Interpretation back issues from July 2006:
James as the First Catholic Epistle
Jul 01, 2006; ... James presents an important alternative to the Pauline view of Christian faith and life. James' message reveals deep insight into Jesus' teaching concerning God as Father and the trustful confidence of life lived in relation to God. At the same time, James uncovers the ethical cutting edge of ...
The Letter of Jude: A Rhetoric of Excess or an Excess of Rhetoric?
Jul 01, 2006; ... Is the letter of Jude best understood as a faithful defense of traditional Christian values and beliefs against the moral and liturgical excesses of godless opponents, or as a demonization of those who challenged the author's authority? Not so long ago it was obligatory to begin one's ...
Between Text & Sermon: 1 Timothy 1:3-17
Jul 01, 2006; ... THE TEXTS FROM 1 TIMOTHY surface only in Year C of the lectionary, and only on three occasions. The scant attention is typical of the epistle's history. The Pastoral Epistles, claiming Pauline authorship, are generally considered pseudepigrapha or disputed Pauline material. The designation ...
I Chronicles 1-9/I Chronicles 10-29
Jul 01, 2006; ... I Chronicles 1-9 by Gary N. Knoppers Anchor Bible. Doubleday, New York, 2003. 514 pp. $49.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-385-46928-4. I Chronicles 10-29 by Gary N. Knoppers Anchor Bible. Doubleday, New York, 2004. 531 pp. $49.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-385-51288-0. SINCE THE GROUNDBREAKING WORK of ...
When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity
Jul 01, 2006; ... When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity by O. M. Bakke. Translated by Brian McNeil. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 348 pp. $18.00. 0-8006-3725-9. THIS LIVELY AND GROUNDBREAKING study argues that early Christianity, from about 100-450 C.E., developed ...
Rewriting Moses: The Narrative Eclipse of the Text
Jul 01, 2006; ... Rewriting Moses: The Narrative Eclipse of the Text by Brian Brin T&T Clark, London, 2004. 208 pp. $49.95. ISBN 0-56708087-0. BRIAN BRITT ANALYZES biblical and post-biblical representations of Moses in order to explore ancient and contemporary ideas of scriptural tradition. By ...
Jesus and Gospel
Jul 01, 2006; ... Jesus and Gospel by Graham N. Stanton Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. 239 pp. $23.99. ISBN 0-521-00802-6. GRAHAM STANTON'S EARLIER book The Gospels and Jesus addressed issues pertaining to the study of the canonical Gospels and the quest for the historical Jesus. Readers ...
The Rapture Exposed: the Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Rapture Exposed: the Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation by Barbara R. Rossing Westview, Boulder, 2004. 212 pp. $24.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8133-9156-3. THIS BOOK AIMS "to reclaim 'traditional' Christian interpretations of Revelation in the face of the recent and problematic ...
Before God
Jul 01, 2006; ... Before God by George Stroup Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2004. 210 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-8028-2214-2. THEOLOGIAN GEORGE STROUP laments that Christian life has become indistinguishable from other forms of life in the United States. The problem is not the loss of belief in God. Rather, Christians ...
House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity
Jul 01, 2006; ... House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity by Roger W. Gehring Hendrickson, Peabody, 2004. 408 pp. $29.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-812-3. FROM THE RISE OF Christianity to about 150 C.E., Christians exclusively met in private homes in dwelling ...
Teología: An Introduction to Hispanic Theology
Jul 01, 2006; ... Teología: An Introduction to Hispanic Theology by Luis G. Pedraja Nashville: Abingdon, 2003. 204 pages. $20.00. ISBN 0687-09064-4. LUIS PEDRAIA PROVIDES a commendable exposition of Hispanic/Latina theology. His lucid and scholarly approach renders a compelling introduction to an exciting ...
Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry
Jul 01, 2006; ... Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry by Dean Hoge and Jacqueline Wenger Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 257 pp. $21.00. ISBN 0-8028-2908-2. MY BROTHER ROBERT and I are third-generation ministers. Add our great-great-grandfather to that line, and it represents 156 ...
Lift Your Hearts on High: Eucharistic Prayer in the Reformed Tradition
Jul 01, 2006; ... Lift Your Hearts on High: Eucharistic Prayer in the Reformed Tradition Tradition by Ronald P. Byars Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 138 pp. $16.95. ISBN 0-664-22855-0. RON BYARS TRACES THE development of Eucharistic prayer with special attention to the Reformed tradition. At the ...
Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies (Second Edition)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies (Second Edition) by Don S. Browning and Terry D. Cooper Fortress, Minneapolis, 2004. 304 pp. $25.00. ISBN 08006-3659-7. NEAR THIS BOOK'S CONCLUSION, Don Browning and Terry Cooper assert that "psychologies inevitably cross over into matters ...
