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The Word on the Street: Performing the Scriptures in the Urban Context
One of the world's foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community that produced them provides an authoritative new English translation of the two hundred longest and most important nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran, along with an introduction to the history of the discovery and publication of each manuscript and the background necessary for placing each manuscript in its actual historical context.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 31, 2024
4 star rating but definitely closer to 4.5 than anything. A great read with much to think about and discern. This book displays the ways in which the North American church has failed and continued to fail, highlights amazing stories and theological prospective of the solidarity God has with us, and did it all in a fun way to read through the book. This book was helpful for me to remind me not to get complacent and comfortable of the environment in which I do ministry in but rather continue to explore and welcome in new ways of worship, to open myself to the streets and allow my life to be transformed by the very same people the church “helps.”
January 10, 2019
Read for class
March 29, 2013
I love that this book has footnotes rather than endnotes! It also includes a select bibliography, index of names and subjects, and scripture index, always useful in this type of book. A few woodcuts from Artist Christina Bray's Street Prayers / Spiritual Journeys exhibit during 1999 at Columbia Theological Seminary accent text and tales.
The Word on the street where you live, the street where I live, any of the streets we frequently or occasionally walk or drive. This Word on the Street book by a couple of professors who still teach at Columbia Seminary in suburban Atlanta, Georgia is about Open Door Community - "whose daily performance of Scripture brings life in the midst of death" - on the particular Ponce de Leon Street in Atlanta. In some quarters, "What's the word on the street [called Wall]?" is a daily concern. Far more urgently we need to know, what's the redemptive word and reality of God's Word of Life, of death and resurrection, on the streets in your world? In mine?
In his foreword, Walter Brueggemann insists, "For starters, that [a trio of vignettes from the book] gives baptism, Eucharist, and resurrection as a prism for public theology. The bread is thin and the wine is poured out, and Easter is fragile news wherever it is told and trusted. None of that is compelling, unless one is on the street to see it, unless one is free to discern it, unless some are bold enough to sing it and say it. This act of evangelical reconstrual is daring and always uphill, but in no other way will the street be seen to be congruent with the word." [xv]
How will we preach, be, and perform the reconciling word of life on our own streets? Everyone has a physical place in measurable longitude and latitude, even if not a more-or-less permanent one, yet the main cultural meanings of "on the street" still relate to financial markets and falling on tough economic or personal times. You need to interpret scripture (on the street?) where you live, but in order to do that you need to have some kind of place. The authors show us how society has removed the reality of a place from many of the poorest of the poor, who for structural and/or personal reasons find themselves without a street address. I've almost made a habit of quoting Cornel West's "dangling people."
The last chapter reminds us, "Justice Is Important, but Supper Is Essential": Solidarity, Hospitality, and Urban Spirituality. Well, yes, and food is part of justice. How will we preach, be, and perform the reconciling word of life on our own streets? In the officially constituted and incorporated churches on the corner, alongside the bay, by the riversides, and on market street?
Then Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." Exodus 24:7
"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
"The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world?" The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world!
The Word on the street where you live, the street where I live, any of the streets we frequently or occasionally walk or drive. This Word on the Street book by a couple of professors who still teach at Columbia Seminary in suburban Atlanta, Georgia is about Open Door Community - "whose daily performance of Scripture brings life in the midst of death" - on the particular Ponce de Leon Street in Atlanta. In some quarters, "What's the word on the street [called Wall]?" is a daily concern. Far more urgently we need to know, what's the redemptive word and reality of God's Word of Life, of death and resurrection, on the streets in your world? In mine?
In his foreword, Walter Brueggemann insists, "For starters, that [a trio of vignettes from the book] gives baptism, Eucharist, and resurrection as a prism for public theology. The bread is thin and the wine is poured out, and Easter is fragile news wherever it is told and trusted. None of that is compelling, unless one is on the street to see it, unless one is free to discern it, unless some are bold enough to sing it and say it. This act of evangelical reconstrual is daring and always uphill, but in no other way will the street be seen to be congruent with the word." [xv]
How will we preach, be, and perform the reconciling word of life on our own streets? Everyone has a physical place in measurable longitude and latitude, even if not a more-or-less permanent one, yet the main cultural meanings of "on the street" still relate to financial markets and falling on tough economic or personal times. You need to interpret scripture (on the street?) where you live, but in order to do that you need to have some kind of place. The authors show us how society has removed the reality of a place from many of the poorest of the poor, who for structural and/or personal reasons find themselves without a street address. I've almost made a habit of quoting Cornel West's "dangling people."
The last chapter reminds us, "Justice Is Important, but Supper Is Essential": Solidarity, Hospitality, and Urban Spirituality. Well, yes, and food is part of justice. How will we preach, be, and perform the reconciling word of life on our own streets? In the officially constituted and incorporated churches on the corner, alongside the bay, by the riversides, and on market street?
Then Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." Exodus 24:7
"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
"The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world?" The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world!
February 25, 2015
Campbell and Saunders address the oppression, difficulties, and circumstances of Atlanta’s inner city poor and homeless populations. More specifically, these authors reveal the social and economic struggles that homeless people encounter in the city of Atlanta. In addition, the author’s reveal the social and economic separation between the wealthy and the poor and how the exploitation of the poor by entities such as labor pools and city laws oppress them to the point that they become homeless in the city that they helped build. Furthermore, the authors address and criticize how the church has largely looked the other way throughout this socioeconomic struggle. When the church does take action it is often insufficient in that it only puts a Band-Aid on a bleeding wound by not fully embracing Christ’s model of loving people and building relationships with the poor in the community. These relationships follow the model that G-d calls his people to serve and love. Moreover, Campbell and Saunders reveal that to truly love the poor one must immerse in their surroundings, lament the way the justice system has treated them, and resist oppressive influences through biblically based action.
February 26, 2011
A nice collection of essays by a couple of authors who are familiar with life on the streets in Atlanta. The book is a good read for those who are interested in exploring the relationship between the church and those who suffer in our modern world, and it will challenge the assumption that there is a difference between the church and the suffering. The authors have many challenging things to say to Christians who live comfortably without thinking how their choices have an effect their neighbors.
The real disadvantage of the book is its lack of continuity. Because it is merely magazine articles and sermons patched together, there is no cohesiveness, and the book ends up saying the same things over and over. The book would have come together better if the authors had written everything fresh.
If you're not familiar with the Catholic Worker Movement or any Shane Claiborne-type ideologies, it may be better to read some introductory materials before wading through this book.
The real disadvantage of the book is its lack of continuity. Because it is merely magazine articles and sermons patched together, there is no cohesiveness, and the book ends up saying the same things over and over. The book would have come together better if the authors had written everything fresh.
If you're not familiar with the Catholic Worker Movement or any Shane Claiborne-type ideologies, it may be better to read some introductory materials before wading through this book.
September 6, 2008
This is an absolutely excellent book on ministry. It totally changed my perspective on ministry in the Urban context and in general.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews