Search Results
Jeremiah for everyone - Who Am I?
Jeremiah for everyone - Who Am I?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Who Am I? In a poem he wrote in prison, on his way to being executed by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer asked the question, “Who am I?” Am I one person today, and tomorrow, another? Do I look brave to other people, though before myself I’m “a contemptibly woebegone weakling”?…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - A First Monster
Lectionary Reflection Year C - A First Monster
by SPCK - N T Wright
A First Monster Revelation 13.1-10 He wasn’t acting alone. That was the conclusion the enquiry reached after a long investigation into the background of a strange murder in a city street. A foreign diplomat had been stabbed by a young man who ran away, but was caught. At his tria…
Revelation for Everyone - Final Judgement
Revelation for Everyone - Final Judgement
by SPCK - N T Wright
Final Judgement Revelation 20.7-15 John was not the first to suppose that after God’s great act of rescue and restoration there might be a further challenge, a final fling of the powers of evil against the already-redeemed people of God. In one of his favourite books of scripture…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book IV
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book IV
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Book IV (Psalm 90-106) Book IV opens with “A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God.” It is the only psalm in the Hebrew Psalter ascribed to Moses. Its words are a plea to God for mercy: “Turn [shub], O YHWH! How long? Change your mind [nakham] concerning your servants” (90:13, my trans…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus' Last Days
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus' Last Days
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jesus’ Last Days John 13-21 Chapters 13–17 are known as the Farewell Discourse, because here Jesus speaks to his disciples just prior to his arrest, trial, and death. Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure from them and for their life in his absence. What Jesus envisions …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Passion of Jesus
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Passion of Jesus
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Passion of Jesus Jesus’ conflict with the Jerusalem authorities escalates. Our labels for these authorities are problematic at best: “Jewish” is anachronistic; “religious” as opposed to “political” is modern and Western. In first-century Jerusalem, the temple authorities, who…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Community in Formation
The Women's Bible Commentary - Community in Formation
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Community in Formation And Jesus sets off again. Mark 4:35–8:26 presents more healing stories, all around the Sea of Galilee, but also stories of miraculous feedings and miraculous deeds on the sea. There are clear echoes between stories and clear echoes of Scripture. Although ne…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - First Lesson
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - First Lesson
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
First Lesson (Mark 8: 22- 9: 50) The two-stage healing of the blind man from Bethsaida serves both as the conclusion to the journeys back and forth across the sea in chapters 4–8 and as the introduction to the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem in chapters 8–10. Physical sight has…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ (1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10) Paul’s usual claim of apostolic authority (1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:1) and his less acclaimed self-designation “slave of Christ” (Phil. 1:1; Rom. 1:1) are absent from his introduction. Instead, Paul simply n…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Jesus' Parables of God's Realm
The Women's Bible Commentary - Jesus' Parables of God's Realm
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jesus’ Parables of God’s Realm Chapter 4 presents a more extended example of Jesus’ teaching—teaching in parables, colourful little stories that suggest a comparison to think about, to puzzle over. The dominant comparison is of the realm of God and the life of seeds. Although the…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jonah's Second Call
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jonah's Second Call
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jonah’s Second Call (Jonah 3:1-10) Jonah 3:1 echoes 1:1: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah.” As in the first scene, the Deity commands Jonah to “arise,” “go,” and “call out” (3:2, my trans.). This time, however, Jonah does not flee but immediately obeys. It seems that Jonah get…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - New Covenant
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - New Covenant
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
New Covenant Jeremiah 31: 31-34 A fundamental aspect of that restored society is that in it everyone “from the least of them to the greatest” will live in covenant relationship. In this famous passage (31:31–34), God promises to make a new covenant with the whole of Israel…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Moses' Final Words and His Death
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Moses' Final Words and His Death
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Moses’ Final Words and His Death (Deuteronomy 32: 1- 34: 12) As noted in the introduction to this essay, the Deuteronomic redactors shaped the whole of their book as the last will and testament of Moses. After the discussion of law and covenant, redactors have appended materials …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Suffering and Blessing and Judgment
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Suffering and Blessing and Judgment
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Suffering and Blessing and Judgment (1 Peter 3: 13- 5: 11) The author encourages those who suffer with the assurance of God’s blessing and of God’s future judgment of evil and of good. Here, unlike in 2:21–25, both Christ’s passion and his resurrection are cited, in such phrases …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Social Meaning of Sonship
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Social Meaning of Sonship
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Social Meaning of Sonship (Galatians 3: 23-26; 4: 4-7) In chapter 3, Paul has ingeniously used examples from Scripture and from life to illustrate his argument that observance of the law of Moses is no longer necessary for Gentile converts to Jesus. He maintains that his argu…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Third Lesson
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Third Lesson
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Third Lesson (Mark 10: 1-52) Building on the developing theme of a revisioning of power relations and the image of a child, an extended teaching section is presented in chapter 10. Included are three teaching episodes having to do with the household: marriage and divorce, childre…
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Women's First Speech
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Women's First Speech
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Women’s First Speech The woman expresses her desire and explores her feelings for her lover, and his for her, through stories in which she and he both play roles, as themselves or in fantasy guises. Here she tells three. In her first story (2:8–17), she conjures her lover up …
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The Mark of Cain