Buswell Bulletin: Journal Articles – April 2023

Buswell Bulletin

May 2

Covenant’s librarians keep an eye on the new journal issues coming into the library and then each issue we highlight recent articles and reviews that strike us as interesting and/or important to the scholarly conversation. (Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement.)

Linked items marked “Open Access” are accessible to anyone. Otherwise, a Covenant library account may be required for access. Alumni may access items marked “Alumni Access Available” by visiting the Alumni Portal and selecting the identified resource on the library resources page.

Wasting Quiet Time

Dru Johnson and Celina Durgin
Christianity Today 67, no. 3 (April 2023): 62-71

From the opening paragraphs:

The disconnect crystalized 12 years ago when I (Dru) started teaching an introductory Old Testament class to freshmen. Every semester, devout Christian students would report to me that they read their Bibles every day. They could even recite key verses from memory. They were fluent in Christian theological clichés. Yet despite their constant engagement with the Bible, they were shocked by what we found in Genesis…
… their poor grasp on and application of Scripture seems to be due to the way they engage with it. It is a way many American Christians have been reading the Bible for decades: through “daily devotions” or “quiet time.” The way daily quiet time is typically practiced today is unlikely to yield the fluency required to understand and apply biblical teaching. Only when devotional time is situated within a matrix of Scripture study habits can it regain its power to transform our thinking and our communities.

Lectio difficilior potior and an Aramaic Pun—Βεώρ versus Βοσόρ in 2 Peter 2:15 as a Test Case for How a Classic Rule Might Be Refined

Paul A. Himes
TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 27 (2022): 69–83

Open Access

Abstract:

Lectio difficilior potior (“prefer the more difficult reading”), while still in use in recent scholarship, has been criticized for being overly subjective and of relatively little value as a canon of internal criteria. These criticisms have not been adequately addressed. Yet 2 Pet 2:15 provides a fertile testing ground for the refinement of this rule absent text-critical bias. Since every single current edition of the Greek New Testament, and almost all commentators, agree with Βοσόρ due to overwhelming external support, the rule is not needed to prove the superior reading of Βοσόρ. Rather, the near-universal agreement on the reading gives us an opportunity to develop a methodology for determining whether or not Βοσόρ is the lectio difficilior compared to Βεώρ, a methodology that would hopefully be free from bias. This methodology, which draws from Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort’s distinction between “real and apparent excellence,” could then assist in rehabilitating lectio difficilior potior as a helpful, if secondary, principle in textual matters.

The Four Living Creatures before Irenaeus

Luke J. Stevens
Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 98, no. 4 (2022): 553–587

Note: Online access to this journal is only available at campus by publisher requirement. Off-campus students may contact the library for assistance.

Abstract:

Irenaeus’s interpretation of Revelation’s four living creatures links them most prominently with the four canonical gospels. While his is the earliest extant, several variations of this exegesis occur in antiquity. Their relationship is here ascertained through a detailed examination of both the evolving components of the exegesis and the identifiable sources of the respective authors (focusing on Victorinus, Chromatius, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius). This analysis clearly reveals two earlier strata of the tradition, along with how the different versions developed. The exegesis’s origin is traced to a testimonium in the first half of the second century, demonstrating, through interpretation of Ezekiel’s vision of the tetramorphic cherubim, how the Old Testament proclaims both the principal events of Jesus’s life and their fourfold witness by the written gospels.

A Discourse Analysis of Cultural Humility within Counseling Dyads

Peitao Zhu, Dana T. Isawi, Melissa M. Luke
Journal of Counseling & Development 101, no. 2 (April 2023): 167-179

Abstract:

A growing body of empirical literature has substantiated that cultural humility (CH) contributes meaningfully to a variety of therapeutic processes and outcomes. However, no study has concretely described how CH is linguistically and discursively enacted within therapeutic exchanges. Using interactional sociolinguistic discourse analysis, we explored the sociolinguistic strategies along with three dimensions of CH: (a) cultural teachability, (b) lack of cultural arrogance, and (c) relational orientation. Participants included six pairs of cross-racial counseling dyads. Our analyses of the session and follow-up interview transcripts yielded a range of sociolinguistic strategies (i.e., positioning, use of reinforcement, repetition, and use of pronouns) corresponding to the CH dimensions. We discuss clinical, research, and training implications.

The Context of Disclosing Suicidality: An Exploration with Attempt Survivors

Lindsay Sheehan, et al.
Journal of Counseling & Development 100, no. 2 (April 2022): 183-193.

Abstract:

Suicide attempt survivors selectively disclose suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. However, little is known about how suicide attempt survivors make these disclosure decisions. To address the dearth of research on the context of suicide disclosure, a community‐based participatory research team analyzed qualitative data from suicide attempt survivors (n = 40) to examine when, how, and to whom they disclose suicidality. We describe findings on three main themes: (1) who to tell, (2) when to tell, and (3) how to tell. Within subthemes, we provide examples of diverse disclosure‐related strategies, including gradual disclosure, adapting disclosure to the audience, and determining the emotional readiness of both discloser and confidant. Counselors can use the study results to aid suicide attempt survivors in making disclosure decisions and crafting disclosure messages that maximize benefits for suicide attempt survivors and those to whom they disclose.