Economy of Grace
Jul 01, 2006; ... Economy of Grace by Kathryn Tanner Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 158 pp. $16.00. ISBN 08006-3774-7. INCREASINGLY OVER THE last serveral years, Christians from a variety of traditions have discussed and debated contemporary economic orthodoxies and trends. Indeed, although economic justice ...
"I Have Written to the King, My Lord": Secular Analogies for the Psalms/Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions/The Michal Affair: from Zimri-lim to the Rabbis/David Observed: A King in the Eyes of His Court/Performing the Psalms
Jul 01, 2006; ... "I Have Written to the King, My Lord": Secular Analogies for the Psalms by Roger Tomes Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005. 160 pp. $27.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-90504-809-2. Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions by Jay Sklar Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005. 212 pp ....
Essential Theological Terms
Jul 01, 2006; ... Essential Theological Terms by Justo L. Gonzalez Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 187 pp. $24.95. ISBN ...
Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation
Jul 01, 2006; ... Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation edited by James K. A. Smith and James H. Othuis Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2005. 301 pp. $24.99. ISBN 0-8010-2756-X. Radical Orthodoxy holds that created reality exists only by ...
Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition (Second Edition)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition (Second Edition) by Barbara MacHaffie Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 384 pp. $39.00. ISBN 0-8006-3826-3. This new edition's historical overview has been fully updated and revised. Portraits, ...
Narrating the Gospel in 1 and 2 Peter
Jul 01, 2006; ... Narrative theology emphasizes the overall aim and recounting of God's ways revealed in Scripture and ongoing in history. An exploration of 1 and 2 Peter from this perspective accentuates the theological role of these short letters in shaping the identity of God's people. Recent interest ...
Between Text & Sermon: 1 Peter 1:13-21
Jul 01, 2006; ... LARGE SIZE IS NOT ALWAYS AN ADVANTAGE. This was especially true of the nascent Christian movement toward the end of the first century A.D. During its initial decades, it had been a small movement, often confused with the Judaism from which it sprang, regularly ignored. But its popularity fueled ...
Between Text & Sermon: 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Jul 01, 2006; ... THE PASTORALS PROBABLY REPRESENT an attempt to apply the Pauline tradition for believers at the end of the first century, evoking Paul as spiritual director for the communities he founded. Most scholars do not believe that the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) were written by Paul ...
The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 Volume Set)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 Volume Set) by Craig S. Keener Hendrickson, Peabody, 2003. 1636 pp. $79.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-378-4. IN THIS IMPRESSIVE TWO-VOLUME commentary on John, Craig Keener sets a new standard for examining John in the light of its social-historical context ....
Reframing Her: Biblical Women in Postcolonial Focus
Jul 01, 2006; ... Reframing Her: Biblical Women in Postcolonial Focus by Judith E. McKinlay Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2004. 195 pp. $60.00 (cloth). ISBN 1-905048-00-9. A SETTLER-DESCENDANT RESIDENT of Aotearoa New Zealand, Judith McKinlay takes up the painful task of engaging in a postcolonial ...
Leviticus-Numbers
Jul 01, 2006; ... Leviticus-Numbers by Lloyd R. Bailey Smyth & Helwys, Macon, 2005. 648 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 1-57312-060-X. THIS COMMENTARY ON Leviticus-Numbers is the ninth volume to appear in a new series by Smyth & Helwys, beginning with Walter Brueggemann's commentary on 1 and 2 Kings in ...
Paul's Rhetoric in Its Contexts: The Argument of Romans
Jul 01, 2006; ... Paul's Rhetoric in Its Contexts: The Argument of Romans by Thomas H. Tahiti, SJ. Hendrickson, Peabody, 2004. 469 pp. $24.95. ISBN 1-56563-946-4. THOMAS TOBIN'S STUDY arises from dissatisfaction with commentaries on Romans that by nature focus predominantly on the letter's individual ...
Transfiguration
Jul 01, 2006; ... Transfiguration by Dorothy Lee Continuum, London, 2004. 158 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8264-7595-7. IN THIS COMPACT TOME Dorothy Lee, professor of New Testament in Melbourne, explores the theme of transfiguration in order to draw out all of its symbolic and theological richness. It is a ...
Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition
Jul 01, 2006; ... Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition by Hatis Boersina Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2004. 288 pp. $29.99 (cloth). ISBN 0-8010-2720-9. IF ONE WERE TO CHOOSE a topic that is vital to the church's teaching, but contested on almost every level in ...
Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature
Jul 01, 2006; ... Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature by Gay L. Byron Routledge. New York, 2002. 223 pp. $33.95. ISBN 0415-24369-6. GAY BYRON'S BOOK UNDERSCORES how literary critical method yields new insights for interpreters of early Christian traditions. It confronts ...
