Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Who Is The "Son Of Man"?, Kerry Irish

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Many people, perhaps most, find Jesus’s use of this title confusing. It seems vague, even evasive. Not long before His death, a group of Jews implored Him “If You are the Christ [Messiah] tell us plainly [John 10:24].” Jesus responded, “I told you, but you do not believe.” As we shall see, Jesus spoke the truth as a brief study of both the Old and New Testaments makes clear. Indeed, many Old Testament writers use the title. That being the case, what does Jesus intend by describing Himself as the “Son of Man”? And why was He not well understood …

On Doing Justice, Loving Mercy, And Walking Humbly In Micah 6:8: The Peaceable Ways Of Israel's God, Then And Now, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Despite YHWH's presentation in the Hebrew Scripture as, at times, a warrior, a divine portrait also emerges of a God of justice, mercy, and lovingkindness, rooted in God's steadfast love (hesed) and desire for peaceable wholeness (salom)....This essay will explore the justice of lsrael's God, peace and prosperity as components of God's shalomic blessing, the turbulence of lsrael's eighth-century situation, and the prophets' creative calls for repentance--highlighting God's peaceable ways--relevant both then and now.

Many Healings Of The Woman With The Flow Of Blood, Ekaterina Lomperis

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

With the emergence of the modern quest for the historical Jesus, theologians began increasingly questioning traditional views of Jesus as a healer of human bodies. While a growing suspicion of Jesus’s role as a literal healer of the body is commonly traced to the influence of the Enlightenment, in this essay, I will suggest that the roots of this theological marginalization run deeper, in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformations, when supernatural did not yet equal superstitious. The essay will examine two representative exegeses of the healing of the woman with the flow of blood in Mark 5:25–34, offered by Martin Luther …

Why On Earth Does “Tongue(S)” Become Ecstatic Speech?, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This chapter deals with the history of interpretation. Why is the phenomenon of “tongue(s)” in the New Testament understood today as ecstatic speech? In the history of interpretation, there are two major modes of reading the phenomenon of speaking in tongue(s) in the New Testament: the “missionary-expansionist” and the “romantic-nationalist” modes of reading. The earliest readers of the New Testament up until those of the mid-nineteenth century commonly understood the phenomenon of tongue(s) as a miraculous ability to speak in foreign languages—often called xenolalia—for the purpose of expanding Christianity and preaching the gospel. The shift in understanding began to …

Israel's Neighbors And The Problem Of The Past, Chapter One Of Ancient Israel's Neighbors, Brian R. Doak

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "My purpose in this book is to tell the story of Israel's nearest neighbors- not only discovering what the Bible has to say about them but also what we can know from archaeology, ancient inscriptions, and other sources. To say that this task is complicated is putting it lightly. For one thing, the Bible itself presents these neighbors in nuanced and conflicting ways; sometimes they are friends or even related to Israel at a family level, and sometimes they are enemies, spoken of as though they must die in order for Israel to live. The Moabites, for example, violently …

On Vias Negativa And Positiva In John’S Dialectical Theology—Apophatic And Kataphatic Thrusts In Philo And Within The Johannine Tradition, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The Vias Negativa and Positiva are evident in Jewish Scripture and Philo, but they also come across dialectically in the Fourth Gospel.1 Indeed, connections between these writings and the Fourth Gospel abound, as Peder Borgen and others have shown over the years, but this particular subject of overlap is an intriguing one. 2 Of special interest here are the apophatic and kataphatic thrusts of John’s historical, theological, and compositional interests with relation to the 9LD 1HJDWLYD and the 9LD 3RVLWLYD , as played out within histories of John’s situation and composition. Put simply, John’s presentation of Jesus and his ministry …

“I Don’T Want To Hear Your Language!” White Social Imagination And The Demography Of Roman Corinth, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This article aims to deconstruct the hidden pervasive whiteness in biblical scholarship and to propose another way to reimagine the linguistic dynamic of Roman Corinth from an Asian American perspective. It highlights the legal and historical interconnectedness of whiteness and the dominance of English. English is a critical marker of whiteness in the United States. In this context, immigrants are expected to conform to and assimilate themselves with whiteness by performing English. This particular racialized context has influenced and resulted in a scholarly historical reconstruction of immigrants in Roman Corinth as “Greek speaking im/migrants.” Immigrants can come from many different …

The Synoptic Problem (Introduction And Chapter One Of A Beginner's Guide To New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates), Nijay K. Gupta

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "When I first entered theological education as a seminary student, I found myself completely lost in the world of biblical scholarship. Not only were there so many technical terms I couldn’t define and histories of interpretation with which I was not acquainted, but it seemed like there were two, or three, or ten views on various debated issues, and I had trouble keeping them straight. Oh, how I wished I had a map that could help me find my way through the maze of scholarship, or a guide to clue me into this view and that view!"

