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Right Behind
FREDERICK J. GAISER
(see full text of essay under “Editorial”)
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So, where would you
rather be? “Left behind” in a frenzied quest to crack the code and read the
signs so that you, too, can get it right at last and be found worthy to
survive the coming tribulation? Or “right behind” Jesus when he says “Follow
me”? Left behind in a sea of wrath and destruction,
or right behind our Lord who promises to go and prepare a place for us?
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Articles
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Understanding Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic
DAVID E. AUNE
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To understand and evaluate the current fascination with
apocalyptic, pastors and congregations need an introduction to the biblical
apocalyptic literature and its times. David Aune
provides the definitions and background required for informed conversation in
the present.
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Teaching and Preaching the Book of Revelation
GAIL R. O’DAY
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The task of preaching and teaching Revelation is not to
decode its mysteries for the congregation—to get it right—but to encode its
social, historical, theological, and literary richness in order, with the
congregation, to enter into its vision.
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The Revelation to John: Lessons from the History of the
Book’s Reception
JUDITH L. KOVACS
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There is a depth and richness to Revelation that is
lost when it is regarded simply as a blueprint for the future. Over time, the
book has provided a warrant for protest against oppressive political and
religious systems, a guide for life in the present, and a resource for
worship.
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The Dangers of Dualism and the Kerygma
of Old Testament Apocalyptic
W. SIBLEY TOWNER
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With deep conviction that God is a saver and not a
waster, Christians should reject the simplistic notion that reality is
cleanly divided into good and evil—a notion based on false interpretations of
biblical eschatology—and insist on reading the apocalyptic literature of the
Bible as an incentive to engage now in the life-giving work of God in the
world.
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Revelation and the Left Behind Novels
CRAIG R. KOESTER
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The Left
Behind novels appeal because they affirm God’s control of history in the
face of violence and moral decay. Our challenge is to be more biblical than Left
Behind, not less biblical—to hear Revelation’s call to persevere in the
face of evil and to trust in the final victory of God and the Lamb.
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The Dangers of the Apocalypse
ROBERT M. ROYALTY JR.
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The interpretation of Revelation has been a dividing line between the
“fringes” of the church and the “mainstream” throughout Christian
history—though the positions themselves have changed over time. Today we must
continue to read Revelation in biblical and historical context to avoid the
dangers of apocalyptic rhetoric.
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The President’s Revelation: The Apocalypse,
American Providence,
and the War on Terror
HARRY O. MAIER
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Revelation has been used throughout history to support many theories of
progress and utopian hope, not least those of the present American
government. The book of Revelation itself, however, is an ironical exposé of
a vision of concord brought about by force.
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The Apocalyptic Luther
KEN SUNDET JONES
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Luther saw the entire plane of human existence as a battleground fought
over by God and the devil. The center of this apocalyptic battle lay in
pulpit and altar, where the sinner received in word and sacraments the
promise of Christ’s salvation, which alone could produce the faith that would
thwart the devil’s attacks.
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Resources
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Texts in Context: Preaching
Apocalyptic Texts
PHILIP A. QUANBECK II
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To preach an apocalyptic text is neither to decode it
nor to explain it. To preach apocalyptic is to draw the hearer into a world
where God and the Lamb finally defeat evil and vindicate the saints—to
proclaim a future event that transforms the present.
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The 2004–2005 Essay Prize for Doctoral Candidates:
Making Space: Silence, Voice, and Suffering
MELISSA JOHNSTON-BARRETT
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Suffering frequently finds no voice and thus resists
meaning. Communities of faith are called to listen carefully to “the silence
of suffering,” which will assist sufferers to reclaim their voices and
thereby recover their selves. By making a space for suffering in its liturgy
and life, the congregation can provide a place where suffering can build
community rather than isolating people from one another.
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Face to Face: ELCA Task Force Recommendations on Human
Sexuality
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A Bold Call to
Unity
DAVID K. ANDERSON
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A Confusing
Political Compromise
BRYAN ROBERTSON
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Reviews
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Qoheleth: A Commentary, by Thomas Krüger
JAMES LIMBURG
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Many Things in Parables: Jesus and His Modern Critics, by Charles W. Hedrick
KARL N. JACOBSON
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The Cambridge
Companion to Martin Luther, ed. Donald K. McKim
MARY JANE HAEMIG
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Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching in a Post-Modern
World, by David J. Lose
ROY A. HARRISVILLE
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Spiritual but Not Religious: A Call to Religious
Revolution in America,
by Sven Erlandson
DAVID FENRICK
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