Joshua

Title of the Article : The God of the Conquest :

The Theological Problem of the Book of Joshua

The Author :

L. Daniel Hawk is professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio, and a clergy member of the United Methodist Church. Hawk shows that the themes surrounding Joshua express fundamental markers of national identity: religious practice (obedience to the commandments of Moses), ethnic separation (extermination of the peoples of Canaan), and possession of land (“the land that YHWH gives”). Through the medium of narrative, Joshua tests each of these markers and demonstrates that none clearly characterize the people of God. Instead, Joshua presents Israel as a nation fundamentally constituted by choosing: YHWH’s choosing of Israel and Israel’s choosing of YHWH.

Bibliographic Data : THE BIBLE TODAY, vol. 46, no. 3, 2008

Outline :

I. The Old Testament’s Portrait of God is Deficient

II. Find the Spiritual Meaning

III. Consider the Context

IV. Enter the Canonical Conversation

V. Joshua and the Pursuit of Peace

What is the Article all about?

The book of Joshua associates God with violence who orders the slaughter of innocent men, women and children. Is it possible that the God of Joshua is the same with God of mercy and salvation revealed in Jesus Christ? Behind these contemporary questions lies a theological one. Marcion concluded that the barbaric God of the Old Testament is completely different from the God presented in the New Testament who is loving, caring and forgiving. This view suggests that God somehow changed between the testaments from God of destruction to God of Construction. The church rejected Marcion’s claim, the God who in Jesus blessed foreigners is the same God who ordered the extermination of the Canaanites.

Christian teacher Origen looked at Joshua’s violence allegorically. He simply interprets it as an allegory of Christian experiencing hardship and difficulties to overcome sin and to stay holy for the sake of their salvation. Some interpreters introduced Joshua as a model of faith, obedience and perseverance. It teaches us that the success of the Israelites was caused by their wholehearted devotion to God. The book of Joshua appears to mean is not what it really means. We should go beyond every historical events that shows violence. Progressive revelation may be took its place, that idea that God entered Israel’s experience and over the course of time, slowly and carefully lifted Israel to a higher vision of God and humanity. Another approach has recently been suggested, combining the study of its literary structure with its historical analysis. The book of Joshua does not only deal about violence but it discussed church in multiple perspectives arising out of diverse literary and historical context. This approach views the biblical text not as a template but as a testimony that invites Christians into a long and contentious conversation about what it means to live as God’s people in a violent world. The critique of the conquest begins within the book of Joshua itself. In this way the Scripture then becomes a mirror that reflects back to us both our ugliness and our beauty. The book of Joshua wanted us to see God above all things when we struggle and experiencing physical and spiritual battle.

Writing a Gospel…

Title of the Article : Write a Gospel

The Author :

John Navone is a professor of theology at the Gregorian University in. Among his many books are Toward a Theology of Beauty (1996), God’s Beauty (1996), and Lead, Radiant Spirit : Our Gospel Quest (2001), all published by Liturgical Press. As a professor he encourages his student to explore the gospel and to write their own. He want them to internalize the scenario in the life of Jesus Christ based on the written account from the Four Gospels to interpret it accurately. His experiences with his students helped him to make this article more possible with a touch of reflection from his life.

Bibliographic Data : THE BIBLE TODAY, vol. 46, no. 1, 2008

Outline :

I. Gospel as Self-Revealing Narratives

What is the Article all about :

We as believers we looked at the Gospel as God’s revelation and expression of love to humanity through His Son Jesus Christ. Exploring the Gospel is like experiencing God’s love which is the foundation of every church. Writing a gospel is one way of learning to use a gospel for discovering the quality of our relationship to the transcendent love of God in Jesus Christ, in His body the church, and in His World. Jesus is symbolic presentation of God’s love. In writing a gospel in our own way, we write it down the way how we understand God’s love in ourselves, others, and the world. The writer experiencing self-revelation of God’s will by telling the story of Jesus.