Background Of King's Preaching Theology (Chapter One Of King's Speech: Preaching Reconciliation In A World Of Violence And Chasm), Sunggu Yang

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "From birth, King was surrounded and influenced by the black faith community. Both his maternal grandfather and his father were successful African-American Baptist preachers in Atlanta, Georgia. Put simply, "King was a product of the black church in America:" How exactly, then, did the black Baptist church-or the black church in general-influence King's reconciliatory preaching theology? There are at least three significant elements of the black church tradition that influenced King: the freedom tradition, open-ended Christian practices, and the particular interpretative tools of allegory and typology."

Text Of 1 Thessalonians (Chapter In 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Zondervan Critical Introductions To The New Testament), Nijay Gupta

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

The first port of call in this study is to identify the origins of 1 Thessalonians with a focus on the integrity of the text, authorship, and date, followed by an extended discussion of genre, style, and structure. Thereafter, I will discuss some of the possible sources behind 1 Thessalonians.

Now You See 'Em, Now You Don't: Perfect People In The Ot (Chapter Two Of God And Human Wholeness), Kent L. Yinger

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "Recent debates over perfection, or better, Judaism and perfect law-keeping, took off with the publication of E. P. Sanders's Paul and Palestinian Judaism. As mentioned in the introduction, for Luther and most of the Protestant theological traditions in his wake, one of the chief problems with salvation according to the OT law was that no one had kept, or could keep, its commandments sufficiently to be considered righteous. Nearly all were agreed this was because the law required flawless or perfect obedience to all its commands. Since all are sinners, such a demand for perfect obedience returns a …

When Less Is More: Cultivating A Community In Relationship With God, Lisa Graham Mcminn

Faculty Publications - Department of World Languages, Sociology & Cultural Studies

What does it look like to cultivate a community in right relationship with God? In taking the focus off individual members and placing it on the community itself, we recognize that the whole of a university is greater than the sum of its parts, and that individual parts are repeatedly and continually shaped and defined by the whole. Being in right relationship with God begins with acknowledging our longings to be loved, to be known, and to belong in ways encouraging us to put ourselves intentionally and consistently in God’s gaze of love. Coming before God empty-handed and agenda-less, rather …

Evangelicalism And Capitalism: A Reparative Account And Diagnosis Of Pathogeneses In The Relationship, Jason Paul Clark

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

No sustained examination and diagnosis of problems inherent to the relationship of Evangelicalism with capitalism currently exists. Where assessments of the relationship have been undertaken, they are often built upon a lack of understanding of Evangelicalism, and an uncritical reliance both on Max Weber’s Protestant Work Ethic and on David Bebbington’s Quadrilateral of Evangelical priorities. This then gives rise to misunderstandings and faulty prescriptions for the future of Evangelicalism. This thesis seeks to remedy this situation by providing a robust diagnostic, not to refute Evangelicalism, but as a reparative. This reparative attends to the faulty responses of either over-dichotomising capitalist …

Remember The Sabbath, A.J. Swoboda

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "Microwaves. Smart phones. Cars. Our culture has more time-saving devices, technological conveniences, and cheaper mobility than any point in history. We now live in a 24/7 world in which every good and service is available around the clock at the touch of a button. We have more information at our fingertips and more options at our disposal and yet we are ominously dissatisfied. The rhythms that mark the success-obsessed West have taken their toll on our minds, bodies, relationships, and environment."

