bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
P. T. Forsyth, Scripture, and the Crisis of the Gospel
Authors: Paddison Angus 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This article examines P. T. Forsyth's theological interpretation of Scripture. Scripture for P. T. Forsyth (1848–1921) is a sacramental agent of the gospel, and the NT writings are decisively incorporated within the redemptive activity of God in Christ. Forsyth's location of authority in the gospel conveyed by Scripture allows him considerable flexibility in relation to two alternative sources of authority: biblical scholarship and biblical infallibility. An ecclesial reading of Scripture is beholden neither to the rationalism of the academy nor to mechanical theories of verbal inspiration. A church resourced by what Forsyth termed the "positive gospel" will read Scripture with decisiveness and litheness, giving space for the lively activity of the Spirit upon the Word. Moreover, the cross is the one superhistoric principle capable of interpreting all history and human action. The essay then turns to the Jesus that Forsyth encounters in his preaching of John 12 and John 16. Forsyth's powerful reading of the NT reinvigorates John's language of judgment, conviction, and sin. The holiness of the Son moving through the world and dying on the cross is the crisis of the world and accomplishes the sinful world's reconciliation with the holy Father. Forsyth's consistently theological interpretation demonstrates the potential of a theologian's immersing herself in Scripture and concentrating on the resources of the gospel.
The "New Creation," the Crucified and Risen Christ, and the Temple: A Pauline Audience for Mark
Authors: Johnson Andy 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
In the wake of the debate on Gospel audiences, this article illustrates one way of engaging in an explicitly theological interpretation of a Gospel, constrained and enriched by canonical and historical considerations. Building on the arguments of scholars who see "new exodus/new creation" concepts implicitly underlying much of Mark, it asks how portions of this narrative (1:1–11, 15:33–16:8) might be heard if we construe the audience as having been shaped by Paul's theology of "new creation" that underlies 1 Corinthians. This interpretive move assumes that Mark is an attempt to articulate the significance of Jesus within a scriptural matrix, that is, within Isaiah's "conversation" with Genesis and Exodus. This 1 Corinthians audience is an intracanonical, hermeneutical construct intended to further Mark's attempt to articulate the significance of Jesus within a broader scriptural matrix. The reading of Mark that emerges contends that Jesus proleptically baptizes with the Spirit as he forges a new creation throughout the Gospel; at the crucifixion, the Spirit moves from Jesus into the temple (a microcosm of the old order/cosmos) to split the outer curtain signifying its end; and the Spirit continues Jesus' work by raising him from the dead as a microcosm of the new creation.
Humans in the Image of God and Other Things Genesis Does Not Make Clear
Authors: Briggs Richard S. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This paper explores the nature and function of the opening chapters of Genesis by way of a focused case study concerning the hermeneutical function of "image of God" language in its canonical setting in Genesis. It pursues a canonically oriented argument that the book of Genesis uses the language of "the image of God" as a relatively under-determined place-holder for something that can only be more clearly defined by seeing how the canonical narrative develops, beyond Genesis, and indeed beyond the OT. The discussion will look first at hermeneutical frameworks for reading the image of God and second at how the language functions canonically as a part of Gen 1–11. A third section explores briefly other substantive issues in Gen 1–11 that might best be understood in this canonical perspective.
What if Martin Luther Had Read the Dead Sea Scrolls? Historical Particularity and Theological Interpretation in Pauline Theology: Galatians as a Test Case
Authors: Bird Michael F. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This study argues that a more attentive focus on the sociohistorical context of Paul's letters can lead to a fruitful theological exploration of Paul's theology that approximates fairly closely some of the key emphases of the Reformed/Lutheran tradition. Though the Reformation tradition of exegeting Paul's letters has properly grasped many of the central themes of Paul's theology, it has often lacked attention to historical particularity and social realism. Yet, a better grasp of the particulars can lead to a richer theological paradigm. As an example, this study examines Gal 2:11–21 with specific attention given to "works of law," "faith of Christ," and "righteousness" in order to demonstrate how one might shift from historical criticism to a theological interpretation within the Reformed/Lutheran tradition.
Spirit, Church, Resurrection: The Third Article of the Creed as Hermeneutical Lens for Reading Romans
Authors: Hays Richard B. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Recent focus on the theological interpretation of Scripture has encouraged exegetes to explore the church's doctrinal confessions as constructive hermeneutical resources for reading Scripture. Taking its cue from this suggestion, this essay places Paul's letter to the Romans in dialogue with the third article of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in order to discern both how the creed might illuminate important but oftneglected themes in Paul's theology, as well as how Romans might in turn clarify, deepen, and even transform our reading of the creed. Among the various insights to emerge from this dialogue are (1) a renewed emphasis on the importance of pneumatology, ecclesiology, baptism, and resurrection in Paul's theology in Romans and (2) the salutary (supplemental?) nature of Paul's Israel-shaped theology vis-à-vis the creed's inattention to Israel's election.