Writing a gospel can be done this way : imagine that an angel of God had told us that, at the end of the week, all Bibles would vanish; however, God in his infinite mercy had designated us to preserve 2,500 words from the four canonical gospels as the only written link with the original story of Jesus. What would be the contents of our gospel? As writer we must discern matters concerning the portrait of Jesus and the portrait of the synoptic author. We should consider the meaning of and value of Jesus for the synoptic author. What does the author expect of Jesus? At what level of personal need does Jesus encounter the author? What is the author’s particular interest in Jesus? And what is the author’s primary feeling for Jesus?

The author of the article gave elements to be considered in writing a gospel. We should not exclude one or the other of these elements in creating their balanced portrait of Jesus as both their crucified and risen Lord. Some of these elements are what does Jesus do with his time? And what does Jesus say in the gospel? Such elements are important for us to understand the implications of the gospel in our present time. The exercise of writing the gospel might help us to discover areas of our lives that are most affected by the meaning and value of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Being a gospel writer we create a context for a meaningful discussion of the process that brought the four canonical gospel into existence.

Jesus in Movies?

Title of the Article : Meeting Jesus at the Movies

The Author :

Rose Pacatte is a daughter of St. Paul and director of the Pauline Center for media Studies and is a media literacy education specialist and the film/TV columnist for St. Anthony Messenger magazine. She is also the coauthor of four award-winning books on film and Scripture in the Lights, Camera…Faith series available from www.pauline.org Her newest publication is Into Great Silence : A Film Study Guide, coauthored with Ron Schmidt, S.J. She really recognized movies as another way of telling stories from the Scripture. And movies are form of modern parables to announce the gospel to the people of today.

Bibliographic Data : THE BIBLE TODAY, vol. 46, no. 1, 2008

Outline :

I. Introduction

II. Exercising Moral Imagination

III. Lenten Themes

What is the Article all about :

At some point during our lives we may experience an epiphany, when a light goes on inside us and we come to an awareness of some truth that transcends our being, changing us and helping us to grow spiritually as we travel the human and Christian journey. Sometimes we have experienced it after watching movies where the story really touches us as human being.

The article helps us to see movies as another way of presenting Jesus’ life and teachings. Movies are frequently a place to encounter Jesus. The author Rose Pacatte enumerated some of the films that contain similar story in the Bible. The movie “The Missing” is not such a great film as western go. But the narrative is about a journey to find something, precious ones who had been lost and then are found to great rejoicing. We will see in this film the stories stated in Luke 15 about the Parable of the Lost Coin, Parable of the Woman and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Hulk deals with the deadly sin of anger and its consequences. The word of God encourages us to reflect and to respond to words and situations with wisdom. In the Movie Spiderman 2 there was a line given by Aunt May to Peter stating “I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, make us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride…”. Her words are reminding us of Galatians 5:22, 25 regarding the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Magi had epiphany in Matthew 2:1-12. In fact they had several, from seeing the star and following it to finding the Christ child and realizing just who Herod was.

Jesus really speaks to us through movies we are watching. What the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 13:10 “The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’” is still valid for mindful moviegoers today asking “Why do you speak to the people through movies?”. We should really appreciate writers who consider the scriptural theme in doing films.

The Gospel of James

Title of the Article : The Gospel of James :

Heresy or Honored Tradition?

The Author ;

Albert T. Derivan is a clinical professor at Thomas Jefferson University Department of Psychiatry and Human behavior, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is also a faculty member at Alvernia College. He is an associate member of the Catholic Biblical Association of America and teaches New Testament Studies. He is a Permanent Deacon, Archdiocese of Philadelphia . He really wanted to introduce the Gospel of James and its contents and leave us to decide to believe it or not. And to challenge us how the information we have learned from his article will move us closer or away from our faith.

Bibliographic Data : THE BIBLE TODAY, vol. 46, no. 3, 2008

Outline :

I. Gospel of James

II.         Joseph, Mary and Jesus

III.        Significance

What is the Article all about?

The Gospel of James is not actually popular unlike the other canonical gospels of Matthew, mark, Luke and John. In fact, it is so hard to consider the Gospel of James as a gospel. It is an ancient narrative telling us about Mary and her parents, St. Anne and St. Joaquim. It tells us about the virgin birth of Mary to Jesus not in a manger but in a cave. It describes also the escaped of the Holy Family and Elizabeth with husband Zechariah from the wrath of King Herod. It is not clear how the 125 manuscript of the Gospel of James originated.

