Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Blind Man
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Another Blind Man
by BRF - Dick France
Another Blind Man Act 2, which began with the healing of a blind man (8:22–26) now comes to its close with another. The treatment of the disciples’ spiritual blindness which has been such a prominent feature of the intervening chapters will now give way to the rapidly unfolding e…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Models of God
The Women's Bible Commentary - Models of God
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Models of God There is one important respect in which Job’s patriarchal assumptions are put in question by the book. Job’s mounting frustration with God comes from his expectation that God should behave toward him as Job behaves toward his own dependents. Job has envisioned God i…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
by BRF - Dick France
An Inappropriate Request The two ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) have appeared from time to time along with Peter as the small group with whom alone Jesus has shared and will share some of his most private moments (1:29; 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). The three of them with Andrew were the first di…
Isaiah for everyone - The Man Who Kept His Mouth Shut
Isaiah for everyone - The Man Who Kept His Mouth Shut
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Man Who Kept His Mouth Shut I just came across a comment someone made when my first wife died five years ago. “We are forever grateful that she paid the price of her discipleship.” She “stands tall” among people who have “worked for our comfort and edification . . . Her direc…
Isaiah for everyone - An Ambiguous "Because"
Isaiah for everyone - An Ambiguous "Because"
by SPCK - John Goldingay
An Ambiguous “Because” At Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, is a room dedicated to the million and a half children who were murdered in the Holocaust. It’s a hollowed out cavern with some candles whose light is reflected on the ceiling by hundreds of mirrors so tha…
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus Prays for the Church
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus Prays for the Church
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Jesus Prays for the Church ‘Jesus has prayed to return to the glory he shared with God his Father before the creation (17:1–5). He has also prayed for his disciples whom he will leave behind in the world, although they are not of the world; the key to this balancing act is found …
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Jezebel, Elijah, and the Northern Kings
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Jezebel, Elijah, and the Northern Kings
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jezebel, Elijah, and the Northern Kings At 1 Kings 16 the narrative turns much of its attention to the intrigues of the northern kingdom, focusing upon it until the inception of the Jehu dynasty and the end of the Omride dynasty in 2 Kings 10. The kings of Israel receive no benef…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Male-Centered Language and Worldview
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Male-Centered Language and Worldview
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Male-Centered Language and Worldview The address of the letter provides a good illustration of the male-centered worldview of the New Testament writers, which is often compounded by non-inclusive translations. For example, in 1:1, Paul identifies himself as an apostle called by G…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Sinner
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Sinner
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Sinner Accounts of a woman anointing Jesus appear in all four Gospels: Mark 14:3–9; Matthew 26:6–13; John 12:1–8; Luke 7:36–50. Critics are puzzled about exactly how the accounts are related. What seems likely is that one event lies behind them, an event that was changed radi…
The Power of the Parable - A Hymn for the Nameless (Part 2)
The Power of the Parable - A Hymn for the Nameless (Part 2)
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
A Hymn for the Nameless (part 2) What, then, my fourth question asks, is the location and situation of Mark’s somewhat startling vision of Christian community. I imagine his gospel written among “the villages of Caesarea Philippi” (8:27) for refugees from the terrible destruction…
The Power of the Parable - A Hymn for the Nameless (Part 1)
The Power of the Parable - A Hymn for the Nameless (Part 1)
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
7 A Hymn for the Nameless By the late afternoon of September 2, 31 BCE, Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt had escaped the surrounding squadrons of Octavian and Agrippa, picked up Mark Antony from his abandoned flagship, and fled with him to Alexandria and double suicide…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Visions of Destruction
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Visions of Destruction
by
Visions of Destruction The progression of Amos’s visions (in 7:1–9:11) serves to communicate to Amos, as well as to his audience, that judgment on the people is inevitable and that God has attempted to act mercifully in the past, forgiving and ceasing to destroy…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Familial Imagery