Fusion-Point Hermeneutics: A Theological Interpretation of Saul's Rejection in Light of the Shema as the Rule of Faith
Authors: Ko Ming Him 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
The present study is a theological exegesis of Saul's rejection in light of the Shema (Deut 6:4–9) as the rule of faith. The Shema has already occupied a central place in the mind of any Jewish and Christian interpreter, so that it can be considered a legitimate prejudgment (Vorurteil) in Gadamer's hermeneutical framework. This proposal is also consistent with the thesis of a Deuteronomistic History, where many traditions in different pre-Deuteronomistic strata have been read within the frame of reference of the Deuteronomistic History other than that envisaged by their original authors in the Deuteronomistic recontextualization. This study suggests that a "fusion-point" interpretation of Saul's rejection by using the Shema as prejudgment can create a frame of reference rich enough to appreciate the relational dynamics between Saul, Samuel, and God, without lapsing into moralism and wooden calculation.
Trust and the Spirit: The Canon's Anticipated Unity
Authors: Helmer Christine 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
How can one talk responsibly and theologically about the biblical canon's unity in a pluralist age? In this article I explore a number of ways in which theological practice both appeals to and constructs the canon's unity. The argument of section one addresses biblical, not canonical, unity. I distinguish between the Bible as a given text composed of multivalent layers, individual texts, genres, and a plurality of content; and the canon as a theological concept, which is analytic with unity. The theological arguments of sections two and three situate the theological construction of the canon's unity in view of biblical multivalence. Some theological issues are at stake in this relation. Biblical multivalence opens up theological, philosophical, and ethical questions concerning how different proposals of the canon's unity can coexist, while each making claims to truth. Truth criteria—for example, coherence and comprehensiveness—can be worked out in order to determine the validity and viability of different theological proposals. A proposal must also be evaluated on the basis of its adequacy to contemporary concerns. The complex process of forming theological judgments about the canon's unity contextualizes the selection of one proposal of unity, among others, in a particular matrix of contemporary concerns. Hence, the unity of the canon is anticipatory in view of the process of articulating theological judgments in various contexts. I conclude by proposing that unity and multivalence can be grasped together in the intersubjective orientation to truth that takes place in trust, established by the Holy Spirit.
Scripture in Pauline Theology: How Far Down Does It Go?
Authors: Watson Francis 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Paul's scriptural interpretation is fundamentally important for the development of Christian readings of (what would come to be called) the "Old Testament." The question is how important scripture really is for his own theology; a long tradition of Pauline interpreters have regarded its importance as fairly minimal. This essay presents a critique of the "minimalist" case, which argues, first, that scriptural citation is for Paul merely a rhetorical strategy intended to reinforce his own apostolic authority; second, that he cites proof texts with little regard for their original contexts; and third, that his scriptural interpretation is predetermined by his own prior theological convictions. In opposition to these claims, it is argued here that the rhetorical dimension of citation is compatible with issues of theological substance; that individual citations can serve to represent larger blocks of scriptural material; and that Paul's theological convictions are themselves codetermined by his scriptural interpretation. Even as an apostle, Paul learns things from scripture that he would not know without it.
Atonement and the Gospels
Authors: Heider George C. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
For over 75 years Gustav Aulén's Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Atonement has stimulated reflection on the "models" by which Christians understand the saving work of Jesus Christ. This paper argues that each of the canonical Gospels tends toward and emphasizes a particular model of the atonement, three of which are essentially congruent with the typology constructed by Aulén. I reflect critically on Aulén's work and the scholarship that it has generated, but my primary focus is exegetical. I conclude that Christian theology is well served by the variety of perspectives on the atonement that are found in the Gospels in a way that is analogous to the benefits of the fourfold Gospels' "takes" on Jesus.
Meditations on a Slippery Citation: Paul's Use of Psalm 112:9 in 2 Corinthians 9:9
Authors: Starling David I. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
A topic of scholarly debate in recent decades among interpreters of Paul's letters has been the degree of interpretive competence and effort that Paul expected of his readers in understanding his letters and (in particular) the meaning of his scriptural citations and allusions. In this article, I begin with some brief reflections on 2 Cor 1:13–14 as an indication of Paul's communicative intentions and expectations in the letter and on the kind of exegesis required for theological interpretation that accords with those intentions and expectations. I then examine Paul's citation of Ps 112:9 in 2 Cor 9:9 as a case study in the possibilities for theological interpretation of an exegesis that reads Paul's letters as communications intended for patient, communal, and intertextual interpretation. The focus of my inquiry is the ambiguous reference of the "he" in the scriptural citation and its rhetorical function within 2 Cor 8–9 and the larger context of canonical 2 Corinthians. I conclude that the surface ambiguity of Paul's language functions within an attentive reading community to provoke an enriched understanding of the relationship between divine and human grace and righteousness, which arises out of the social and intertextual process of resolving the ambiguity. The implications of this reading for theological interpretation of 2 Corinthians include a strengthening of the argument that Paul's description in 2 Cor 5:21 of believers "becom[ing] the righteousness of God" has in view not merely a transformation of status but a transformation of character and conduct.