Several people in their time had the name James. James referring to the brother of Jesus Christ is mentioned many times in the New Testament, including the Gospel of Matthew and Mark, The Acts of the Apostles and the letter to the Galatians. Few scholars accepted him as the brother of Jesus but not the author of the gospel named before him. It is probably someone wrote the gospel just in his name but still he played important role in that gospel. The Gospel of James stated that when Joseph and Mary went to their journey to Betlehem they were with the sons of Joseph in his first marriage. Throughout the gospel the author emphasized that Mary was virgin both before and after her marriage to Joseph. Joseph did not have any opportunity to have sexual contact with Mary because He went to his journey immediately. The author indicates that Jesus may be had siblings but they were not in blood or may be they were referring to the cousins of Jesus. Celsus said that Jesus was son of Mary to a Roman soldier.

May be the Gospel of James is not included in canonical list of books but it provides important traditions cherished by Christians. It really draws us closely to the time when the Savior was born. Even though some of the details stated in this gospel are somehow in contrast from our belief, it made the character of Mary, Joseph and Jesus

Violence in Revelation

Title of the Article : Seeing God’s Back and Beholding God’s face :

Violence in the Book of Revelation

The Author :

Catherine Cory has bees a faculty member of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul since year 1991. In addition, she is the director of the Master of Arts in Theology program at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity and the director of the Murray Institute, a collaboration between the University of St. Thomas and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which provides advanced education for its Catholic school teachers and parish ministers. She received her M.A in Theology from Saint John’s University in Collegeville and her Ph.D. in Biblical studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Bibliographic Data : THE BIBLE TODAY, vol. 46, no. 3, 2008

Outline :

I. Introduction

II. Two Kinds of Violence

III. A Situation of Persecution

IV. The Triumph of God’s Holy Ones

V. Beholding God’s Face in the New Jerusalem

What is the Article all about?

The book of Revelation or also called the Apocalypse is popularly known because of its contents like a bad science-fiction horror story, its pages seem to explode with monster, wars, bloodshed, plagues, and all kinds of cosmic disasters. Christians or non-christians even the scholars wrestled with its significant in the world of Christianity. The book of Revelation causes to question God as powerful, just, compassionate and merciful God due to violence and suffering stated in this book. This article has turned the book of Revelation to other view that would enable us to see the bright side.

There are two kinds of violence stated in this book. First is the violence against the wicked and sinners. But God really doesn’t feel so good to see His creations suffering because of their own evil desires. Another kind of violence can be found in the book of Revelation is the suffering endured by the righteous. But we can find little comfort on what Apostle John have said that God is aware of and attentive to the suffering of the righteous. But question comes out that if God is really powerful for He is able to stop the suffering of the righteous then why He does not save them. Recently, scholars thought that the book of Revelation is just a presentation of how Christians are being persecuted because of their faith. The bloody and almost put them to death illustration of Christian persecution is what the book really meant. Scholars think that may be the purpose of the book is to rekindle the love of every Christian to God and to fire out their faith to give the service that God was looking for.

Also the book of Revelation shows how faith to God brought His people to great success over sufferings and death. They stayed holy by not fighting violence with violence but rather putting their trust to God that would enable them to endure hardship. But at the end the book shows us that evil will be destroyed. The mighty and powerful God will reign forever and ever with the new kingdom He will going to establish. In His kingdom no more pain, violence, suffering and evil but only gladness in worshipping God.

Introducing OT Theology

Title of Book : Introducing Old Testament Theology

The Author :

J. N. Schofield is a lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies in the University of Cambridge. He believes that to understand the Old Testament we must use the results of archeological and historical research, the comparative study of religions, and literary and linguistic studies to reconstruct the course of the actual history, the growth of the literature, and the development of the religion. But the theology must be the theology of the book in its final form. Through the pages of the Old Testament, countless men and women have heard the “word” of the same God, and the book has an intrinsic validity as divine revelation as well as a relationship to its sequel in the New Testament.