An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity
Jul 01, 2006; ... An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity by Allan Anderson Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. 302 pp. $65.00 (Cloth). ISBN 0-521-82573-3. ALLAN ANDERSON'S book presents multicultural, multinational, and sociopolitical perspectives often unattended, ...
Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation
Jul 01, 2006; ... Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation by Craig Blomberg Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2004. 251 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8010-2749-7. FROM HIS PH.D. DISSERTATION on Lucan parables in 1982 to Interpreting the Parables (1990), Craig Blomberg has long ...
Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square
Jul 01, 2006; ... Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square Edited by Sally A. Brown and Patrick D. Miller Westminster John Knox. Louisville. 2005. 174 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-22750-3. IN THIS EXCELLENT multidisciplinary volume, editors Sally Brown and Patrick Miller respond, with ...
Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling
Jul 01, 2006; ... Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling by Pamela Cooper-White Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2004. 246 pp. $18.00. ISBN 0-8006-3454-3. PAMELA COOPER-WHITE offers those interested in pastoral care and counseling a new method of pastoral assessment and a relational ...
The Church Enslaved: A Spirituality of Racial Reconciliation
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Church Enslaved: A Spirituality of Racial Reconciliation by Tony Campolo and Michael Battle Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 159 pp. $15.00. ISBN 08006-3697-X. THIS SMALL VOLUME TACKLES the malignancy of racism in the church, still, today. It is authored by two well-known scholars who ...
Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature
Jul 01, 2006; ... Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature by Craig A. Evans Hendrickson, Peabody, 2005. 539 pp. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-409-8. This volume is an expansion and revision of the 1992 book Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation. It ...
Resistance and Theological Ethics
Jul 01, 2006; ... Resistance and Theological Ethics edited by Ronald H. Stone and Robert L. Stivers Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 2004. 332 pp. $28.95. ISBN 0-7425-41606. From an approach of nonviolent resistance, this collection addresses ...
The Witness of Preaching (Second Edition)
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Witness of Preaching (Second Edition) by Thomas G. Long Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 267 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-22943-3. The revision of this classic text incorporates the use of video clips and PowerPoint, critical engagement with new voices, and ...
Images of Pastoral Care: Classic Readings
Jul 01, 2006; ... Images of Pastoral Care: Classic Readings edited by Robert C. Dykstra Chalice Press, St. Louis, 2005. 248 pp. $29.99. ISBN 0-8272-1624-6. Contributors explore pastoral care from the perspective of pastoral theology, offering a rich array of ...
Editorial
Jul 01, 2006; ... THIS ISSUE OF INTERPRETATION is devoted to the Catholic Epistles. The letters of James, 1-2 Peter, 1,2, and 3 John, and Jude do not always get the attention they deserve, especially in the lectionaries that many congregations follow. The loss is ours, for these short letters provide vivid ...
Conflict and Community in the Johannine Letters
Jul 01, 2006; ... The three Johannine Letters present a number of very difficult problems regarding their authorship and historical background, as well as many passages that are obscurely written and difficult to translate and interpret. Nevertheless, they also have important insights to offer regarding the ...
Between Text & Sermon: 2 Peter 3:1-13
Jul 01, 2006; ... We wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. (2 Peter 3:13) IN THIS ELOQUENT DISTILLATION of biblical hope and vocation, the author of 2 Peter directs his readers to renew their faith in the promises of God. The Lord will indeed return. The new creation ...
Hebrews-James
Jul 01, 2006; ... Hebrews-James by Edgar McKnight and Christopher Church Smyth & Helwys, Macon, 2004. 451 pp. $60.00 (cloth). ISBN 1-57312-085-5. WITH THE ONGOING COMMITMENT of religious publishers to biblical commentaries and commentary series, not only is the sheer number of these volumes growing, ...
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Second Epistle to the Corinthians by Murray J. Harris Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 989 pp. $75.00. ISBN 0-8028-2393-3. THIS LATEST ADDITION TO The New International Greek Testament Commentary brings Harris back to 2 Corinthians more than twenty-five years after he completed the ...
Constituting the Community: Studies on the Polity of Ancient Israel in Honor of S. Dean McBride, Jr.
Jul 01, 2006; ... Constituting the Community: Studies on the Polity of Ancient Israel in Honor of S. Dean McBride, Jr. edited by John T. Strong and Steven S. Tuell Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, 2005. 331 pp. $49.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-57506-078-7. IT IS NOT OFTEN IN THE critical study of the Old Testament that a ...
