Category: Biblical Studies

Isaiah 49:14-23 and 54:1-3 evoke an annunciation type-scene, more commonly found in narrative portions of the Hebrew Bible. In doing so, personified Zion is placed in continuity with women of Israel’s past, thus “remembering the former things.” At the same time, she is recreated so substantially that she forgets those former things.

This essay argues that when reading Proverbs 7-9 as a single instruction within Proverbs 1-9, the description of Wisdom’s home in Proverbs 9:1-6 is the chiasmic center of the instruction. This structural observation joins thematic observations by scholars such as William P. Brown and Silvia Schroer to emphasize Wisdom’s home as the cosmos.

In this article I demonstrate the utility of the cultural anthropological models in the exegesis of a difficult text. Here the role of women in honor-shame cultures in which there is not only a gendered division of labor but also gendered space helps us understand and evaluate Paul‘s argument for the veiling of women who pray and prophesy in the assembly.

This article demonstrates how using cultural anthropological insights about ancient Mediterranean life enhances a contemporary reading of biblical texts. The interaction of Jesus and Mary occurs within the context of honor-shame cultures at the nexus of gendered space (ordinarily private space becomes temporarily public for a wedding), reliance on patronage networks for access to goods and services, and unique character of mother-son relations.

This article explores the Didache as a written artifact of social memory documenting the socialization program of a particular network of Israelite Jesus people. Drawing on the work of sociologist Jeffry Olick, I demonstrate that the Didache establishes among non-Israelite recruits by incorporating a specific Jesus group memory genre, the sayings of Jesus, into a more widely known Mediterranean memory genre, the two ways discourse.

In this article I lay out the contours of a Lutheran critical traditionalist hermeneutic that is ethically accountable while paying attention to the meaning of biblical texts and how they serve Christ‘s mission. I use this hermeneutic to critique Robert Gagnon‘s reading of Romans 1:18-32 and to offer an alternative reading of the same text.

This article is intended to provide readers with an easily accessible overview of the concept of social memory, its roots in the work of Maurice Halbwachs, and the various ways that it is being used by biblical scholars to understand the history of the Bible and the nature of its contents.

Schroeder examines the biblical and Greco-Roman background for John of Patmos‘s vision of a woman clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, standing on the moon in Revelation 12. Appropriating elements of pagan imagery, John of Patmos argues that Israel, not the goddesses of Greco-Roman mythology, is the true queen of heaven.

Discusses issues in preaching about creation and describes texts that might be used in such preaching.