Outline :

I. The Contents of the Old Testament

II. The God Who Acts

III. The God Who Speaks

IV. God’s Kinship with Man

V. The Glory of God

What is the book all about?

The Old Testament is divided into three: the first five books from Genesis to Deutoronomy are law. It is used of the instructions given by a mother, a priest, or a prophet, as well as by God. There are two groups of material: The former Prophets consisting of the history books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, and the Latter Prophets, comprising the four main groups, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve—the minor prophetic books. The third section, probably originally called the Holy Writings include Books used in the Temple worship, History books, Daniel and the Wisdom Literature. We should begin our study of Old Testament theology where the book in its present form introduces its God as Creator. The primary purpose of the creation stories appears to be to relate God to history. Sin comes in and it breaks the fellowship between man and God. The Pentateuch tells how gracious and loving our God was that heard His children’s cry for help.

Actions as well as words can speak to men, and can be used to reveal the character and purpose of God. The word ‘prophet’ is used in the Old Testament first of Abraham. The experience of a ‘call’ was the most decisive event in a prophet’s life for it was an immediate contact with God. It is agreed that the ultimate ground of prophetic experience was the belief that God speaks in a way man can understand. Old Testament theology thinks of God not only what he does in deed and word but it believes that He reveals what He is, His being, in His relationship with men, His availability to men, His influence on men’s attitude to life’s problems. The Old Testament is absolutely certain that man cannot separate himself from God. The Hebrew word translated glory can be used of human splendor. Man must give glory to God in worship as he praises God; but even more because all conduct is worship, we must give glory to God in life and particularly in face of life’s problem and disasters. This book gave insights all about God and the responsibilities of man in Him. Apart from God man has no beginning, meaning purpose or end.

Interpret for Yourself

Title of book : How to Interpret the Bible for Yourself

The Author :

Richard Mayhue is Senior Vice President and Dean of Studies at the Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles, California and has an International speaking and teaching ministry. He is a successful author of many books including “The Healing Promise”, “What Would Jesus Say About Your Church?” and “Fight the Good Fight”. The author recognizes that God does do the miraculous, but he also shows in this book that much of what goes under the name of divine healing today is not scriptural. He believes that the Healing Promise begins by examining what the Bible says about healing. Examine God’s purpose in every suffering.

Outline :

I. Making Straight Cuts

II. Avoiding Crooked Cuts

III. Living Out Your cuts

What is the book all about?

First, as the reader and interpreter of the Scripture we must present ourselves pleasantly before God. We should know our responsibility, commitment, skills, accountability and the state of our faith as a Christian. The book discussed shortly about the history of the Bible like its inspiration, canonicity, preservation and transmission. We should have a personal bible that we are going to use for studying the Word of God and be specific with its version in which you can understand the message better. It gives a set of books that can be helpful in interpreting the Scripture such as in defining words or giving an insight about certain biblical historical events. The books like Bible Atlas, Bible Dictionary, English Concordance, Bible Encyclopedia and Topical Bible are some of the suggested. It is important to recognize first the Bible as authoritative Word of God above all. Proper preparation before starting to read it is necessary and it includes prayerfully seek God’s Spirit as primary teacher and let the Holy Spirit teach at the appropriate time. Observe the passage singularly, carefully, thoroughly, systematically and intimately. Consider the words, time, places, intended meaning of the writer, the circumstances and what goes before and after. The book is actually contains a procedure in studying and interpreting the Bible. After the initial observation investigate the message of the passage to its original recipients. What did the author mean by what he said considering the language and geography. The book also discussed some common hermeneutical obstacles to correct interpretation. Prooftexting is stringing together an inappropriate or inadequate series of Bible verses to prove the theology. Isolation is where we isolate the Scripture from its immediate literary surroundings. Spiritualizing happens when we read a spiritual or historical truth into a text rather than extracting truth from it. Nationalizing happens when we see our own country as the recipient of national promises made by God in the Bible to Israel. These are some from those unhealthy practices of interpreting the Scripture. In order for us to interpret the Bible accurately we must go back to God as the original author and source of everything. Look at the Bible as