Living Through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness
Jul 01, 2006; ... Living Through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness by Kristin M. Swenson Baylor University Press, Waco, 2005. 273 pp. $19.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-932792-15-5. IN HER STUDY OF Psalms 6, 22, 38, 69, 88, and 102, Swenson invites us to witness and engage in the process of healing. These six ...
Philippians and Philemon
Jul 01, 2006; ... Philippians and Philemon by Bannie B. Thiirstoti and Judith M. Ryan Sacra Pagina. Liturgical, Collegeville, 2005. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8146-5820-2. THIS VOLUME BRINGS together two letters written by Paul to Christians with whom he appears to have had unusually cordial relations. The ...
The Fall and Sin: What Have We Become As Sinners
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Fall and Sin: What Have We Become As Sinners by Marguerite Sinister Eerdmans. Grand Rapids, 2004. 280 pp. $30.00. ISBN 0-8028-09944. MARGUERITE SHUSTER here completes a threevolume systematic theology begun by Reformed theologian Paul King (ewett. Before his untimely death Jewett, ...
God and Violence: Biblical Resources for Living in a Small World/Conceiving Peace and Violence: A New Testament Legacy
Jul 01, 2006; ... God and Violence: Biblical Resources for Living in a Small World by Patricia M. McDonald Herald Press, Scottsdale, Penn., 2004. 373 pp. $16.99. ISBN 0-8361-9269-9. Conceiving Peace and Violence: A New Testament Legacy by Philip L. Tite University Press of America, Lanham, 2004. 232 pp ....
The Great Passion: An Introduction to Karl Barth's Theology
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Great Passion: An Introduction to Karl Barth's Theology by Eberhard Busch Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. 2004. 302 pp. $29.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-8028-4893-1. IN THIS "INTRODUCTION," Eberhard Busch explicates the major themes in the work of Karl Barth, depending largely on quotations from the ...
Clerical Celibacy: The Heritage
Jul 01, 2006; ... Clerical Celibacy: The Heritage by William E. Phipps Continuum, New York, 2004. 288 pp. $27.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8264-1617-9. WILLIAM PHIPPS'S BOOK appears at a propitious moment. The Catholic Church in North America is in serious trouble even though its membership, now over 62 million, is ...
The Homiletic of All Believers : A Conversational Approach
Jul 01, 2006; ... The Homiletic of All Believers : A Conversational Approach by O. Wesley Allen, Jr. Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 161 pp. $17.95. ISBN 00 -6640 -22860-7. ON SUNDAY MORNING, many preachers stand in the pulpit with trembling knees and sweaty palms, and for good reason. They are ...
Understanding Other Religious Worlds: A Guide for Interreligious Education
Jul 01, 2006; ... Understanding Other Religious Worlds: A Guide for Interreligious Education by Judith A. Berling Orbis, Maryknoll, 2004. 148 pp. $20.00. ISBN 1-57075516-7. JUDITH BERLING'S MAIN concern in this book is "to help Christians (most particularly in the United States) learn to understand and ...
Ending Violence in Teen Dating Relationships: A Resource Guide for Parents and Pastors
Jul 01, 2006; ... Ending Violence in Teen Dating Relationships: A Resource Guide for Parents and Pastors by Al Miles Augsburg Fortress. Minneapolis, 2005. 176 pp. $12.99. ISBN 0-8066-5131-8. IN THIS IMPORTANT AND provocative book, Al Miles opens our eyes to the reality of teen dating violence. His ...
Chasing Down A Rumor: The Death of Mainline Denominations
Jul 01, 2006; ... Chasing Down A Rumor: The Death of Mainline Denominations by Robert Bacher and Kenneth Inskeep Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. 192 pp. $13.99. ISBN 0-8066-5142-3. WE HAVE ALL HEARD the story. The mainline denominations have fallen on hard times. The "rumor" is that the mainline ...
Violence in the New Testament
Jul 01, 2006; ... Violence in the New Testament edited by Shelly Matthews and E. Leigh Gibson T & T Clark, Harrisburg, 2005. 160 pp. $34.95. ISBN 0-567-02500-4. The essays in this slim volume tackle methodological questions concerning passages that too often have been read in a binary fashion ...
Conversations with the Confessions: Dialogue in the Reformed Tradition
Jul 01, 2006; ... Conversations with the Confessions: Dialogue in the Reformed Tradition edited by Joseph D. Small Geneva, Louisville, 2005. 248 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-50248-2. Fourteen scholars examine the confessions of the Presbyterian Church ...
Sermons from Duke Chapel
Jul 01, 2006; ... Sermons from Duke Chapel edited by William H. Willimon Duke University Press, Durham, 2005. 370pp. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8223-3483-6. This collection presents fifty-seven of the most notable sermons preached at Duke University Chapel during its ...