Latina/O Conversion And Miracle-Seeking At A Buddhist Temple, Stephen M. Cherry, Kemal Budak, Aida I. Ramos

Faculty Publications - Department of World Languages, Sociology & Cultural Studies

The growing diversification of the US Latino religious’ experiences calls for scholarly attention beyond Protestant or Catholic categories. This study begins to answer this call. Using interview data with 26 Latinos collected over 2 years of observation at the True Lama Meditation Center (TLMC) in Houston, Texas, we describe how Latinos who convert to Buddhism or actively attend the temple while also continuing to attend Christian services (both Catholic and Protestant) see themselves and understand their religious identities and practices. We then explore the reasons for their conversion or changes in religious identities and practices through various theoretical lens. Although …

The Apostle’S Creed, Kerry Irish

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Excerpt: "Today, when the problem with the written word is not too little, but too much-- too much that is either a waste of time, vulgar, or blasphemous-- the power of a memorized creed lies in its reminder of the majesty of God, who He is, and our relationship to Him. Some Christians object to creeds, claiming the Bible is all they need. The mistake in this thinking is the idea that a Biblical creed is something outside the Bible, when in fact it is a memorable and valuable expression of Biblical truths that help us explain what we believe. …

Keeping A Clean Heart (Chapter 7 Of For Today: A Prayer When Life Gets Messy), Patrick Allen

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Excerpt: "When I heard that some of the kids at school received an allowance, money their parents actually gave to them for no particular reason other than to do a few chores around the house, I could hardly believe it. It seemed too good to be true. I never received an allowance, and the idea of having some spending money of any kind was usually out of the question. Once in a while, my mother would give my brothers and me a quarter each to go to the municipal swimming pool if we hoed five rows of corn in the …

Jesus, The Eschatological Prophet In The Fourth Gospel: A Case Study In Dialectical Tensions, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Central to the presentation of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is his association with the Eschatological Prophet, anticipated within first century Judaism. Rooted in Jewish agency typologies cohering around such prophetic figures as Moses and Elijah, these primitive associations reflect historical proximity to Jesus of Nazareth, who as a Galilean prophetic figure continued in the trajectory of John the Baptist while also challenging Jewish institutions and religious conventions in Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. From his prophetic demonstration in the temple to his healing on the Sabbath, the Johannine Jesus furthered the social concerns of the Hebrew prophets, and when challenged …

John: The Mundane Gospel And Its Archaeology-Related Features, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Jesus of Nazareth is the most important figure in human history. Yet, an ironic fact of biblical scholarship over the last two centuries is that the one gospel claiming first-hand knowledge of the life of Jesus has been pervasively disparaged as ahistorical—off limits in the historical quest of Jesus. This, of course, is because the Gospel of John is different from the Synoptics and also theological in its thrust. However, in addition to these features, the Fourth Gospel is also the most mundane of the gospels. John has more empirical (sensorily attributed) references, topographical details, and archaeologically attested features than …

A Hermeneutic Of Hope – And Faith And Love: A Thomistic-Liberationist Rule, Ross W. Mccullough

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The early church bequeathed us two rules for interpreting Scripture: the rule of faith and the rule of love. This paper argues that these should be complemented with a rule of hope. It uses Thomas Aquinas to suggest how a hopeful reading might complement a loving and a faithful reading, and it suggests that we see this sort of reading in contemporary liberation theologians.

The Communal Dimensions Of Birthing Imagery In Paul's Epistles, Mary K. Schmitt

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

"Paul's birthing imagery operates metaphorically in ways that correspond to John Wesley's phrase "new birth;' and careful examination of Paul's metaphors indicates important avenues for reframing some of the conversation around new birth in the Wesleyan tradition."

“A Few Bones To Pick: Peter And His Significance”—A Fifth Review Of Cnn’S “Finding Jesus 2” Series, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The fifth episode of CNN’s “Finding Jesus” series explores the character and place of the historical Peter. Portrayed as a fisherman—a leading disciple of Jesus in the Gospels—Simon Peter is presented as both robust and impetuous. As chief among the twelve, he promises to stand with Jesus until the end, and yet, he also denies Jesus three times, as he also fears for his life following the arrest of Jesus. As Michael Peppard correctly puts it, the practice of the Romans at the time was to arrest not only insurrectionist leaders, but also to deal swiftly with their followers. Thus, …

Identity And Congruence: The Ethics Of Integrity In The Johannine Epistles (Chapter In Biblical Ethics And Application), Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

If the Johannine eagle soared above the earth, it did so with talons bared for the fight; and the last writings that were left show the eaglets tearing at each other for the possession of the nest. There are moments of tranquil contemplation and inspiring penetration in the Johannine writings, but they also reflect a deep involvement in Christian history. Like Jesus, the word transmitted to the Johannine community lived in the flesh.

