Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews offers fresh answers to several unresolved questions by employing that branch of social psychology known as social identity theory. Who were the addressees? With the categories of social identity theory, this study argues that the addressees arranged the world into two groups: «us» and «them.» They understood their group, the «us,» to be the «faithful.» They understood «them» (a symbolic outgroup of «all others») to be the «unfaithful.» Faithfulness,...
". . . from expected death comes unexpected new life!" The Gospel of Matthew does not shy away from the realities of struggle, suffering, doubt, and death. Yet, from the first names in the genealogy to the last words spoken by Jesus, the Gospel testifies to the promise that from expected death comes unexpected new life. Through the actions of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, we experience the expectation of death and the promise of unexpected new life. In the birth story of Jesus,...
The story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew is told in eight verses. Embedded in this short narrative is «Joseph's dilemma.» Listeners are told that, «When Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit» (1:18). What happens next has long been debated. We are made to assume that Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant, but that he does not know that she is with child from the Holy Spirit. This information is...