Linear and Participatory History: Augustine's "City of God"
Authors: Levering Matthew 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This essay offers an analysis of the structure of Augustine's City of God. Building on Augustine's identification of the five parts of his work (in a letter he wrote to Firmus), I suggest that these five parts show Augustine to be undertaking a transformation of pagan understandings of history and its gods. Whereas the Romans worshiped gods who, like the Romans themselves, sought linear-historical goals such as fame and pleasure, Platonic philosophers rejected linear history and sought instead a participatory ascent to the transcendent God. Neither view of history would do for Augustine, who instead offers in the final three parts of City of God a demonstration of the interconnected linear and participatory aspects of history in relation to the Creator God who calls us to eternal life. This essay provides background to the thesis of my 2008 book Participatory Biblical Exegesis and proposes that contemporary biblical scholars and theologians, rather than grounding their methods in an acceptance of modernity's strictly linear (pagan) view of history, can learn from Augustine how to argue for a linear and participatory understanding of history adequate to Scripture.
Paul Ricoeur and the Hypothesis of the Text in Theological Interpretation
Authors: Bennett Thomas Andrew 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This essay uses the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur to explain the implicit hermeneutics of recent examples of theological interpretation. Adopting the language of the "hypothesis of the text," Ricoeur's continental literary theory is adapted for Anglo-American theological contexts. In particular, the hypothesis of the text accounts for interpretive plurivocity, constraints on meaning, and the contingent nature of theological interpretations. The hypothesis is shown to afford critics the tools with which to analyze and evaluate individual theological contributions while philosophically grounding the methods various interpreters deploy during interpretive practice. As a demonstration of how this actually functions in evaluative scenarios, recent contributions from Ephraim Radner, R. W. L. Moberly, R. R. Reno, and Stanley Hauerwas are analyzed, with attention being paid to their methodologies, the way their hypotheses project textual worlds, how individual texts can admit multiple hypotheses, the contextual, contingent nature of interpretations, and how an invalid hypothesis is identified and overturned.
What Would Elijah and Elisha Do? Internarrativity in Luke's Story of Jesus
Authors: Huddleston Jonathan 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This article seeks to discuss the connection between Luke's portrayal of Jesus and the Elijah-Elisha stories from Israel's Scriptures through the category of internarrativity. I define internarrativity as a special category of allusion; unlike intertextuality, which echoes specific source texts, internarrativity resonates within a whole tradition of storytelling witnessed by several texts but exhausted by none of them. Examining Luke's use of the Elijah-Elisha narratives in these terms yields fresh fruit: Luke invites readers to connect Jesus' story with everything they know about Elijah and Elisha, an invitation issued through Luke's strategic allusions. Once accepted, this invitation prompts readers to read Jesus' story with the expectation that he will resemble Elijah and Elisha, an expectation that Jesus' story sometimes confirms and sometimes confounds. Intertextuality allows me to examine three prominent characteristics of Elijah and Elisha (the way in which they perform miraculous signs, confront rulers, and anoint successors) as a template for reading Luke's story of Jesus, and find in it a model for ongoing Christian discipleship.
Theological Interpretation, Presuppositions, and the Role of the Church: Bultmann and Augustine Revisited
Authors: Moberly R. W. L. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This essay revisits Bultmann's famous discussion of the role of presuppositions within biblical exegesis. It affirms Bultmann's concern with an interpreter's existential reality while criticizing his silence concerning other things that he also in fact presupposed, most obviously theological preunderstandings (for Bultmann, this was the need to demythologize) and the ascribing of a privileged role to the Bible for encountering the truth about God and humanity. It is argued that the privileged role of the Bible is a corollary of its historic reception and appropriation by the church. The nature of the relationship between Bible and church is then explored via a discussion of Augustine's famous sentence, "In fact I would not believe the gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me." It is suggested that Augustine's understanding of the role of the church is analogous to that of the modern concept of a plausibility structure, whereby significant others enable people to adopt and maintain particular understandings and priorities. The argument offers a way of envisaging the complementarity of Bible and church that has potential to overcome certain historic post-Reformation tendencies to polarize them and their respective authority.
