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About the Author

Obras por William C. Placher

Essentials of Christian Theology (2003) — Editor — 255 exemplares
Struggling With Scripture (2002) 191 exemplares
Narratives of a Vulnerable God (1994) 106 exemplares

Associated Works

The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology (2001) — Contribuidor — 69 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

Presenting two dialoging essays on each of nine foremost theological questions, William Placher -- the recipient of the American Academy of Religion's 2002 Award for Excellence in Teaching -- has provided an unparalleled introductory reader in theology. Himself giving an excellent discussion of the history and current state of each doctrinal issue, he allows the essays. to explore and raise questions about their key elements -- and the contemporary issues confronting them.
 
Assinalado
PendleHillLibrary | 2 outras críticas | Sep 22, 2022 |
Because Mark is the lectionary gospel for 2018, Pastor Charlie encouraged us to read Mark in January, and we were given opportunities to study and reflect on the Gospel of Mark through a Bible class Jeff and Clara taught, daily devotional meditations written by Covenant members, and Sunday discussion classes.

For those who are interested in delving deeper into the Gospel of Mark in 2018, the Covenant library has an excellent resource: Mark: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, by William C. Placher. Placher leads one through Mark, beginning to end, focusing on major themes that emerge as Mark’s narrative proceeds: “Good News!”, “Healing the Rejected Ones,” “Parables and Deeds of Power,” “The Inclusive Banquet,” “On the Way to Jerusalem,” “Challenge to Authority,” “Arrest, Torture, Death,” and “Afterword” (Jesus’ Resurrection).

I have read through Placher’s book, Bible in hand, during January, and found insightful, provocative comments on virtually every page, such that I am tempted to go back to write notes or photocopy pages. Placher draws connections between different passages in Mark to show the gospel’s unity and overall message. He presents Old Testament references and allusions in Mark that enrich one’s understanding of this gospel in its Jewish context. He helps one appreciate the drama in Mark’s narrative. He draws on and cites prominent Christian theologians – Augustine, Origen, Calvin, Luther, Barth, Bonhoeffer, and many others -- as well as New Testament scholars, Shakespeare, Dante, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Elliot, and various literary critics. He makes connections between Mark’s world and our world; for example, by comparing the treatment of prisoners at the Iraqi prison camp, Abu Ghraib, and the treatment of political prisoners by the Roman Empire.

Placher’s style is clear, not turgidly academic. He even has a sense of humor: “Most scholars now agree that the original text of Mark ends at 16:8. Verses 9-20, considered part of the Gospel for most of Christian history, do not appear in the earliest surviving manuscripts . . . Dropping these verses loses the only biblical reference to snake handling, but that is a price most scholars seem willing to pay!”

And Placher admires Mark’s literary style: “Anyone who studies Mark in Greek soon learns that he did not write very well. One writer cites over two hundred ‘harsh constructions.’ . . . It is with some hesitation, therefore, that I propose that Mark was a literary genius, admittedly of an odd sort, emerging as he did from the ranks of the little educated. Even his ‘mistakes’ –the long rows of sentences, each beginning, ‘And immediately . . . ‘ the shifts to the historical present uncharacteristic of good Greek style – make the story dramatic.”

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a better appreciation of the portrait of Jesus presented in the Gospel of Mark.

Eric Wendorff, Feb, 2019
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
CovenantPresMadison | Feb 24, 2019 |
Are you looking for an accessible and concise overview of the major theological debates raging between professionally spiritual Christians today? Look elsewhere! To a layman this book is an obscure and often unreadable mishmash of the worst collegiate-style pretension. If you are a seminarian who enjoys the self-important and jargonistic writing of lazy theologians, you might find the topics of the book tired and repetitive. If a couple of very ambitious editors with big scissors were let loose on this volume, they might extract something worthwhile out of it. The editor's commitment to preserving the words of the opinionated blowhards who contributed to the book was a terrible weakness. As it is, the introductory sections preceding the selected essays are by far the best part of the book.… (mais)
 
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wishanem | 2 outras críticas | Jan 27, 2015 |
This is one book that I enjoyed but, at the same time, not sure I know what to make of it. It basically a short set of essays by three scholars on interpreting the Biblical text. It's main thesis, as far as I understood it, was that if we are serious with the Bible, we will struggle in finding the meaning of what is written without forcing any of our own preconceived or 21st century models into the text. That is, we need to be fluid enough to change our theological stance whenever we discover and encounter text that challenge our own views and ways of thinking. Brueggemann notes that the "process of interpretation that precludes final settlement on almost all questions is self-evident in the Bible." Further, he contends that thr Bible, even in its final form, is "profoundly polyvalent, yielding no single exegetical outcome, but allowing layers and layers of fresh reading in which God's own life and character are deeply engaged and put at risk" (p.14-15).

Blount, in the last essay, contends basically that if the Bible is a "Living Word", it is not stagnant, meaning (as I understood it) that the understanding and values of words in the Biblical text, which existed among the first century believers in relation to their way of life, "must no longer be equally valued today." Then he hoes on to give two example of what he means: (1) slavery in America, and (2) homosexual behavior.

It is the second example that I cannot agree is not a good example of texts changing value between the first century Christians and those of today or of it having polyvalent meanings. Here his concludes because God has "created them, just as they are", they should "be treated equally and accepted faithfully together in one body of faith."

Although, I agree that a single text may have polyvalent meanings, that application of the Biblical principles may differ from one person to another on the basis of how God speaks to them through the Spirit, and that to be serious with the text is to struggle with it, yet, I cannot go so far as to say that such behavior, like homosexuality, might be what we may accept today within the community of believers although it may not have been accepted in the first century (from my perspective), goes to far in freeing the text from restrictive and biased interpretation.

As I shared before, Brueggemenn states that final settlement on "almost all questions" in the Bible is "self-evident". I would ask, what text are to be construed as being finally settled and who makes such a determination? Is Blount suggesting that the issue of homosexuality, as consitituting sin in the firts century, is no longer forbidden bahavior? Is Blount implying that one can be a practicing homosexual and a believer simultaneously?

I will say one thing for auch a short book, it is emotionally stimulating and though provoking as it lays open the the challenge to self-inquiry as to how culturally restrictive, theologically biased, and historically ignorant in matters Biblical is the reader when interpreting the Bible.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
atdCross | Jun 29, 2014 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
21
Also by
1
Membros
2,777
Popularidade
#9,247
Avaliação
3.8
Críticas
10
ISBN
29
Marcado como favorito
1

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