034-X. Luz's COMMENTARY IS A masterful and comprehensive treatment of the central section of Matthew's gospel. Luz draws on an extensive ...
Abraham's Divided Children: Galatians and the Politics of Faith
Jan 01, 2003; ... Abraham's Divided Children: Galatians and the Politics of Faith by Pheme Perkins Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2001. 200 pp. $18.00. ISBN 1-56338-359-4. IN THIS IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION to Pauline scholarship, Pheme Perkins presents fresh insight into Paul's argument in ...
Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of St. Paul
Jan 01, 2003; ... Paul In Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of St. Paul by Richard J. Cassidy Crossroad, New York, 2001. 317 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8245-- 1921-3. CASSIDY ARGUES THAT PAUL'S attitude toward the Roman state underwent a dramatic transformation between the time Paul penned his early ...
Revelation
Jan 01, 2003; ... Revelation by Simon J. Kistemaker New Testament Commentary Series. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids 2001. 635 pp. $39.99. ISBN 0-9810-2252-5. THIS HANDSOMELY PRODUCED commentary on Revelation argues that the Apocalypse was written by John the son of Zebedee during the reign of Domitian. The ...
Then the Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context
Jan 01, 2003; ... Then the Whisper Put on Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context by Brian K. Blount Abingdon, Nashville, 2001. 232 pp. $21.00. ISBN 0-687-- 08589-6. THIS BOOK IS A BOLD AND challenging project that, for various reasons, few scholars these days would even dare attempt ....
Capital Punishment and the Bible
Jan 01, 2003; ... Capital Punishment and the Bible by Gardner C. Hanks Herald, Scottdale, 2000. 288 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0,8361-- 9195-1. FIVE YEARS AFTER PUBLISHING his overview Against the Death Penalty, Hanks has produced a companion volume that expands on the first two chapters of his earlier work, ...
The One in the Many: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World Relationship
Jan 01, 2003; ... The One in the Many: A Contemporary Reconstruction of the God-World Relationship by Joseph A. Bracken, S.J. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 234 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-- 8028-4892-3. THE INADEQUACY OF classical, "monarchical" models of God's relation to the world, thought to be inconsistent ...
He Shines In All That's Fair
Jan 01, 2003; ... He Shines In All That's Fair by Richard J. Mouw Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2001. 101 pp. $14.00. ISBN 0-- 80284947-4. MOUW SETS HIMSELF THE TASK of re-thinking the matter of "common grace" within the Reformed tradition, in part to account for the mysteriously perduring presence of good in ...
Fragments of the Spirit: Nature, Violence, and the Renewal of Creation
Jan 01, 2003; ... Fragments of the Spirit: Nature, Violence, and the Renewal of Creation by Mark I. Wallace Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 2002. 256 pp. $20.00. ISBN -56338-82-9. THE OFTEN-NEGLECTED third person of the Trinity receives overdue consideration in this ...
Feminist Theologies for a Postmodern Church: Diversity, Community, and Scripture
Jan 01, 2003; ... Feminist Theologies for a Postmodern Church: Diversity, Community, and Scripture by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd American University Study Series. Peter Lang, New York, 2002. 252 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0-8204-5572-5. SHEPHERD ATTEMPTS TO analyze the systems of power at work in ...
On Niebuhr: A Theological Study
Jan 01, 2003; ... On Niebuhr: A Theological Study by Langdon Gilkey University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001. 261 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-226-2934-6. THIS VOLUME IS A TRIBUTE to Reinhold Niebuhr and his contribution to theological ethics. Placing Niebuhr within the intellectual context of his day, ...
Ichabod Toward Home: The Journey of God's Glory
Jan 01, 2003; ... Ichabod Toward Home: The Journey of God's Glory by Walter Brueggemann Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2002. 150 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-- 8028-3930-4. Two QUESTIONS. What is the church today doing when it stands before the biblical text? And what should the church today be doing when it stands ...
Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation
Jan 01, 2003; ... Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation by Ivone Gebara Translated by David Molineaux. Fortress, Minneapolis, 1999. 230 pp. $22.00. ISBN 0-8006-3183-8. GEBARA PRESENTS AN ecofeminism rooted in the experience of the common degradation of poor women and the rest of the ...
Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences
Jan 01, 2003; ... Religion, Theology and the Human Sciences by Richard H. Roberts Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002. 334 pp. $23.00. ISBN 0-521-79508-7. THE TITLE OF THIS VOLUME could be misleading, for the essays collected here do not constitute yet another dry, academic treatise on the ...
Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business is Buying the Church
Jan 01, 2003; ... Christianity Incorporated: How Big Business is Buying the Church by Michael Budde and Robert Brimlow Brazos, Grand Rapids, 2002. 187 pp. $22.99 (cloth). ISBN 1-58743-0266. THE AUTHORS HAVE A POINT. In fact, they have four and maybe more: that global corporations are "capitalizing" on ...
Preaching Genesis 12-36
Jan 01, 2003; ... Preaching Genesis 12-36 by A. Carter Shelley Preaching Classic Texts. Chalice, St. Louis, 2001. 174 pp. $17.99. ISBN 0-8272-2973-9. THIS BOOK IS INTENDED as a resource for preachers and worship leaders. In its twelve chapters, Shelley deals with fifteen texts that carry forward the ...
Preaching Mark
Jan 01, 2003; ... Preaching Mark by Bonnie Bowman Thurston Fortress Resources for Preaching. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002. 218 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-800-3428-4. THE GREAT STRENGTH OF this volume is its unwavering level-headedness. Pick almost any pericope: if there's scholarly consensus on its most ...
A History of Christian Education: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Perspectives
Jan 01, 2003; ... A History of Christian Education: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Perspectives by John L. Elias Kreiger, Malabar, 2002. 301 pp. $34.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-- 57524-150-1. ELIAS TRACES THE MAJOR themes of Christian education as a dialogue between religious concepts and dominant theories of ...