Currents in Theology and Mission

This Is No Ordinary Time in America

Barbara K. Lundblad — 2026-09-15

This issue of "Preaching Helps" covers the last weeks of "Ordinary Time" through the Sunday after Christmas (October 4 through December 27, 2026). The entries are submitted by theologians in the field. Beginning with The First Sunday of Advent, the essays focus on the Gospel of Mark, Year B in the lectionary.

Let the Hearer Understand

Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman — 2026-09-15

Ann L. Fritschel recently wrote an article in this journal titled “The Spiritual Practice of Biblical Translation.” (Currents in Theology and Mission 53:1 (January 2026), 12-16.) Focusing on Psalm 1, she provided helpful and insightful ways of approaching the text, especially using Hebrew word studies, to deepen one’s engagement with the text and with God. In this article, I will do something similar, looking broadly at the Greek of the Gospel of Mark considering how the approach to translation and available English translations affect our understanding and reception of the text. The Gospel of Mark is not simply intending to give information. It is intended to form and strengthen faithful followers of Jesus. Attending to the narrative cues and the oral / aural nature of the Greek text makes clearer how this occurs. How can these aspects be communicated in an English translation?

Breaking Open the Jar

Jason Chesnut — 2026-09-15

Mark’s account in chapter 14 of the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus clearly shows her to be the very reason the Messiah is the Messiah, while also perhaps being the first to recognize the true meaning of Jesus’ identity. The themes of extravagant beauty, faithful discipleship, and the often-overlooked leadership of women gird this foundational text. The woman—who might have made the choice herself to remain nameless—embodies God’s extravagant grace, poured out. Mark’s intentionally unresolved storytelling—particularly on display at the end of the Passion narrative in chapter 16—also frames this story at the Passover’s beginning. Reading the Gospel in its post-war historical context, we see how the resurrection is not so much a triumphalist ending as an ongoing call to embody hope, liberation, and courageous trust in a broken world.

What If the Messiah is Not Murdered as a Sacrifice?

Richard W. Swanson — 2026-09-15

The Christian movement has always wrestled with the fact that its messiah was murdered by Rome. In the scene in Mark 10:35-45, this murder is somehow linked to the giving of life as a “ransom,” whatever that means. This has led to all manner of theological mischief (I’m looking at you, Anselm). This article reconsiders the social and narrational setting of the “ransom,” noting deep affinities with stories about the community-restoring stories of a go’el. How might the story of a go’el affect an audience in these violent days?

Parade as Protest

Carla Christopher — 2026-09-15

Poetic memoir tangles with theological reflection when a now-minister and seminary educator reflects on how invitation into Mark’s Gospel reached them at a time of deep estrangement from the institutional church and provided a pathway to reconciliation that became both liturgical and street advocacy. The humble entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem over scattered leaves on a utilitarian donkey sparks imagination to embrace the Palm Sunday narrative as a call to accessible and inclusive public protest, embodying civic engagement as a form of worship that celebrates LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized and historically underrepresented people in communities of faith.

They Said Nothing to Anyone

Jenny Alexander-Allen — 2026-09-15

Vicar Jenny offers a queer reading of the original ending of the Gospel of Mark (16:6b–8a), arguing that the women’s silence at the empty tomb should not be interpreted as a failure of proclamation but as a historically and socially intelligible strategy of embodied witness. Drawing on queer communicative practices—including flagging, subtext, and nonverbal signaling—and on testimonies from the AIDS crisis, they reframe the women’s fear and silence as modes of truth-telling that emerge under conditions of danger and marginalization. By juxtaposing Mark’s narrative with C.S. Lewis’s discernment motif in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and with contemporary queer experiences of identifying “safe” interlocutors, they propose that the earliest resurrection testimony may have been conveyed through action, presence, and communal recognition rather than speech. This reading highlights Mark’s subversive insider/outsider dynamic, restores the women’s role as the first evangelists, and invites modern readers to consider how theological truth is often borne by bodies and communities whose witness resists normative expectations of speech.

Book Reviews for October 2026

Craig L. Nessan — 2026-09-15

Book Reviews written by the journal's readers on current publications.

The Danger of a Singular Order

Yung Suk Kim — 2026-09-15

Some biblical narratives involve challenges and controversies because of their complexities about ethnic conflict and oppression. The movement of Christian nationalism is a growing threat not only to democracy but also to critical, transformative biblical interpretation. Their ideology represents some aspects of ideology met in Joshua’s conquest narrative and Jesus’ conversation with a Canaanite woman. Oppressors are external and also found internally within the community, often masquerading with a cause of liberation. Revealing their ideology is essential to biblical interpretation. True liberation and transformation may happen when one faces opacities of enemies all around oneself—from outside, within, and even within oneself—not by defeating others or feeling superior to them, but through accepting human weakness and embracing God’s impartial grace.

Race, Religion, and Corporal Punishment in the ELCA's Social Message on Child Protection

Victor I. Vieth — 2026-09-15

The ELCA social message on child protection strongly opposes the physical discipline of
children but also calls on both the church and the state to address racial disparities in the child
welfare system. Since corporal punishment is used at somewhat higher rates in some faith
communities and in African American families, reducing corporal punishment and racial
disparities in the child welfare system can be challenging. However, this article asserts both
goals can be achieved simultaneously and offers concrete examples of how to do this. Although
this paper is primarily addressed to individuals involved in multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), the
arguments advanced apply to a wide spectrum of professionals, including teachers and religious
leaders as well as parents and others who interact with children. Since the ELCA social message
on child protection also calls on the church to advocate for numerous public policy reforms, this
paper may assist persons of faith in advocating for strong policies in both the church and state to
confront racism as well as practices that contribute to child physical abuse.

Telling Messiah Stories in Times Like These

Richard W. Swanson — 2026-09-15

TBD