Arts and Humanities Commons^™

God And The Gaps, Ross W. Mccullough

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "Most often the story is told like this: There is some feature of the world that science is at a loss to explain. Christians rush to claim that this feature can only be explained by God. Science later produces probable non-theistic hypotheses, and the Christians must beat a hasty retreat. In the early nineteenth century, the feature was the complexity of life, the scientific explanation Darwinian evolution."

Incidents Dispersed In The Synoptics And Cohering In John: Dodd, Brown, And Johannine Historicity (Chapter Ten Of Engaging With C. H. Dodd On The Gospel Of John: Sixty Years Of Tradition And Interpretation), Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "Between C. H. Dodd’s two landmark magna opera on John, addressing the religious background behind and the historical tradition within the Fourth Gospel (1953; 1963), Raymond Brown published several essays in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, later appearing in his New Testament Essays.1 In doing so, Brown picks up where the appendix to Dodd’s first major work left off – the central subject that Dodd expanded in his second volume. Both Dodd and Brown challenged inferences that similarities between John and the Synoptics suggest John’s literary dependence upon one or more of the Synoptics, inferring instead John’s essential autonomy as …

Matthew 25:14-30 Exegetical Perspective, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "The parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 provides continued instruction for believers living in the interim between first and second comings of the Son of Man (chaps. 24- 25). As one of several parables Matthew adds to Mark's apocalyptic discourse (Mark 13 ), the second of three parables in Matthew 25 bears the closest parallels with Luke (Luke 19:11-27). It also coheres with the master-servant parables and references elsewhere in Matthew: pray to the lord of the harvest so send forth laborers, 9:37-38; a servant will suffer as did his master, 10:25; laborers need not uproot the tares, …

The Community That Raymond Brown Left Behind: Reflections On The Johannine Dialectical Situation, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Among the paradigm-making contributions in Johannine studies over the last half century, one of the most significant is the sketching of “the community of the Beloved Disciple” by Raymond E. Brown (Brown 1979). Extending beyond Johannine studies, Brown’s work on the history of early Christianity and “the churches the apostles left behind” (Brown 1984) is also among the most practical and interesting of his 47 books.1 Here, Brown’s analyses of the unity and diversity of early Christians’ approaches to leadership and community organization2 have extensive implications, not only to historical and sociological understandings of the first-century Christian movement, but also …

Philip: A Connective Figure In Polyvalent Perspective (Chapter In Character Studies In The Fourth Gospel), Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

While Philip plays no special role in the Synoptics, he plays more of a central role in the Fourth Gospel. Aside from references to Peter and the Beloved Disciple, Philip is mentioned in John more often (a dozen times) than any of the other followers of Jesus - either male or female. Interestingly, he plays a connective role in the narrative, and in several ways. At the outset of the Gospel, during the calling narrative, Philip plays the role of an intermediary, connecting Nathanael with Jesus (John 1:43-48). At the beginning of the feeding narrative, Philip is asked by Jesus …

Matthew 25:1-13 Exegetical Perspective, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "The Gospel of Matthew presents a lucid and compelling portrait of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah for third-generation Christians. Having shown Jesus to be descended from David and Abraham (1:1), and fulfilling all righteousness (3:15), Matthew addresses followers of Jesus with such issues as the way of the kingdom (5:2- 16), the order of the church (18: 15-20), and the Great Commission (28:18-20). Along with John, Matthew was the great teaching Gospel of the early church, and it continues to be a favorite for discerning Christian living in every generation."

Matthew 25:31-46 Exegetical Perspective, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "The parable of the Sheep and the Goats is one of the most moving, yet most vexing among the teachings of Jesus. Found only in Matthew, this parable concludes its final collection of Jesus' sayings in ways striking and disturbing. Over and against earlier emphases about being prepared for the unannounced coming of Christ, here the Son of Man sits as the heavenly judge of the gathered nations, along with his angels, dividing humanity between the sheep and the goats. The sheep, at his honoring right hand, will receive a heavenly welcome; the goats, at his dishonoring left, will …

The Fate And Power Of Heroic Bones And The Politics Of Bone Transfer In Ancient Israel And Greece, Brian R. Doak

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

No abstract provided.