Foreword To The Itinerary Of The Prophet-King, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Among modern analyses of the origin and development of John’s Christology, the socio-religious analysis of Wayne A. Meeks advances one of the most compelling and suggestive theses in recent years, addressing the riddles pertaining to the puzzling presentation of Jesus as a prophet-king like Moses in John 6:14-15. Whereas the Logos motif of the Johannine Prologue and the Father-Son relationship in the Johannine narrative convey high-christological thrusts, his receptions as a rabbi, teacher, and prophet elsewhere in John’s story of Jesus are far more mundane and earth bound. While he is rejected in Judea for failing to live up to …

Peder Borgen’S Bread From Heaven—Midrashic Developments In John 6 As A Case Study In John’S Unity And Disunity (A Foreword To Bread From Heaven), Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Among the weighty treatments of the Gospel of John over the last half-century, one of the most incisive has been Bread from Heaven, by Peder Borgen. As the unity and disunity of the Fourth Gospel had been debated extensively among Johannine scholars for the previous half-century, approaching this issue from a text-based comparative standpoint posed a new window through which one could assess key issues and contribute to the larger discussions. Whereas Rudolf Bultmann and Wilhelm Bousset had envisioned the context of John’s composition as Hellenistic Christianity leading into Gnostic trajectories, Borgen focused on particularly Jewish writings as John’s primary …

On Scripture: Rise Up! (Micah 6:1-8), Roger S. Nam

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Excerpt: "The prophet Micah lived during a time of political turmoil and transition. Sound familiar?

For a large portion of the eighth century BC, the Assyrian Empire conducted a massive military conquest of Israel and Judah. During the time of Micah, Samaria had already fallen, and King Hezekiah was in the midst of fervent preparations of protecting Jerusalem for an inevitable Assyrian invasion. At the time, the Assyrian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever known. They were creators of a formidable army with advanced weaponry and military tactics, including psychological warfare. This military supported the empire's ambitions …

Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Deliver Us From Evil (Chapter In The Lord's Prayer, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary), Nijay K. Gupta

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

I recall, as a young child, having a number of superstitious assumptions. I remember being afraid of the dark, and at night, as I stood in my doorway, I believed that when I turned off the light switch I had to jump to my bed (for some reason thinking that I would be gobbled up by evil if my feet touched the ground in the darkness). Over time, though, I became less concerned about the dark and also about "evil." Even today, as an adult, I do not think much about evil powers or spirits. I may make a one-off …

‘Perfect’ In Matt 5:48: A Case For Mandatory Retirement, Kent Yinger

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

The English gloss “perfect” is used less and less to translate Heb tam and Gk teleios in biblical texts referring to human beings (e.g., Noah, Job). Understandably so, since it strikes most readers (and exegetes) as out of place to refer to flawed human beings as “perfect.” In one place, however, this gloss stubbornly persists; namely, in Matt 5:48 (“be ye therefore perfect”). This paper will examine the interpretive background to this translation, possible reasons for its persistence in Matt 5:48, and will suggest alternatives for future translators.

A Northwest Semitic Curse Formula: The Sefire Treaty And Deuteronomy 28, Melissa Ramos

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

While a great deal of scholarly investigation has focused on parallels between biblical curses and imprecations found in Neo-Assyrian Treaties, the curses in the Aramaic treaty of Sefire have garnered relatively less attention.¹ In recent years there has been renewed interest in the Sefire treaty, the role of Aramaic, and its use and influence during the Neo-Assyrian period.² Since the publication of the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon (STE) by Donald John Wiseman in 1958 studies have abounded that examine its parallels with Deut 13 and 28.³ While some scholars posit a direct dependence of Deuteronomy on the cuneiform text of …

Contributions Of This Volume And The De-Johannification Of Jesus (Chapter In John, Jesus, And History, Volume 3), Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "As the essays in this volume demonstrate, the evidentiary basis for excluding the Gospel of John from the historical quest for Jesus is extensively flawed, critically. Many dozens, perhaps hundreds, of instances in which the Fourth Gospel arguably contributes to a fuller understanding of the life and ministry of the prophetic figure from Nazareth require renewed consideration if the fuller database of historical information about Jesus is to be consulted. The question, of course, is how to do so. While it might be safer and less likely to err to exclude John from the quest, such a conservatively reductionistic …