Category: Biblical Studies

BOOKS

Sharon Betcher Paradise Highway: Of Global Cities and Postcolonial Reading Practices, epilogue to Calling of the Nations: Biblical Hermeneutics, Colonial & Postcolonial PreOccupations., eds. Mark Vessey, Sharon Betcher, Harry Maier, and Robert Daum . Toronto: University of Toronto 2010

Considers how, in Vancouver, the sacred texts of different traditions must and can be read through postcolonial hermeneutics, given the ways in which religio-ethnic communities now reside one beside each other along Paradise Highway.

Elizabeth Huwiler Biblical Women: Mirrors, Models, and Metaphors., New York: United Church Press 1993

Introduction both to ways women are presented in biblical texts and to methods for interpreting biblical texts. Appropriate for congregational groups or as supplementary reading in college settings.

Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen Philippians., ed. Scott Tunseth. 2010: (Augsburg Fortress

This is an adult, devotional study on Paul‘s Letter to the Philippians that reflects on four paradoxes that reside within the text (Joyful Sorrow, Individual Community, Masterful Slave, Downward Ascent). Each chapter opens with a contemporary story that connects the reader with the theme of the chapter, and each chapter connects with the one it follows. Using insights from current theological and social-scientific methods to explore Paul‘s letters, as well as issues as contemporary as economic concerns, Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 Presidential race, the authors guide the reader from Paul‘s historical situation to their present reality.

Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen Philippians Learner Guide, Philippians Leader Guide: Books of Faith Bible Study Series., Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress 2010

This 4-session Bible study uses four paradoxes as lenses to look at Paul’s letter.

Diane L Jacobson, Robert Kysar A Beginner’s Guide to the Books of the Bible., Minneapolis: Augsburg Books 1991

Provides accurate, concise, and easy-to-understand introductions to each of the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. Each description discusses the book’s purpose, approximate date of composition, authorship, contents, and distinctive features. Also included are introductions to larger sections of the Bible, such as the major and minor prophets.

Diane L Jacobson, Stanley N. Olson, Mark Allen Powell Opening the Book of Faith: Lutheran Insights for Bible Study., Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress 2008

Provides an introduction to the Bible and Lutheran perspectives that guide understanding of Scripture. This book explores four methods of Bible study, then applies each method to four Scripture texts. Two assessment tools also aid reflection and discussion about Bible usage, needs, and hopes.

Nina E. Livesey Circumcision as a Malleable Symbol., Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2010

Through a detailed evaluation of treatments of circumcision in the primary authors of the second century BCE to the first century CE, Livesey demonstrates that there is no common or universally recognized meaning for the Jewish rite of circumcision. The meaning of circumcision is contingent upon its literary context.

Kathryn Schifferdecker Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2008

Explores the creation theology of the book of Job, particularly the God speeches at the end of the book, and their relation to the rest of the book. Includes some reflection on ecological implications of Job‘s creation theology.

Joy Schroeder Dinah’s Lament: The Biblical Legacy of Sexual Violence in Christian Interpretation., Minneapolis: Fortress Press 2007

Studies the ways Christians have read six biblical narratives about sexual violence, using biblical commentary, homilies, and devotional writings as a window into the history of the church’s attitudes about rape. Schroeder analyzes the patterns of Christian interpretation, from the early church through the Reformation, and shows that traditions of interpretation are often more disturbing and horrifying than the texts themselves.

Rivta H. Williams The Bible’s Importance for the Church Today., Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress 1993

This book is about remembering why our ancestors in faith wrote the Bible and recovering its importance for the church today. I seek to provide an alternative to literalism and liberalism by integrating ancient perspectives with contemporary scholarship so that we can once again claim the Bible as a means of grace that forms, informs, transforms and reforms the faith of individuals and communities.