Revelation in the Present Tense: On Rethinking Theological Interpretation in the Light of the Prophetic Office of Jesus Christ
Authors: Holmes Christopher R. J. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Revelation is often assumed to be what God does, and interpretation what persons do in response. The latter is a matter of making the former real or relevant in relation to a new situation. But what if revelation, understood as Christ's self-attestation, were present to and active in our interpretation of itself? This article deploys the munus propheticum Jesu Christi in conversation with John's Gospel so as to disrupt the usual construal of the objective/subjective relationship as regards revelation and interpretation. This is undertaken in order to advance an account of revelation in the present tense and thus of interpretation as being a human hearing of and correspondence to what Christ says and does. Such an emphasis strengthens the theological interpretation of Scripture by yielding to the written Word as the locus of Christ's prophetic presence and activity. Interpretation is thus a matter of becoming transparent to the humanizing presence and contemporaneity of the risen One who speaks himself by the power of the Spirit in the prophetic and apostolic writings.
The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart in Christian and Jewish Interpretation
Authors: McGinnis Claire Mathews 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This essay examines theological responses to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart on the part of Christian and Jewish readers from the patristic period through the Reformation. Readings discussed include those of Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, the Midrash Rabbah, Rambam, and Martin Luther. The concluding section draws on the history of interpretation to suggest ways in which the theological interpreter of our own day might make sense of the portrayal of God as hardening "the heart of whomever he chooses." Included in the discussion are the relative contributions of source-critical analysis of Exod 7–11.
Salvation in a Sentence: Mark 15:39 as Markan Soteriology
Authors: Gamel Brian K. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Mark 15:39 has often been mined for its contribution to our understanding of Mark's Christology. Additionally, however, it offers us a compact expression of Mark's soteriology as well; that is, Mark 15:39 demonstrates what salvation means for Mark. Specifically, it shows that for Mark the cross offers eschatological sight, rapprochement between the hostile spheres of humanity and divinity, and the extension of Israel's blessings to the Gentiles. What it means for Jesus' death to be salvific is thus summarized (although not exhausted) by these categories. Mark assumes an anthropology in which humanity is characterized by blindness concerning its understanding of itself and God. Correspondingly, eschatological sight is offered to the centurion who "sees" at the moment of Jesus' death, declaring him to be God's Son. Likewise, God and humanity are presented as estranged throughout the Gospel but at the moment of Jesus' death "this man" is declared to be "God's Son," demonstrating that at the cross God and humanity are no longer hostile spheres but brought together in the same realm. Finally, the fact that this crucial moment is offered to a centurion "who stands opposite" Jesus is significant, for he is an outsider to Israel's heritage and an enemy to God's people. His presence indicates that Israel's blessings are now extended to the Gentiles. In traditional categories, we can say that Mark 15:39 shows that the death of Jesus is salvific because it offers revelation to the blind, reconciliation to the estranged, and redemption to the outsider. In this way it reveals Mark's underlying understanding of the saving significance of the cross.
Jonah and the Imitation of God: Rethinking Evangelism and the Old Testament
Authors: Chapman Stephen B. , Warner Laceye C. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
The OT continues to be neglected in Christian theological reflection. Recent treatments of evangelism and mission illustrate this tendency. The book of Jonah offers a narrative context for the retrieval of a robust OT witness, not only for practices of evangelism but also for Christian biblical theology. Relating Jonah directly to the topic of Christian vocation confirms "verbal proclamation" to be a reductive account of evangelism. The concept of evangelism should instead be expanded to include the entire missio dei of global reconciliation, particularly through the imitatio dei of God's people in their care for creation and all its creatures. Social justice, peace, and ecological concern are not beyond the scope of evangelism. Moreover, such a reading of Jonah demonstrates that the two testaments are not divided by a fundamental, sequential distinction between centripetal and centrifugal movements of God's people vis-à-vis the world. God sent a prophet of Israel to Nineveh and Jesus' disciples are charged to gather diverse peoples into the unified family of God. While recognizing the existence of discontinuity between the testaments and yet avoiding a supersessionist hermeneutic, Jonah can be read according to a trajectory of divine action that unites all of Scripture and warrants the OT's Christian witness. Throughout Scripture's story, God is the main actor in salvation. Even the recurrent resistance of God's people to a communal life of imitatio dei finally yields to the power of God's love for all.
Phenomena of Discourse Marker Use of Bilingual Children and Implications for Heritage Language Education
Authors: Kim Ihnhee 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
The present study explores the use of a discourse marker (DM) in dyadic talks of Korean-American bilingual schoolchildren. Using a corpus-driven analysis, this study demonstrates that the core function of the DM is to convey thinking processes, which is different from that of Korean monolingual children's data. That is, bilingual children use the DM for their own communicative needs in bilingual conversation. In-depth analysis further reveals evidence of incomplete first language acquisition that may result from an imbalance between L1 and L2 language education. Therefore, this study calls attention to how educators can best assist heritage language learners in developing pragmatic competence in the home language. Implications for heritage-language development and education are further discussed.