Psychology of Biblical Interpretation

Title of Book : The Psychology of Biblical Interpretation

Author :

Cedric B. Johnson is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice. He has taught at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portlant, Oregon, and holds degrees from the University of South Africa, Fuller Theological Seminary, and fuller Graduate School of Psychology. He believes that ideas about biblical truth do not come entirely from the study of the Bible. Somehow the personal journal with the ghosts of the past, the anxieties and challenges of the present, and the alluring seductiveness of the future shapes the way we view the scripture. He attempted to get behind the disguise and explain why theologians come up with such divergent interpretations of the same body of truth.

Outline:

I. The Mind in Search of Meaning

II. Personality and Interpretation

III. The influence of the Society and Culture

IV. A Psychological Hermeneutic – Insight and Responsibility

What is the book all about?

It emphasized the absolute involvement of man in interpreting the Word of God. It recognized exegesis and synthesis of the text in discovering the meaning of passage. It says that the Bible has a clear message about salvation and how Christian faith should be. Human mind is concerned with formulating and testing the hypothesis and has significant role in the process of hermeneutics. Theories are changed through different processes like assimilation, accommodation and paradigmatic shifts. Man as interpreter of the Scripture has to engage himself personally in the process of interpretation. It gives the function of the both side of the brain in grasping the whole picture in relationship to a particular doctrine or issue in Scripture requires creative thought. We should interpret the specific verse of the Bible not separately from the Bible itself as a whole. We should not break the passages into pieces to exegete what it means, they should work altogether.

The book also discussed the influence of human personal and social condition in interpreting the Scripture. The culture affects so much the way we look at the Bible and its message in person’s life. If we learned to consider the personal and cultural aspect of human life in interpreting the Scripture we will come out with the better discernment of God-given meaning. We should always look for the God-given and unchanging meaning every time we read the Bible especially when we intended to interpret it correctly. By a thorough studying of its context and applying the process of exegesis we will end up with its meaning. The significant of the message of the Bible varies depends upon the needs of the church or of an individual considering the age and different social issues. The Scripture is alive enables to communicate to its reader in order to see the intended meaning. The Bible is united in its message and does not have contrast or contradiction in its meaning. Its just human factor why people are get confuse in interpreting it. The natural fear of man leads him to an accurate interpretation of the Scripture. Man often places his needs in priority that causes him to be biased in interpreting the Scripture. We should recognize the courage of the prophets, the acceptance of the church, assistance of the Holy Spirit will make us able to interpret God’s Word better.

NT Textual Criticism

Title of Book : Introduction To New Testament Textual Criticism

The Author:

J. Harold Greenlee, formerly Professor of New Testament Languages ay Asbury Theological Seminary, is the author of A Concise Exegetical Grammar of New Testament Greek, also published by Eerdmans. He graduate School of Theology, Oral Reports University. J. Harold Greenlee wanted to present the facts and principles of this important area of Biblical study in a manner that will enable the beginning student to grasp them readily, at the same time providing the advanced student and minister with an opportunity for convenient review. He dedicated the book to his esteemed dean and beloved colleague, who gave the first instruction in the intriguing field of New Testament textual criticism.

Outline:

I. Introduction

II. Palaeography

III. The Sources of the New Testament Text

IV. Transmission of the Text

V. The Text in Print

VI. The Age of the Critical Text

VII. The Plaxis of Textual Criticism

VIII. The Plaxis of he Textual Criticism (continued)

IX. Collation and Classification of Manuscript

What is the book all about?

The book gives preview about the importance of textual criticism in any ancient literature especially the Old Testament as being the most important piece, its manuscript is more overwhelming and was written much closer to the date of its original writing. It explains how the ancient people wrote the New Testament books using different writing materials and its evolution for better and more accurate copy with preservation purpose consideration. It details the New Testament three principles sources: the Greek Manuscripts, Versions and Patristic Quotations. These three had their contributions to the formation of the New Testament books. The book also exposes the possible factors that cause variants as the New Testament gone through the process of transmission. The Unintentional and Intentional changes affected the text content as it was tried to be translated by the scribes. The problem of erroneous transmission of the text was quite resolved when printing press was invented. The search for textual evidence continues to examine and to improve the latest edition of the New Testament to meet its maximum accuracy to the writing of the author.