Human Forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer

Robert Morgan
The Expository Times 134, no. 4 (January 2023): 164–72

Alumni Access Available: SAGE Journals

Abstract:

The second half of the petition for forgiveness has troubled some who think its relating divine and human forgiveness by Matthew’s ‘as’ makes the former conditional on the latter or allows human goodness to be motivated by self-interest. Luke’s alternative to Matthew’s ‘as’ may offer a way of out of this apparent dilemma if kai in the phrase kai gar at Luke 11.4b is given its ascensive meaning and the phrase translated ‘for even’, as at Luke 6.32f., and elsewhere in Luke-Acts, Paul and Hebrews.

Toilets and Toilet Humor in the Story of Eglon’s Murder by Ehud (Judges 3:15–26)

Jodi Magness
Journal of Biblical Literature 142, no. 1 (March 2023): 65–89

Abstract:

Judges 3:15–26 describes the murder of Eglon, the king of Moab by a Benjaminite named Ehud son of Gera. In this article I propose that archaeological remains of ancient Judahite and Judean toilets, particularly the arrangement of two installations in the eighth-century BCE gate at Lachish, shed light on some of the obscure elements in this story. My analysis supports the humorous and scatological understanding of the Eglon story favored by many scholars and suggests that toilets and excrement might have been associated with ritual impurity even before the Second Temple period.

Tracing Bathsheba’s Metamorphosis through the Lens of Trauma and Recovery

Brent Nessler
Journal of Biblical Literature 142, no. 1 (March 2023): 91–109

Abstract:

Bathsheba’s story is split by a wide chasm of male-dominated texts, spanning from 2 Sam 11–12 on one end to 1 Kgs 1–2 on the other—a literary rift that has long presented a problem for scholars attempting to discern a coherent development and appraisal of Bathsheba’s character throughout. This study highlights the ways in which the biblical depiction of Bathsheba resists simplistic interpretations and instead evinces a coherent, upward crescendo of character development through a combination of literary analysis and the hermeneutic lens of trauma and recovery, the latter of which highlights the suppression and growth of communicative agency throughout. The first section asserts that the trauma of rape is apparent and so recognized in 2 Sam 11:1–4 through its evocative synthesis of contextual setting, Hebrew terminology, and syntax. The second section analyzes 2 Sam 11:5–12:25, paying special attention to instances in which Bathsheba’s body “speaks” (i.e., nonverbal activity). The final section examines the emergence of Bathsheba’s verbal expression in 1 Kgs 1:1–2:25, elucidating an inverse relationship between David’s waning health and Bathsheba’s ascending voice. Together, these sections attest a consistent and coherent development of dynamic resiliency on the part of Bathsheba within the Hebrew text.

Centurions in the Jesus Movement? Rethinking Luke 7:1–10 in Light of the Gaianus Inscription at Kefar ‘Othnay

Rebecca Runesson
Journal of Biblical Literature 142, no. 1 (March 2023): 129–49

Abstract:

This article examines the centurion’s act of benefaction in Luke 7:1–10 by considering comparative data on military–civilian interactions in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and applying tools borrowed from social network theory to analyze the types of ties typically formed between soldiers and civilians. I argue that Luke’s description of the centurion reveals an accurate understanding of the mechanisms through which military officers connected with local civilian elective cults, and I discuss the significance of this in terms of recruitment to Christ groups.

Clients’ Experiences of Praying During Therapy Sessions

Megan England and Derrick Klaassen
Journal of Psychology and Theology 51, no. 1 (March 2023): 48-66

Alumni Access Available: SAGE Journals

Abstract:

This study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, using in-depth interviews, to understand the lived experience of praying in psychotherapy for clients. Participants were five Christian women who prayed in an individual therapy session. Seven prayer experiences were shared during the interviews. In all experiences, both the client and therapist were aware that the prayer was happening. Five themes emerged from participants’ descriptions: the significance of prayer while suffering, prayer as a moment of intentional connection, deepening the therapeutic bond through prayer, facilitating connection with God, and a changed engagement with themselves. All participants emphasized how praying in therapy facilitated relationship: with themselves, their therapist, and God.

Expectations and the Interpretation of Resurrection as “Bodily”

K. R. Harriman
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 65, no. 4 (December 2022): 753-771

Abstract:

Studies of resurrection belief in the Bible and Second Temple Jewish texts tend to present one of two views. One I call the “open-referent/open-source resurrection” view, according to which early Jews and Christians used resurrection language in such a way that it may or may not have involved a body, and the source domain for metaphorical uses of such language was an ambiguous revival. The other I call the “body-referent/body-source resurrection’ view, according to which this resurrection language entailed involvement of the body, and the source domain for metaphorical uses of such language was restoration to bodily life that implied upward physical movement. In this study I evaluate these views and the expectations they produce for what the audience should find in resurrection texts in light of analyzing OT and Second Temple Jewish texts and applying resulting insights to the resurrection presented in Daniel 12 and 1 Corinthians (particularly, Jesus’s resurrection). I argue that the body-referent/body-source resurrection view produces expectations that better comport with the content of these texts, especially since it better fits the semantics of the resurrection verbs in their contexts and the implications of the metaphorical uses.

Review Essay

The New Testament Gospels and Other Gospels: Two Contrasting Views

Richard A. Burridge
Theology 126, no. 2 (March–April 2023): 135-138

Alumni Access Available: SAGE Journals

This is a review essay of Simon Gathercole’s The Gospel and the Gospels and Francis Watson’s What Is a Gospel? From the opening paragraph:

Before apprehending any text or communication, we must know what kind it is – treatise, movie, Shakespearian tragedy, sauce bottle label, washing machine instructions, etc. Recognizing genre is crucial to understanding both its form and content – otherwise serious mistakes occur in interpretation. Treating colour-coded wiring instructions like a Jackson Pollock painting may lead to electrocution!