Ezekiel’S Topography Of The (Un-)Heroic Dead In Ezekiel 32:17–32, Brian R. Doak

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

This essay is an attempt to address several interpretive problems in Ezek 32:17–32 in light of religious ideas prominent in ancient Mediterranean expressions of hero cult. Previous studies have not adequately dealt with the richness of Ezekiel’s striking and unusual imagery in this passage, and I contend that a reading that more fully develops the meaning of Ezekiel’s presentation vis-à-vis the history of religious ideas regarding the power of the heroic dead is the most appropriate one in terms of Ezekiel’s overarching message in this chapter. I argue that Ezekiel’s invocation of ancient Israelite heroic traditions involving the Gibborim and …

Book Review: The Yehud Stamp Impressions: A Corpus Of Inscribed Impressions From The Persian And Hellenistic Periods In Judah, Roger S. Nam

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "In the world of archaeology, excavators often parade their discoveries of grand architectural structures in hopes of attracting favorable publicity, volunteers, and, ultimately funding to support continued fieldwork. But what happens when, alongside these dramatic discoveries, excavation produces more mundane findings such as impressions on jars, often containing merely three letters: Hebrew yod, he, and dalet? In The Yehud Stamp Impressions: A Corpus of lnscribed Impressions from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in Judah, Oded Lipschits and David s. Vanderhooft attempt to highlight the seemingly mundane as an opportune window to the social world of …

Book Review: The Surprising Election And Confirmation Of King David, Roger S. Nam

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "In this revised Th.D. dissertation (Harvard Divinity School, 2006), Randall Short challenges the interpretation of the History of David's Rise (1 Sam. 16-2 Sam. 5; hereafter = HDR) as political apology in the style of the "Hittite Apology of Hattusili." Instead, Short argues that both the wider literary context and individual elements support HDR as a testimony to the surprising and wondrous character of YHWH in the unlikely selection of David as his chosen one."

Economics And The Bible, Roger S. Nam

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

At its essence, economics is the study of how societies make decisions on the allocation of limited resources. Whether subsistence, capitalist, socialist, or totalitarian, each society faces complex choices regarding the distribution of goods and utilities. In making such choices, economics involves the study of the various allocation processes such as production, consumption, exchange, forecasting, scarcity, and risk. But in all of these activities, economics is observable only through human behavior. Consequently, efforts to isolate economic behavior from social spheres are heuristic at best, misleading at worst. Economic decisions reflect deeper ideological values, hierarchies, and positions of power, often revealed …

Exhortation To Persevere And Grow In Holiness, Love, And Integrity (1 Thess 4:1-12) (Chapter In 1 & 2 Thessalonians), Nijay K. Gupta

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "In the first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians, Paul's primary concern involved extending compassion and comfort to a suffering and troubled church. There is a gracious, warm, generous tone. He reminds them of how special they are, and how attentive God is to their plight. He reminds them of how God has worked among them in power in the past, he is at work in the present, and he will act again on their behalf through Messiah Jesus at his return. He confesses to them his longing to have close fellowship with them-they are loved and missed.

But Paul's …

New Life In Christ: Household Relationships Reoriented Under The Lordship Of Christ (Chapter In Colossians, Smyth & Helwys Biblical Commentary), Nijay Gupta

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "As noted above, Paul focuses on the implications of new life in Christ beginning in chapter 3. The first seventeen verses deal more broadly with what it means to be "raised with Christ" and to "seek the things that are above" (3: 1). That first section ends with emphasis falling on a communal life of generosity, love, and thanksgiving, as all activities and conversations are carried out under the lordship of Jesus Christ (3: 17)."

Wahlde's "The Gospel And Letters Of John" - Book Review, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

This revised dissertation (Catholic Theology Faculty, Tübingen) was written in conscious dialogue with the Vatican II documents on Jewish and Christian relations. Still, the volume has value for all scholars seeking more clearly to understand the Lukan and Pauline perspectives on the future of Israel. Schafer argues that both Paul and Luke, like most Jewish writers of their time, were deeply influenced by Deuteronomistic theology on the abiding, but conditional, nature of God’s covenant with Israel. According to Schafer, both Luke and Paul regarded the initial presence of a core group of Jewish believers within early Christianity as essential for …