Many scholars attempted to change the printed text that causes struggles among them. Still there is existing variant reading in the text that according to some scholars acceptance is the best thing to do as it seems most naturally to fit the context. Continues evolution in the text happened till they come out with the Greek New Testament that becomes the Significant Modern Edition. The book also gave ways ( e.g Souter, Nestle, BFBS, Merk ) to read a critical apparatus of the common-used editions of the Greek New Testament for us as student may find it convenient to use them. It is important in analyzing and solving a variant. The book also suggests proper procedure of dealing some New Testament variants considering the internal and external evidences. It gave some actual New Testament example of variants and He used Souter to show its application. It shows also the significant of the correlation process which is referring to comparing one text or manuscript with another. Methods of recording the correlation were also introduced. It enables us to see the differences between the manuscript and the printed text. Correlation of the text was considered as significant contribution to textual criticism.

Interpretation with Reflection

Title of the Book: On the Interpretation and Use of the Bible

With Reflections on Experience

The Author:

Ronald S. Wallace, the Author of this book has been almost thirty years in the active ministry. During the early years of his ministry, he benefited both from the wealth of important insights that churchmen were rediscovering in the reformers’ teachings on the Word of God and from the appearance of illuminating new studies on the backgrounds of the Old and New Testaments. He is retired from teaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. And he is the author of numerous books including Readings in 1 and 2 Kings, The message of Daniela and Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation.

Outline:

I. An Introduction to the Bible

II. Developing Presuppositions

III. Facing the Bible as a Whole (I)

The Unity of the Old and new Testaments

IV. Facing the Bible as a Whole (II)

The Story-Prelude of the Bible

V. The Approach to Interpretation

VI. The Interpretation of the Text

Within the Worshipping and Gathered Church

VII. The Interpretation of the Text

The Use of human skills and Resources

VIII. The Application of the Word

IX. Openness and Surrender

X. Central Issues in Interpretation

XI. Central Issues and Interpretation

XII. The Structure of the Bible Witness

XIII. The Integrity of the Bible witness

What is the book all about?

The book gave insights for some terminologies like Inspiration, Revelation and about Salvation History. It emphasized the relation of the New Testament to the Old Testament and the organization of the stories in the history of God’s working hand in his people. It shows how the Old and New Testament supporting each other. The Bible has a lot of wisdom that can be found in every stories and gives practical applications in facing several issues and problems in life. It recognized the two avenues of considerations that consist of the original audience and the contemporary recipients of the message. Pastors as he preach the Word of God should have personal intercourse with the church members that enable him to sense the needs for the people to be enlightened. The Study of the Bible should be done continuously as it serve as our gift and task as well.

It provided information regarding principles of interpretation such as Criticism, Grammatico-historical Aprroach, Theological Approach and Enlistment of Imagination and Insight. It teaches the responsibilities of Christian to find and experience the truth stated in the Laws and Commandments of God through the life of Jesus Christ. The book also discussed the importance of surrendering our thoughts and will upon Him for us to be filled with God’s redemptive revelation. Clear mind and our willingness are required in the process of interpretation. Typology and allegory also will lead us to proper interpretation of God’s Word. The message of the stories could be brought out by putting the historical event as an example or digging up the deeper meaning out of its historical event. Allegory is not always applicable in all passages so it warns us not to over use it. Most of the teaching contains doctrinal purpose that we must see. These are helpful in strengthening Christian faith. In spite of different events happened in different time the Bible has centrality that made it reliable and authoritative. The book tells about miracles which is active even now just like in the apostolic days. We need to be open concerning that matter to see the reality of its existence at the present church. It ended with the reality of Christians now have struggled from lack of faith and being doubtful How God works in the midst of His people. We should believe in the presence of God’s miraculous work in everything we do in order for us to grow in our faith.